The Cryosphere (Nov 2016)
Age of the Mt. Ortles ice cores, the Tyrolean Iceman and glaciation of the highest summit of South Tyrol since the Northern Hemisphere Climatic Optimum
- P. Gabrielli,
- C. Barbante,
- G. Bertagna,
- M. Bertó,
- D. Binder,
- A. Carton,
- L. Carturan,
- F. Cazorzi,
- G. Cozzi,
- G. Dalla Fontana,
- M. Davis,
- F. De Blasi,
- R. Dinale,
- G. Dragà,
- G. Dreossi,
- D. Festi,
- M. Frezzotti,
- J. Gabrieli,
- S. P. Galos,
- P. Ginot,
- P. Heidenwolf,
- T. M. Jenk,
- N. Kehrwald,
- D. Kenny,
- O. Magand,
- V. Mair,
- V. Mikhalenko,
- P. N. Lin,
- K. Oeggl,
- G. Piffer,
- M. Rinaldi,
- U. Schotterer,
- M. Schwikowski,
- R. Seppi,
- A. Spolaor,
- B. Stenni,
- D. Tonidandel,
- C. Uglietti,
- V. Zagorodnov,
- T. Zanoner,
- P. Zennaro
Affiliations
- P. Gabrielli
- Byrd Polar and Climate Research Center, The Ohio State University, Columbus, 43210, USA
- C. Barbante
- Department of Environmental Sciences, Informatics and Statistics, Ca' Foscari University of Venice, 30170 Venice-Mestre, Italy
- G. Bertagna
- Byrd Polar and Climate Research Center, The Ohio State University, Columbus, 43210, USA
- M. Bertó
- Department of Environmental Sciences, Informatics and Statistics, Ca' Foscari University of Venice, 30170 Venice-Mestre, Italy
- D. Binder
- Climate Research Section, Central Institute for Meteorology and Geodynamics ZAMG, 1190 Vienna, Austria
- A. Carton
- Department of Geosciences, University of Padova, 35131 Padova, Italy
- L. Carturan
- Department of Land, Environment, Agriculture and Forestry, University of Padova, Agripolis, 35020 Legnaro, Italy
- F. Cazorzi
- Dipartimento di Scienze Agro-Alimentari, Ambientali e Animali, Università di Udine, 33100 Udine, Italy
- G. Cozzi
- Department of Environmental Sciences, Informatics and Statistics, Ca' Foscari University of Venice, 30170 Venice-Mestre, Italy
- G. Dalla Fontana
- Department of Land, Environment, Agriculture and Forestry, University of Padova, Agripolis, 35020 Legnaro, Italy
- M. Davis
- Byrd Polar and Climate Research Center, The Ohio State University, Columbus, 43210, USA
- F. De Blasi
- Department of Land, Environment, Agriculture and Forestry, University of Padova, Agripolis, 35020 Legnaro, Italy
- R. Dinale
- Ufficio Idrografico, Provincia Autonoma di Bolzano, 39100 Bolzano, Italy
- G. Dragà
- Geologin, 39040 Varna, Italy
- G. Dreossi
- Department of Environmental Sciences, Informatics and Statistics, Ca' Foscari University of Venice, 30170 Venice-Mestre, Italy
- D. Festi
- Institute for Botany, University of Innsbruck, 6020 Innsbruck, Austria
- M. Frezzotti
- ENEA, 00196 Rome, Italy
- J. Gabrieli
- Department of Environmental Sciences, Informatics and Statistics, Ca' Foscari University of Venice, 30170 Venice-Mestre, Italy
- S. P. Galos
- Institute of Atmospheric and Cryospheric Sciences, University of Innsbruck, 6020 Innsbruck, Austria
- P. Ginot
- Laboratoire de Glaciologie et Géophysique de l'Environnement (LGGE), CNRS, 38041 Grenoble, France
- P. Heidenwolf
- Institute for Botany, University of Innsbruck, 6020 Innsbruck, Austria
- T. M. Jenk
- Laboratory of Environmental Chemistry, Paul Scherrer Institut, 5232 Villigen, Switzerland
- N. Kehrwald
- Geosciences and Environmental Change Science Center, U.S. Geological Survey, Denver, 80225, USA
- D. Kenny
- Byrd Polar and Climate Research Center, The Ohio State University, Columbus, 43210, USA
- O. Magand
- Laboratoire de Glaciologie et Géophysique de l'Environnement (LGGE), CNRS, 38041 Grenoble, France
- V. Mair
- Ufficio Geologia e Prove materiali, Provincia Autonoma di Bolzano, 39053 Kardano, Italy
- V. Mikhalenko
- Institute of Geography, Russian Academy of Sciences, 119017 Moscow, Russia
- P. N. Lin
- Byrd Polar and Climate Research Center, The Ohio State University, Columbus, 43210, USA
- K. Oeggl
- Institute for Botany, University of Innsbruck, 6020 Innsbruck, Austria
- G. Piffer
- Waterstones Geomonitoring, 39044 Egna, Italy
- M. Rinaldi
- Waterstones Geomonitoring, 39044 Egna, Italy
- U. Schotterer
- University of Bern, 3012 Bern, Switzerland
- M. Schwikowski
- Laboratory of Environmental Chemistry, Paul Scherrer Institut, 5232 Villigen, Switzerland
- R. Seppi
- Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Pavia, 27100 Pavia, Italy
- A. Spolaor
- Department of Environmental Sciences, Informatics and Statistics, Ca' Foscari University of Venice, 30170 Venice-Mestre, Italy
- B. Stenni
- Department of Environmental Sciences, Informatics and Statistics, Ca' Foscari University of Venice, 30170 Venice-Mestre, Italy
- D. Tonidandel
- Ufficio Geologia e Prove materiali, Provincia Autonoma di Bolzano, 39053 Kardano, Italy
- C. Uglietti
- Laboratory of Environmental Chemistry, Paul Scherrer Institut, 5232 Villigen, Switzerland
- V. Zagorodnov
- Byrd Polar and Climate Research Center, The Ohio State University, Columbus, 43210, USA
- T. Zanoner
- Department of Geosciences, University of Padova, 35131 Padova, Italy
- P. Zennaro
- Department of Environmental Sciences, Informatics and Statistics, Ca' Foscari University of Venice, 30170 Venice-Mestre, Italy
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-10-2779-2016
- Journal volume & issue
-
Vol. 10,
no. 6
pp. 2779 – 2797
Abstract
In 2011 four ice cores were extracted from the summit of Alto dell'Ortles (3859 m), the highest glacier of South Tyrol in the Italian Alps. This drilling site is located only 37 km southwest from where the Tyrolean Iceman, ∼ 5.3 kyrs old, was discovered emerging from the ablating ice field of Tisenjoch (3210 m, near the Italian–Austrian border) in 1991. The excellent preservation of this mummy suggested that the Tyrolean Iceman was continuously embedded in prehistoric ice and that additional ancient ice was likely preserved elsewhere in South Tyrol. Dating of the ice cores from Alto dell'Ortles based on 210Pb, tritium, beta activity and 14C determinations, combined with an empirical model (COPRA), provides evidence for a chronologically ordered ice stratigraphy from the modern glacier surface down to the bottom ice layers with an age of ∼ 7 kyrs, which confirms the hypothesis. Our results indicate that the drilling site has continuously been glaciated on frozen bedrock since ∼ 7 kyrs BP. Absence of older ice on the highest glacier of South Tyrol is consistent with the removal of basal ice from bedrock during the Northern Hemisphere Climatic Optimum (6–9 kyrs BP), the warmest interval in the European Alps during the Holocene. Borehole inclinometric measurements of the current glacier flow combined with surface ground penetration radar (GPR) measurements indicate that, due to the sustained atmospheric warming since the 1980s, an acceleration of the glacier Alto dell'Ortles flow has just recently begun. Given the stratigraphic–chronological continuity of the Mt. Ortles cores over millennia, it can be argued that this behaviour has been unprecedented at this location since the Northern Hemisphere Climatic Optimum.