Abstrakt
A new chronology of the last glaciation is established for the Krkonoše (Giant) Mountains, Central Europe, based on in-situ produced 10Be in moraine boulders. Exposure ages and Schmidt Hammer rebound values obtained for terminal moraines on the northern and southern flank of the mountains suggest that the oldest preserved moraines represent early phases of the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM).
Large moraines at the outlet of the Snowy Cirques (Śnieżne Kotły) and in the middle part of the Úpa (Obří důl) trough were deposited around 21 ka while a series of smaller moraines above the LGM deposits represent readvances that occurred no later than 18.1+-0.6ka, 15.7+-0.5ka, 13.5+-0.5ka and 12.9+-0.7ka. An exposure age of 13.8+-0.4ka obtained for protalus ramparts at the foot of the Úpská jáma Cirque headwall indicates that glaciers advanced only in north- to eastfacing cirques during the Lateglacial.
The last glacier fluctuation was synchronous with the Younger Dryas cold event. The timing of local glacier advances during the last glacial episode correlates with the late Weichselian glacier phases in the Alps and in the Bavarian/Bohemian Forest.