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A comprehensive exposure-age dating approach to interpreting complex glacial and periglacial landscapes: The landform mosaic of Alnesdalen, a Norwegian alpine drainage basin

John Matthews, Henriette Linge Orcid Logo, Peter Wilson, Richard W Mourne, Paula Snook, Jennifer L Hill, Jesper Olsen

The Holocene

Swansea University Author: John Matthews

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DOI (Published version): 10.1177/09596836251414044

Abstract

Our aim was to use two exposure dating techniques in combination to understand the age and development of the full complement of glacial and periglacial landforms in the Alnesdalen drainage basin, southern Norway. This required the development of a comprehensive, landscape-scale approach based on 32...

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Published in: The Holocene
ISSN: 0959-6836 1477-0911
Published: SAGE Publications 2026
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URI: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa71512
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spelling 2026-03-17T15:55:12.5840922 v2 71512 2026-02-26 A comprehensive exposure-age dating approach to interpreting complex glacial and periglacial landscapes: The landform mosaic of Alnesdalen, a Norwegian alpine drainage basin 34d32653bcd2879eec1e86d4fa2687b4 John Matthews John Matthews true false 2026-02-26 Our aim was to use two exposure dating techniques in combination to understand the age and development of the full complement of glacial and periglacial landforms in the Alnesdalen drainage basin, southern Norway. This required the development of a comprehensive, landscape-scale approach based on 32 10Be dates from 9 landforms and 121 Schmidt-hammer dates from 106 landforms, which identified a palimpsest landscape consisting of a mosaic of landforms of different ages. The approach enabled a spatial and temporal reconstruction of Late Glacial and Holocene glacial variations, and a deeper understanding of the periglacial, paraglacial, and paraperiglacial response of the landscape to environmental change. Results suggest that the whole of the Alnesdalen drainage basin was ice-covered by the Scandinavian Ice Sheet at the Last Glacial Maximum and that deglaciation of the valley sides and floors occurred during the Bölling-Allerød Interstadial (~14.6–12.9 ka). Dated ice-marginal moraines establish the limits of the Scandinavian Ice Sheet and of local glaciers during the Younger Dryas Stadial (~12.9–11.7 ka). Glacier extent at the maxima of the Early Holocene ‘Erdalen Event’ (~10.2 ka) and the Late-Holocene ‘Little Ice Age’ (~0.3 ka) is clarified. The periglacial response to environmental change was dominated by paraglacial processes. In the Bölling-Allerød Interstadial, large rock-slope failures were activated and talus slopes, pronival ramparts, snow-avalanche fans, large-scale patterned ground, boulder fields and boulder pavements began to form. Permafrost aggradation during the Younger Dryas may have led to the formation of a short-lived rock glacier. Large-scale patterned ground, boulder fields and boulder pavements became inactive in a seasonal-frost climate before the onset of the Early Holocene Thermal Maximum. The wide range of Holocene exposure ages from periglacial landforms with diachronous surfaces, including snow-avalanche fans, talus slopes and pronival ramparts, indicate low-levels of periglacial activity throughout a relatively benign Holocene. Journal Article The Holocene 0 SAGE Publications 0959-6836 1477-0911 28 2 2026 2026-02-28 10.1177/09596836251414044 COLLEGE NANME COLLEGE CODE Swansea University SU Library paid the OA fee (TA Institutional Deal) The authors received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article. 2026-03-17T15:55:12.5840922 2026-02-26T16:11:54.7158899 Faculty of Science and Engineering School of Biosciences, Geography and Physics - Geography John Matthews 1 Henriette Linge 0000-0002-6069-5348 2 Peter Wilson 3 Richard W Mourne 4 Paula Snook 5 Jennifer L Hill 6 Jesper Olsen 7 71512__36430__315b4ac5216b4c7c819e5d31a6eddee0.pdf 71512.VoR.pdf 2026-03-17T15:53:19.9434442 Output 11970720 application/pdf Version of Record true © The Author(s) 2026. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License. true eng https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
title A comprehensive exposure-age dating approach to interpreting complex glacial and periglacial landscapes: The landform mosaic of Alnesdalen, a Norwegian alpine drainage basin
spellingShingle A comprehensive exposure-age dating approach to interpreting complex glacial and periglacial landscapes: The landform mosaic of Alnesdalen, a Norwegian alpine drainage basin
John Matthews
title_short A comprehensive exposure-age dating approach to interpreting complex glacial and periglacial landscapes: The landform mosaic of Alnesdalen, a Norwegian alpine drainage basin
title_full A comprehensive exposure-age dating approach to interpreting complex glacial and periglacial landscapes: The landform mosaic of Alnesdalen, a Norwegian alpine drainage basin
title_fullStr A comprehensive exposure-age dating approach to interpreting complex glacial and periglacial landscapes: The landform mosaic of Alnesdalen, a Norwegian alpine drainage basin
title_full_unstemmed A comprehensive exposure-age dating approach to interpreting complex glacial and periglacial landscapes: The landform mosaic of Alnesdalen, a Norwegian alpine drainage basin
title_sort A comprehensive exposure-age dating approach to interpreting complex glacial and periglacial landscapes: The landform mosaic of Alnesdalen, a Norwegian alpine drainage basin
author_id_str_mv 34d32653bcd2879eec1e86d4fa2687b4
author_id_fullname_str_mv 34d32653bcd2879eec1e86d4fa2687b4_***_John Matthews
author John Matthews
author2 John Matthews
Henriette Linge
Peter Wilson
Richard W Mourne
Paula Snook
Jennifer L Hill
Jesper Olsen
format Journal article
container_title The Holocene
container_volume 0
publishDate 2026
institution Swansea University
issn 0959-6836
1477-0911
doi_str_mv 10.1177/09596836251414044
publisher SAGE Publications
college_str Faculty of Science and Engineering
hierarchytype
hierarchy_top_id facultyofscienceandengineering
hierarchy_top_title Faculty of Science and Engineering
hierarchy_parent_id facultyofscienceandengineering
hierarchy_parent_title Faculty of Science and Engineering
department_str School of Biosciences, Geography and Physics - Geography{{{_:::_}}}Faculty of Science and Engineering{{{_:::_}}}School of Biosciences, Geography and Physics - Geography
document_store_str 1
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description Our aim was to use two exposure dating techniques in combination to understand the age and development of the full complement of glacial and periglacial landforms in the Alnesdalen drainage basin, southern Norway. This required the development of a comprehensive, landscape-scale approach based on 32 10Be dates from 9 landforms and 121 Schmidt-hammer dates from 106 landforms, which identified a palimpsest landscape consisting of a mosaic of landforms of different ages. The approach enabled a spatial and temporal reconstruction of Late Glacial and Holocene glacial variations, and a deeper understanding of the periglacial, paraglacial, and paraperiglacial response of the landscape to environmental change. Results suggest that the whole of the Alnesdalen drainage basin was ice-covered by the Scandinavian Ice Sheet at the Last Glacial Maximum and that deglaciation of the valley sides and floors occurred during the Bölling-Allerød Interstadial (~14.6–12.9 ka). Dated ice-marginal moraines establish the limits of the Scandinavian Ice Sheet and of local glaciers during the Younger Dryas Stadial (~12.9–11.7 ka). Glacier extent at the maxima of the Early Holocene ‘Erdalen Event’ (~10.2 ka) and the Late-Holocene ‘Little Ice Age’ (~0.3 ka) is clarified. The periglacial response to environmental change was dominated by paraglacial processes. In the Bölling-Allerød Interstadial, large rock-slope failures were activated and talus slopes, pronival ramparts, snow-avalanche fans, large-scale patterned ground, boulder fields and boulder pavements began to form. Permafrost aggradation during the Younger Dryas may have led to the formation of a short-lived rock glacier. Large-scale patterned ground, boulder fields and boulder pavements became inactive in a seasonal-frost climate before the onset of the Early Holocene Thermal Maximum. The wide range of Holocene exposure ages from periglacial landforms with diachronous surfaces, including snow-avalanche fans, talus slopes and pronival ramparts, indicate low-levels of periglacial activity throughout a relatively benign Holocene.
published_date 2026-02-28T07:01:09Z
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score 11.100739

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