European Glacial Landscapes: Maximum Extent of Glaciations

by David Palacios (Editor), Philip D. Hughes (Editor), Jose M. Garcia-Ruiz (Editor), Nuria de Andrés (Editor)

Overview

European Glacial Landscapes: Maximum Extent of Glaciations brings together relevant experts on the history of glaciers and their impact on the landscape of the main regions of Europe. In some regions the largest recorded glaciations occurred before the Last Glacial Cycle, in one of the major glacial cycles of the Middle Pleistocene. However, the best-preserved evidence of glaciation in the landscape is from the Last Glacial Cycle (Late Pleistocene). The book also analyses these older glacial landforms that can sometimes still be seen in the landscape today. This analysis provides a better understanding of the succession of Pleistocene glaciations and the intervening interglacial periods, examining their possible continental synchrony or asynchrony of past glacier behaviour. The result of this analysis gives important new insights and information on the origin and effects of climatic and geomorphological variability across Europe. European Glacial Landscapes: Maximum Extent of Glaciations examines the landscapes produced by glaciers throughout Europe, the geomorphological effects of glaciations, as well as the chronology and evolution of the past glaciers, with the aim of understanding the interrelationship between glacial expansion and climate changes on this continent. This book is a valuable tool for geographers, geologist, environmental scientists, researchers in physics and earth sciences. - Provides a synthesis that highlights the main similarities or differences, through both space and time, during the maximum recorded expansions of Pleistocene glaciers in Europe - Features research from experts in glacial geomorphology, palaeo-glaciology, palaeo-climatology and palaeo-oceanography on glacial expansion in Europe - Includes detailed color figures and maps, providing a comprehensive comparison of the glacial landscapes of European Pleistocene glaciers

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780128236079
Publisher:	Elsevier Science
Publication date:	11/19/2021
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	546
File size:	95 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.

About the Author

David Palacios is Full Professor of Physical Geography at the Complutense University of Madrid, Spain. He has been the coordinator for Spanish National Projects since 1998 to the present, and Spanish coordinator of two European Projects. He has served as founder and director of the High Mountain Physical Geography excellence research group for 12 years, and has authored over 200 international research papers, 100 chapters, and has edited five books.
Philip Hughes is Professor of Physical Geography at the University of Manchester, United Kingdom. He obtained his first degree in geography at the University of Exeter graduating in 1999. This was followed by a Masters in Quaternary Science, then a PhD in Geography (2004), both at the University of Cambridge (Darwin College). His PhD was on the glacial history of the Pindus Mountains, Greece. This was then followed by a postdoctoral research project examining the glacial history of Montenegro at the University of Manchester (2004-2006). He has since worked on glaciation across the Mediterranean mountains in Greece, Albania, Montenegro, Croatia, Spain and with recent research activities focusing on the Atlas Mountains, Morocco. His research has utilised U-series dating and cosmogenic nuclides to date moraines in a variety of different lithologies, from limestones to basalts. In addition to studies of Mediterranean mountain glaciations he has also published on global glaciations and stratigraphy in Quaternary science. In addition to several edited scientific volumes on glaciation, in 2016 he published the textbook The Ice Age with co-authors Jürgen Ehlers and Philip Gibbard. In 2011 Philip also edited with these co-authors the highly successful Elsevier volume Quaternary Glaciation: Extent and Chronology – A Closer Look. Philip Hughes is Professor of Physical Geography at the University of Manchester, United Kingdom.
José M. García-Ruiz is Ad Honorem Research Professor of the National Research Council of Spain (CSIC) at the Pyrenean Institute of Ecology. He was the Head of the University College of La Rioja (1982-1984), the head of the Pyrenean Institute of Ecology (1988-1990) and President of the Spanish Society of Geomorphology (1994-1996). His main focuses of interest have been related with the interactions between land use changes and their consequences on soil erosion, connectivity between hillslopes and fluvial channels, and fluvial dynamics. The evolution of mountain landscapes since mid-Holocene has been also a main focus of research, in relation with deforestation caused by paleolithic shepherds and Middle Ages transhumant herds, including the recent afforestation caused by land abandonment and the decline of transhumance systems. In parallel, he has published a high number of studies on glacial evolution in northern Iberian Peninsula, particularly in the Pyrenees.
Nuria de Andrés is Professor of Physical Geography at the Complutense University of Madrid (Spain). Her PhD was on the application of GIS to the study of hazards in tropical high volcanoes (Mexico and Peru). She has participated in 22 research projects funded in public calls and she is currently leading a research project on the reconstruction of neoglacial oscillations in Iceland. She has published nearly a hundred research papers on the dynamics of deglaciation in mountains and its impact on geodiversity. Her research work focuses on the study of glacier and periglacial geomorphology in mountain areas through the application of different dating techniques and GIS. In addition to the Iberian mountains, she has conducted research in other mountain regions (northern Iceland, Western United States, Trans-Mexican Volcanic Belt, Peruvian Andes), which has given her a broad understanding of land surface processes in cold climate environments. She heads the High Mountain Physical Geography excellence research group.

Table of Contents

Part I Introduction 1. Introduction 2. The Quaternary ice ages 3. Previous synthesis of European Glacial Landscapes PART II The distribution of glacial landscapes in Europe Section 1 European regions that were covered by the European Ice Sheet Complex (EISC) 4. The European Ice Sheet Complex 5. Glacial landscapes of Fennoscandia 6. Glacial landscapes of Northern Central Europe 7. Glacial landscapes of European Russia 8. The Eurasian Arctic 9. The North Sea and Mid-Norwegian continental margin 10. Glacial landscapes of Britain and Ireland Section 2 European regions that not were covered by the EISC 11. Glacial landscapes of the Ural Mountains 12. Glacial landscapes of Iceland 13. Glacial landscapes of the Tatra Mountains 14. Glacial landscapes of the Romanian Carpathians 15. Glacial landscapes of the Alps 16. Glacial landscape of the Pyrenees 17. The Iberian Peninsula (except for the Pyrenees) 18. The Italian Peninsula 19. Glacial landscapes of the Balkans 20. The Anatolian Peninsula PART III Climate changes during the Last Glacial Cycle in the eastern North Atlantic region Section 1 The Last Glacial Cycle 21. An overview of the Last Glacial Cycle 22. Ice volume and sea-level changes during Last Glacial Cycle: Evidence from marine records 23. Definition of the Last Glacial Cycle marine stages and chronology 24. Abrupt climatic variability: Dansgaard_Oeschger events 25. Abrupt (or millennial or suborbital) climatic variability: Heinrich events/stadials 26. The Global Last Glacial Maximum: the Eastern North Atlantic (marine sediments) and the Greenland Ice Sheet climatic signal PART IV European glacial landforms prior to the Last Glacial Maximum (Before 29 ka) 27. Concept and global context of the glacial landforms prior to the Last Glacial Maximum Section 1 European regions that were covered by the European Ice Sheet Complex (EISC) 28. The EISC evolution prior to the Last Glacial Maximum 29. Fennoscandia: glacial landforms prior to the Last Glacial Maximum 30. Northern Central Europe: Glacial landforms prior to the Last Glacial Maximum 31. European Russia: Glacial landforms prior to the Last Glacial Maximum 32. The Eurasian Arctic: Glacial landforms prior to the Last Glacial Maximum (before 29 ka) 33. The North Sea and Mid-Norwegian Continental Margin: glacial landforms prior to the Last Glacial Maximum 34. Britain and Ireland: Glacial landforms prior to the Last Glacial Maximum Section 2 European regions that not were covered by the EISC 35. The Ural Mountains: Glacial landforms prior to the Last Glacial Maximum 36. Iceland: Glacial landforms prior to the Last Glacial Maximum 37. The Tatra Mountains: Glacial landforms prior to the Last Glacial Maximum 38. The Romanian Carpathians: Glacial landforms prior to the Last Glacial Maximum 39. The Alps: glacial landforms prior to the Last Glacial Maximum 40. The Pyrenees: glacial landforms prior to the Last Glacial Maximum 41. The Iberian Mountains: glacial landforms prior to the Last Glacial Maximum 42. The Italian mountains: glacial landforms prior to the Last Glacial Maximum 43. The Balkans: glacial landforms prior to the Last Glacial Maximum 44. The Anatolian mountains: Glacial landforms prior to the Last Glacial Maximum Section 3 Synthesis of Part II 45. The European glacial landscapes prior to the Last Glacial Maximumsynthesis PART V The European glacial landforms from the Last Glacial Maximum (29_19 ka) 46. Concept and global context of the glacial landforms from the Last Glacial Maximum Section 1 European regions that were covered by the European Ice Sheet Complex (EISC) 47. European Ice Sheet Complex evolution during the Last Glacial Maximum (29_19 ka) 48. Fennoscandia: Glacial landforms from the Last Glacial Maximum 49. Northern Central Europe: Glacial landforms from the Last Glacial Maximum 50. European Russia: Glacial landforms from the Last Glacial Maximum 51. The Eurasian Arctic: Glacial landforms from the Last Glacial Maximum 52.

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

Provides a pedagogic, comprehensive and global overview on the impact of glaciers on the Landscape of Europe

Editorial Reviews

"Where to start? How to begin? This is the eternal problem that every person interested in learning a new subject must face, from young students to senior researchers. In a subject such as European glaciation, where a vast amount of knowledge has been produced over two centuries, this question is particularly relevant. In “European Glacial Landscapes: Maximum extent of glaciations”, editors D. Palacios, P.D. Hugues, J.M. García-Ruiz and N. Andrés, put together a continental scale synthesis of the state of the art knowledge on the distribution, chronology and significance of landforms created during past glaciations across Europe. Through a series of concise and well-written articles, more than 60 contributing authors summarize the climatic context, scientific questions, and advances of the current understanding of the glacial landscapes of Europe.

The book is divided into six parts or sections. Part I provides a great introduction to the various topics (both practical and theorical) discussed in the book. Part II presents the geographical characteristics and the relevance of the different regions discussed in the book. Part III is devoted to describing the current state of knowledge on the evolution of climate and ocean dynamics during the Last Glacial Cycle. Parts IV and V focus on describing and analyzing the glacial landforms/landscapes developed before and during the Last Glacial Maximum (29 – 19 ka), respectively.  Finally, in Part VI, the authors synthesize the previous parts, by highlighting the importance of the European glacial landscapes in the context of great climatic variability.

This compilation represents a monumental effort to provide a comprehensive overview of the evolution of the ice masses that once covered Europe and set the basis to dive into more detailed literature regarding the glacial history of particular regions within the continent. To this end, each chapter suggests a list of key references that the reader should consult to address specific questions related to the subject. This volume is extensively illustrated with detailed figures and standardized maps (with common symbols and colour ramps for the topographic bases), which facilitate our understanding of the glacier histories across the continent. Finally, the ages presented in this book were recalibrated (radiocarbon ages) and recalculated (cosmogenic surface exposure dating) using the most up to date procedures, which permit a direct comparison between key European sites and other formerly glaciated regions around the globe, under a unified chronological framework.

We are delighted to learn that this volume is only the first part of a larger effort. The editors have promised to compile a second volume with a synthesis of the glacial landforms formed during the last deglaciation (~19 – 12 ka). We look forward to seeing the results of this new enterprise, and thus to continuing to expand our knowledge on middle latitude glaciations and exploring profound questions as to the interhemispheric teleconnections between boreal and austral glaciers and climates" —Esteban A. Sagredo, Ph.D, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile and Rodrigo L. Soteres, Universidad de Magallanes

From the Publisher