Neoglaciation and an early 'Little Ice Age' in western Norway: lichenometric evidence from the Sandane area

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Abstract
Moraine sequences, protalus ramparts, rock glaciers and various slope deposits in seven separate glacier basins provide lichenometric ages for glacier retreat in an upland area of Sogn-og- Fjordane, southern Norway. Geomorphological mapping, relative dating based on section Rhizocarpon size-frequency distributions, observations on vegetation cover, and numeric dating based on a regional lichen dating curve for section Rhizocarpon, place moraines into three groups: Stage 1 moraines of likely Preboreal or Younger Dryas age; Stage 2 moraines of pre- or early 'Little Ice Age' but post-Preboreal age (thirteenth-fourteenth centuries); and Stage 3 moraines of fifteenth-century age and younger. The occurrence of thirteenth-sixteenth century (pre- or early 'Little Ice Age') moraines at low altitudes in the Sandane area is thought to relate to greater availability of moisture and to the capture of wind- drifted snow. These moraines are some of the oldest 'Little Ice Age' moraines dated by lichenometry in southern Norway. In some cirques, glaciers retreated from their fifteenth-century positions allowing protalus rampart development, scree accumulation and debris-flow activity to continue until the present.