Obiettivo The general pattern of Late Glacial glacier advances is relatively well established at a few type sites in the European Alps. Most research has focused on the Egesen Stadial (ES), equated with the Younger Dryas (c. 12.9 to 11.5 ka BP) as identified from Greenland ice cores. In the Swiss Alps, however, only patchy evidence and few dated ES sites exist, and there is virtually no information on glacier coverage and dynamics; palaeoclimatic or past atmospheric circulation patterns are not known. The latter are known to have differed from those today during the Last Glacial Maximum. This project addresses important knowledge gaps in that it proposes to: (1) map the geomorphological and geological evidence of Egesen and other Late Glacial stadials along a N-S and E-W transect through the Swiss Alps, (2) reconstruct palaeo-glacier dynamics, ice mass extent and palaeoglaciological variables such as the thermal regime of ES palaeo-glaciers using sedimentological field and laboratory analyses and (3) reconstruct equilibrium line altitudes and from them quantify palaeo-precipitation. A rigorous dating programme consisting of optically-stimulated luminescence, cosmogenic radio-nuclide and radiocarbon dating will be applied to reliably determine the location of the Egesen moraines throughout the Swiss Alps. Cross-correlation between these methods is likely to yield very accurate and reliable ages. The distribution of ES glaciers will also be used to reconstruct atmospheric circulation patterns. Quantified palaeoclimatic data, which form the main output of this project, are urgently needed to constrain numerical models used to predict future climate change. In addition to their scientific importance for understanding the climate-glacier interactions at the Pleistocene-Holocene boundary, a period crucial to the understanding of rapid changes in the Earth's climate system, the results of this project are of societal importance for the prediction of future climate change. Campo scientifico natural sciencesearth and related environmental sciencespalaeontologypaleoclimatologynatural sciencesearth and related environmental sciencesatmospheric sciencesmeteorologyatmospheric circulationnatural sciencesearth and related environmental sciencesatmospheric sciencesclimatologyclimatic changesnatural sciencesearth and related environmental sciencesphysical geographyglaciologynatural scienceschemical sciencesnuclear chemistryradiation chemistry Programma(i) FP6-MOBILITY - Human resources and Mobility in the specific programme for research, technological development and demonstration "Structuring the European Research Area" under the Sixth Framework Programme 2002-2006 Argomento(i) MOBILITY-2.1 - Marie Curie Intra-European Fellowships (EIF) Invito a presentare proposte FP6-2004-MOBILITY-5 Vedi altri progetti per questo bando Meccanismo di finanziamento EIF - Marie Curie actions-Intra-European Fellowships Coordinatore UNIVERSITAET BERN Contributo UE Nessun dato Indirizzo Baltzerstrasse 1-3 BERN Svizzera Mostra sulla mappa Collegamenti Sito web Opens in new window Costo totale Nessun dato
