Radiocarbon dating of fossil wood remains buried by the Piancabella rock glacier, Blenio Valley (Ticino, Southern Swiss Alps): implications for rock glacier, treeline and climate history

Scapozza, Cristian and Lambiel, Christophe and Reynard, Emmanuel and Fallot, Jean-Michel and Antognini, Marco and Schoeneich, Philippe (2010) Radiocarbon dating of fossil wood remains buried by the Piancabella rock glacier, Blenio Valley (Ticino, Southern Swiss Alps): implications for rock glacier, treeline and climate history. Permafrost and Periglacial Processes, 21 (1). pp. 90-96. ISSN 1099-1530

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Abstract

Fossil wood stem remains of larch (Larix decidua) found 1 m below the surface at the base of the front of the Piancabella rock glacier (46°27′02″N, 9°00′07″E, 2480 m a.s.l.) had a conventional age range of 845 ± 50 14C y BP (UZ-5545/ETH-34417), corresponding to a calibrated calendar age range of 1040–1280 AD (790 ± 120 cal BP) with a statistical probability of 95.4 per cent. Based on geomorphological, climatological and geophysical observations, we infer that (1) the treeline in the Medieval Warm Period was about 200 m higher than in the middle of the 20th century, which corresponds to a mean summer temperature as much as 1.2°C warmer than in AD 1950, and (2) that ice within this rock glacier is probably several centuries old and so predates recent climatic events such as the Little Ice Age.

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