Maximum extent of Late Pleistocene glaciers and last deglaciation of La Cerdanya mountains, Southeastern Pyrenees

The last maximum ice extent and subsequent deglaciation of the Pyrenees: an overview of recent research

“…Figures 3, 4, 5 and 7 show the drastic reduction of the areas concerned. Cosmogenic exposure ages recently obtained from deposits generated by small glaciers of the easternmost part of the range (Têt, Querol, Malniu, Duran, Llosa, Arànser: Delmas et al, 2008;Pallàs et al, 2010;Palacios et al, 2015a), but also by the Noguera Ribagorçana (Pallàs et al, 2006), Ariège and Gállego glaciers (Palacios et al, 2015b), confirm and reinforce the impression conveyed from previous 14 C-based conclusions.…”

“…Given that post-glacial erosion rates since initial exposure remain unknown, the true exposure ages of the boulders located on the Würmian MIE terminal moraine of the Gave de Pau have not been definitively established. On the south side of the range, the position of the Global LGM terminal moraines has been identified in the easternmost massifs of the range (southeastern side of the Carlit massif, Querol, Malniu, Duran, Llosa, and Arànser: Delmas et al, 2008;Pallàs et al, 2010;Palacios et al, 2015a, Fig. 7) and on the Noguera Ribagorçana (Pallàs et al, 2006, Fig.…”

“…OSL data from the moraine and glaciofluvial systems of the Cinca and the Gállego (Sancho et al, 2003Peña et al, 2004;Lewis et al, 2009), the Valira (Turu i Michels and Peña Moné, 2006) and the Aragon valleys (García-Ruiz et al, 2013) were published. At the same time, Würmian glacial stades of several Pyrenean valleys became the focus of dating using the in situ-produced cosmogenic nuclides 10 Be and 36 Cl (Pallàs et al, 2006(Pallàs et al, , 2010Delmas et al 2008;Delmas et al, 2011;Palacios et al, 2015aPalacios et al, , 2015b. These methods have reinforced the conclusion that the Würmian MIE occurred during MIS 4.…”

“…A similar chronosequence of landforms has been reported for all the smaller glaciated catchments located further west. For the smallest among these (Malniu, Duran, Llosa, Arànser), the last glacial advance occurred during the Oldest Dryas and the definitive disappearance of the ice occurred at the time of the Bølling-Allerød interstadial (Pallas et al, 2010;Palacios et al, 2015a). In the Querol valley, a cosmogenic age of 16.2 ± 1.8 ka from the Porté bedrock step, and of 14.9 ± 1.3 ka from the Vinyole moraine, has indicated that the Oldest Dryas glacier was about 7 km long in the Orri valley.…”

The deglaciation of Sierra Nevada (Spain), synthesis of the knowledge and new contributions

“…Nevertheless, the wide spectrum of climatic conditions in the Iberian Peninsula -conditioned by its complex orography and altitude, orientation, oceanic and/or continental influence-has determined notable divergences in the age of the maximum ice extent in the different mountain systems, as occurs in the NW quadrant of the Iberian Peninsula in contrast with other glaciated massifs (Delmas et al, 2008(Delmas et al, , 2011García-Ruiz et al, 2010;Palacios et al, 2011Palacios et al, , 2012Palacios et al, , 2014Serrano et al 2013). …”