Geomorphological evidence of icefield-style glaciation in the Šumava/Bayerischer Wald mountains, Central Europe
Abstract
The Šumava/Bayerischer Wald mountains are located to the north of the eastern Alps, at the borders of present-day Austria, Bavaria and the Czech Republic. The Šumava/Bayerischer Wald belong to the Variscan mountain ranges of central Europe; these ranges hosted mountain glaciers at the times when the region of central Europe formed a broad unglaciated corridor between the glaciated Alps and the southern margin of the Fennoscandian Ice Sheet.
While the region was home to some of the early studies into Pleistocene glaciations in the 19th century, there is still uncertainty both about the maximum extent of Pleistocene glaciation and its chronology. With the availability of high-resolution digital elevation data it is now possible to map the geomorphological traces of glaciation better than before.