Podzol development, vegetation change and glacier variations at Haugabreen, southern Norway |
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| Authors: | CHRISTOPHER J CASELDINE JOHN A MATTHEWS |
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| Institution: | Department of Geography, Amory Building, University of Exeter, Exeter EX4 4RJ, U.K.;Sub-Department of Geography, Department of Geology, University College Cardiff, P.O. Box 78, Cardiff CF1 1XL, U.K. |
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| Abstract: | 14C dating and pollen analysis of the surface organic (LFH) horizons of several humo-ferric podzol profiles forming a soil catena close to the 'Little Ice Agc' outer moraine ridge of Haugabreen, southern Norway, are used to examine the timing and nature of podzol development at the low-/sub-alpine margin of the Jostedalsbreen area. Comparison with results from a palaeosol buried beneath the outer moraine shows that FH horizon development began as early as 5,265 ± 65 B.P., but that it was not synehronous across the profiles, the latest profile having a date of 3,590 ± 65 B.P. It is argued that surface organic horizons developed as a response to a deterioration of climate and possibly the recrudescence of the Myklebustbreen ice cap at c . 5,000 B.P., and that the dates for horizon initiation vary according to local topographic and soil-hydrologic conditions. It is still uncertain whether the hump-ferric podzols were preceded by brown earths or weakly podzolised sub-alpine podzolic soils, but at all sites where pollen evidence is available it appears that FH initiation took place beneath Betula woodland. |
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