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Multiproxy reconstruction of Holocene glaciers in Sierra Nevada (south Spain)

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Abstract

Pleistocene glaciers shaped the highest lands of the National Park of Sierra Nevada, South Spain. Alpine glaciers filled the western valleys of the massif with hundreds of meters of ice. Surface exposure dating shows evidence of glacial expansion during the Younger Dryas and the subsequent disappearance of glaciers of the massif during the Early Holocene. Since then, glacial records and lake sediments reveal that the massif has been ice-free for the most part of the Holocene, with the development of small glaciers during the coldest phases inside the highest northern cirques. This occurred at 2.8–2.7, 1.4–1.2 cal. ka BP and during the Little Ice Age (1300–1850 CE), when documentary sources confirm also the existence of some glaciers at the foot of the highest summits. This historical period was probably the coldest and wettest phase of the Holocene in the massif and recorded the largest glaciers of the current interglacial. Those glaciers finally melted away during the mid-20th century.

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(Modified from Oliva and Gómez-Ortiz 2012)

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Acknowledgements

Marc Oliva is supported by the Ramón y Cajal Program (RYC-2015-17597) and the Research Group ANTALP (Antarctic, Arctic, Alpine Environments; 2017-SGR-1102) funded by the Government of Catalonia through the AGAUR agency. This work complements the research topics examined in the projects: PALEOGREEN (CTM2017-87976-P), funded by the Ministry of Economy, Industry and Competitiveness, Spain and NUNANTAR (02/SAICT/2017-32002), funded by the Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia, Portugal. We are grateful to field support offered by the National Park of Sierra Nevada. We also acknowledged the two anonymous reviewers that provided very useful comments to improve the first version of this manuscript.

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Correspondence to Marc Oliva.

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Oliva, M., Gómez-Ortiz, A., Palacios, D. et al. Multiproxy reconstruction of Holocene glaciers in Sierra Nevada (south Spain). Med. Geosc. Rev. 2, 5–19 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s42990-019-00008-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s42990-019-00008-2

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