# Upper Grindelwald Glacier Holocene Fluctuation Reconstruction #----------------------------------------------------------------------- # World Data Center for Paleoclimatology, Boulder # and # NOAA Paleoclimatology Program #----------------------------------------------------------------------- # NOTE: Please cite original reference when using these data, # plus the Online Resource and date accessed. # # # Online_Resource: http://hurricane.ncdc.noaa.gov/pls/paleox/f?p=519:1:::::P1_STUDY_ID:13868 # # Original_Source_URL: ftp://ftp.ncdc.noaa.gov/pub/data/paleo/speleothem/europe/switzerland/milchbach2011grindelwald-elev.txt # # Description/Documentation lines begin with # # Data lines have no # # # Archive: Climate Reconstructions #-------------------- # Contribution_Date # Date: 2013-02-22 #-------------------- # Title # Study_Name: Upper Grindelwald Glacier Holocene Fluctuation Reconstruction #-------------------- # Investigators # Investigators: Luetscher, M.; Hoffmann, D.L.; Frisia, S.; Spötl, C. #-------------------- # Description_and_Notes # # Petrographic and stable isotope changes in Milchbach cave speleothems are tied to abrupt changes # in the cave environment associated with Grindelwald glacier fluctuations. Phases of major glacier # retreats occurred repeatedly before 5.8 ka but short term glacier advances are identified at # 8.2 ka and 9.2 ka. The reconstructed history of glacier oscillations is constrained by 37 # independent U/Th dates. # # The fluctuations of the Upper Grindelwald Glacier are inferred from the estimated altitude # of the ice surface at the cave entrance. The error is constrained by the altitude of the # different cave entrances, but some uncertainty remains as to the lowest elevation. # #-------------------- # Publication # Authors: M. Luetscher, D.L. Hoffmann, S. Frisia, C. Spötl # Published_Date_or_YEAR: 2011-02-01 # Published_Title: Holocene glacier history from alpine speleothems, Milchbach cave, Switzerland # Journal_Name: Earth and Planetary Science Letters # Volume: 302 # Issue: 1-2 # Pages: 95-106 # DOI: 10.1016/j.epsl.2010.11.042 # Abstract: Mountain glaciers and their sediments are prominent witnesses of climate change, responding sensitively to even small modifications in meteorological parameters. Even in such a classical and thoroughly studied area as the European Alps the record of Holocene glacier mass-balance is only incompletely known. Here we explore a novel and continuous archive of glacier fluctuations in a cave system adjacent to the Upper Grindelwald Glacier in the Swiss Alps. Milchbach cave became partly ice-free only recently and hosts Holocene speleothems. Four coeval stalagmites show consistent petrographic and stable isotopic changes between 9.2 and 2.0 ka which can be tied to abrupt modifications in the cave environment as a result of the closing and opening of multiple cave entrances by the waxing and waning of the nearby glacier. During periods of Holocene glacier advances, columnar calcite fabric is characterized by d18O values of about -8.0‰ indicative of speleothem growth under quasi-equilibrium conditions, i.e. little affected by kinetic effect related to forced degassing or biological processes. In contrast, fabrics formed during periods of glacier minima are typical of bacterially mediated calcite precipitation within caves overlain by an alpine soil cover. Moreover, d18O values of the bacterially mediated calcite fabrics are consistent with a ventilated cave system fostering kinetic fractionation. These data suggest that glacier retreats occurred repeatedly before 5.8 ka, and that the amplitudes of glacier retreats became substantially smaller afterwards. Our reconstruction of the Upper Grindelwald Glacier fluctuations agrees well with paleoglaciological studies from other sites in the Alps and provides a higher temporal resolution compared to traditional analyses of peat and wood remains found in glacier forefields. # #--------------------- # Funding_Agency # Funding_Agency_Name: Swiss National Science Foundation (SNF) # Grant: PBZH2-112727 #--------------------- # Funding_Agency_Name: Austrian Science Fund (FWF) # Grant: 20618 #-------------------- # Site_Information # Site_Name: Milchbach Cave # Location: Europe>Western Europe>Switzerland # Country: Switzerland # Northernmost_Latitude: 46.6167 # Southernmost_Latitude: 46.6167 # Easternmost_Longitude: 8.083 # Westernmost_Longitude: 8.083 # Elevation: 1840 m #------------------ # Data_Collection # Core_Name: Grindelwald2011Elev # First_Year: 9314 # Last_Year: 2000 # Time_Unit: Cal Year BP2000 # Core_Length: # Notes: #------------------ # Chronology # # # Speleothem Lab ID Distance from base Distance from top 238U 232Th (230Th/232Th) (230Th/238U) (234U/238U) Age (uncorrected) Age (corrected) *(234U/238U)A0 # [mm] [mm] [ng g-1] [ng g-1] measured activity ratios [ka] [ka b2k] initial activity ratio # # # MB-2 BIG-UTh-J 6 124 ± 1 2 ± 0.5 876.2 ± 4.3 0.1491 ± 0.0017 534.661 ± 3.720 0.030 ± 0 0.984 ± 0.002 3.355 ± 0.022 3.343 ± 0.022 0.984 ± 0.002 # MB-2 BIG-UTh-J 5 92 ± 1 34 ± 0.5 798.8 ± 4.9 0.1126 ± 0.0020 804.683 ± 10.509 0.037 ± 0 0.988 ± 0.002 4.181 ± 0.032 4.170 ± 0.032 0.988 ± 0.002 # MB-2 BIG-UTh-A 317 87 ± 1 39 ± 0.5 920.7 ± 5.0 0.0496 ± 0.0010 2144.483 ± 47.476 0.038 ± 0 0.989 ± 0.002 4.260 ± 0.030 4.252 ± 0.030 0.989 ± 0.002 # MB-2 BIG-UTh-J 4 64 ± 1 62 ± 0.5 311.4 ± 1.7 0.0207 ± 0.0012 1955.714 ± 107.053 0.043 ± 0 0.976 ± 0.002 4.862 ± 0.047 4.853 ± 0.047 0.976 ± 0.002 # MB-2 BIG-UTh-L184 60 ± 1 66 ± 0.5 714.0 ± 4.9 0.0235 ± 0.0026 4211.379 ± 461.181 0.045 ± 0 0.973 ± 0.002 5.207 ± 0.062 5.199 ± 0.062 0.973 ± 0.002 # MB-2 BIG-UTh-J 3 47 ± 1 80 ± 0.5 604.2 ± 3.2 0.0501 ± 0.0009 1726.872 ± 22.264 0.047 ± 0 0.984 ± 0.002 5.328 ± 0.035 5.319 ± 0.035 0.984 ± 0.002 # MB-2 BIG-UTh-J 2 43 ± 1 84 ± 0.5 594.0 ± 3.5 0.0710 ± 0.0015 1216.387 ± 19.195 0.048 ± 0 0.980 ± 0.002 5.432 ± 0.039 5.422 ± 0.039 0.980 ± 0.002 # MB-2 BIG-UTh-A 283 27 ± 1 99 ± 0.5 523.1 ± 3.5 n.d. n.d. 0.051 ± 0 0.980 ± 0.002 5.784 ± 0.042 5.777 ± 0.042 0.980 ± 0.002 # MB-2 BIG-UTh-J 1 10 ± 1 116 ± 0.5 381.5 ± 2.2 0.0624 ± 0.0027 1071.708 ± 38.063 0.057 ± 0 0.986 ± 0.003 6.544 ± 0.074 6.533 ± 0.074 0.985 ± 0.003 # # MB-3 BIG-UTh-A 398 220 ± 1 10 ± 1 1936.2 ± 82.0 2.6094 ± 0.1102 45.764 ± 0.361 0.020 ± 0 0.991 ± 0.002 2.247 ± 0.016 2.201 ± 0.025 0.991 ± 0.002 # MB-3 BIG-UTh-A 428 210 ± 1 20 ± 1 1548.1 ± 7.7 2.4049 ± 0.0173 42.793 ± 0.267 0.022 ± 0 0.989 ± 0.002 2.427 ± 0.016 2.374 ± 0.028 0.989 ± 0.002 # MB-3 BIG-UTh-A 427 182 ± 1 48 ± 1 1298.7 ± 6.5 4.6140 ± 0.0237 23.827 ± 0.114 0.028 ± 0 0.985 ± 0.002 3.116 ± 0.018 3.005 ± 0.055 0.984 ± 0.002 # MB-3 BIG-UTh-A 426 148 ± 1 82 ± 1 1230.5 ± 6.0 1.5135 ± 0.0106 81.811 ± 0.421 0.033 ± 0 0.981 ± 0.002 3.728 ± 0.021 3.684 ± 0.028 0.981 ± 0.002 # MB-3 BIG-UTh-A 425 122 ± 1 108 ± 1 1202.7 ± 5.4 1.8722 ± 0.0135 74.017 ± 0.402 0.038 ± 0 0.983 ± 0.002 4.273 ± 0.022 4.219 ± 0.032 0.982 ± 0.002 # MB3 UTO-69 107 ± 1 123 ± 1 977.2 ± 4.9 2.9181 ± 0.0277 47.582 ± 0.377 0.046 ± 0 0.979 ± 0.002 5.312 ± 0.033 0.979 5.214 ± 0.054 0.979 ± 0.002 # MB3 UTO-70 92 ± 1 138 ± 1 636.5 ± 3.2 0.1981 ± 0.0028 478.760 ± 5.830 0.049 ± 0 0.977 ± 0.002 5.590 ± 0.045 0.977 5.571 ± 0.045 0.977 ± 0.002 # MB-3 BIG-UTh-A 397 81 ± 1 149 ± 1 634.2 ± 26.8 0.0581 ± 0.0031 1682.223 ± 23.208 0.050 ± 0 0.978 ± 0.002 5.788 ± 0.044 5.779 ± 0.044 0.977 ± 0.002 # MB3 UTO-72 70 ± 1 160 ± 1 371.9 ± 1.5 0.6492 ± 0.0053 95.460 ± 0.802 0.055 ± 0 0.974 ± 0.002 6.290 ± 0.053 0.974 6.229 ± 0.059 0.974 ± 0.002 # MB-3 BIG-UTh-A 424 47 ± 1 183 ± 5 973.9 ± 4.5 0.3022 ± 0.0022 562.950 ± 2.539 0.057 ± 0 0.979 ± 0.002 6.570 ± 0.030 6.553 ± 0.030 0.979 ± 0.002 # MB3 UTO-73 32 ± 1 198 ± 1 915.7 ± 7.1 0.6879 ± 0.0078 253.075 ± 2.028 0.062 ± 0 0.977 ± 0.002 7.190 ± 0.049 0.976 7.158 ± 0.051 0.976 ± 0.002 # MB3 UTO-74 10 ± 1 220 ± 1 1046.1 ± 7.0 1.9980 ± 0.0172 113.561 ± 0.870 0.071 ± 0 0.976 ± 0.002 8.247 ± 0.050 0.975 8.181 ± 0.057 0.975 ± 0.002 # MB-3 BIG-UTh-A 396 7 ± 1 223 ± 1 835.1 ± 36.2 2.4892 ± 0.1211 73.716 ± 0.606 0.072 ± 0 0.973 ± 0.002 8.386 ± 0.065 8.291 ± 0.079 0.972 ± 0.002 # MB3 UTO-75 1 ± 1 230 ± 1 826.2 ± 28.5 1.6863 ± 0.0674 119.212 ± 2.144 0.080 ± 0 0.979 ± 0.003 9.262 ± 0.157 0.979 9.192 ± 0.159 0.979 ± 0.003 # # MB-5 BIG-UTh-A 538 129 ± 1 1 ± 1 750.1 ± 3.0 6.1885 ± 0.0238 8.634 ± 0.064 0.003 ± 0 1.022 ± 0.002 2.520 ± 0.022 2.280 ± 0.118 1.022 ± 0.002 # MB-5 BIG-UTh-A 501 126 ± 1 4 ± 1 744.7 ± 3.4 0.4529 ± 0.0038 182.356 ± 1.210 0.036 ± 0 0.985 ± 0.002 4.098 ± 0.028 4.073 ± 0.030 0.985 ± 0.002 # MB-5 BIG-UTh-A 502 112 ± 1 18 ± 1 753.9 ± 3.5 1.5752 ± 0.0130 59.196 ± 0.484 0.040 ± 0 0.993 ± 0.002 4.542 ± 0.031 4.474 ± 0.043 0.993 ± 0.002 # MB-5 BIG-UTh-A 503 94 ± 1 36 ± 1 625.7 ± 4.0 0.8980 ± 0.0088 87.800 ± 0.748 0.041 ± 0 0.996 ± 0.002 4.618 ± 0.036 4.569 ± 0.042 0.996 ± 0.002 # MB-5 BIG-UTh-A 504 76 ± 1 54 ± 1 524.9 ± 2.6 2.0643 ± 0.0162 35.084 ± 0.282 0.045 ± 0 0.997 ± 0.002 5.059 ± 0.038 4.939 ± 0.068 0.997 ± 0.002 # MB-5 BIG-UTh-A 505 63 ± 1 67 ± 1 291.8 ± 1.3 0.3285 ± 0.0025 138.405 ± 1.063 0.051 ± 0 0.988 ± 0.002 5.784 ± 0.042 5.744 ± 0.045 0.988 ± 0.002 # MB-5 BIG-UTh-A 506 47 ± 1 83 ± 1 498.1 ± 3.3 0.8668 ± 0.0080 97.324 ± 0.761 0.055 ± 0 0.996 ± 0.002 6.249 ± 0.047 6.192 ± 0.053 0.996 ± 0.002 # MB-5 BIG-UTh-A 507 38 ± 1 92 ± 1 255.4 ± 20.5 0.5024 ± 0.0396 88.863 ± 0.830 0.057 ± 0 1.000 ± 0.002 6.435 ± 0.053 6.370 ± 0.060 1.000 ± 0.002 # MB5 UTO-76 20 ± 1 110 ± 1 674.6 ± 4.5 0.5926 ± 0.0068 212.091 ± 2.077 0.061 ± 0 1.004 ± 0.002 6.838 ± 0.065 1.004 6.803 ± 0.066 1.004 ± 0.002 # MB-5 BIG-UTh-A 539 4 ± 1 126 ± 1 1209.6 ± 8.6 13.2938 ± 0.1014 18.734 ± 0.104 0.004 ± 0 0.998 ± 0.002 7.630 ± 0.051 7.305 ± 0.166 0.998 ± 0.002 # # MB6 UTO-64 24 ± 1 2 ± 1 375.2 ± 5.4 2.6301 ± 0.0430 25.203 ± 0.406 0.058 ± 0 1.007 ± 0.003 6.458 ± 0.111 1.007 6.249 ± 0.149 1.007 ± 0.003 # MB6 UTO-65 17 ± 2 9 ± 1 230.0 ± 1.4 0.2843 ± 0.0032 133.176 ± 1.796 0.054 ± 0 1.075 ± 0.002 5.609 ± 0.072 1.077 5.567 ± 0.074 1.077 ± 0.002 # MB6 UTO-66 13 ± 3 13 ± 1 894.2 ± 7.5 0.5246 ± 0.0071 283.286 ± 3.218 0.054 ± 0 1.007 ± 0.002 6.059 ± 0.055 1.008 6.032 ± 0.055 1.008 ± 0.002 # MB6 UTO-67 8 ± 4 18 ± 1 252.6 ± 1.4 0.1295 ± 0.0027 336.787 ± 5.875 0.056 ± 0 1.035 ± 0.002 6.127 ± 0.073 1.035 6.103 ± 0.074 1.035 ± 0.002 # # #------------------ # Variables # # End Description/Documentation (lines begin with #) # Data lines follow (have no #) # Data line variables format: Variables list, one per line, shortname-tab-longname-tab-longname components (9 components: material, error, units, anomaly, period, archive, detail, method, C or N for Character or Numeric data) # Data line format: tab-delimited text, variable short name as header # ## age_calBP2000 Age (calendar years before 2000AD), , , cal years BP 2000AD, , , , ,N ## elev Elevation of Grindelwald ice, , , m asl, , , , , N ## elev_err+ Elevation of Grindelwald ice error+, , , m, , , , , N ## elev_err- Elevation of Grindelwald ice error-, , , m, , , , , N #------------------ # Data: # Missing_Values: NA age_calBP2000 elev elev_err+ elev_err- 2000 1900 50 50 2092 1900 50 50 2110 1850 20 20 2156 1850 20 20 2156 1875 20 20 2194 1875 20 20 2228 1800 30 60 2288 1800 30 60 2294 1900 50 50 2344 1900 50 50 2344 1850 20 20 2384 1850 20 20 2388 1900 50 50 2700 1900 50 50 2716 1850 20 20 2894 1850 20 20 2912 1900 50 50 2950 1900 50 50 2972 1850 20 20 3018 1850 20 20 3042 1900 50 50 3078 1900 50 50 3086 1850 20 20 3122 1850 20 20 3142 1900 50 50 3294 1900 50 50 3308 1800 30 60 3348 1800 30 60 3356 1900 50 50 3388 1900 50 50 3390 1850 20 20 3550 1850 20 20 3556 1900 50 50 3658 1900 50 50 3678 1850 20 20 3742 1850 20 20 3746 1875 20 20 3810 1875 20 20 3824 1850 20 20 4040 1850 20 20 4046 1900 50 50 4086 1900 50 50 4098 1850 20 20 4214 1850 20 20 4234 1875 20 20 4292 1875 20 20 4328 1800 30 60 4486 1800 30 60 4512 1875 20 20 4550 1875 20 20 4576 1850 20 20 4956 1850 20 20 4956 1800 30 60 5204 1800 30 60 5218 1850 20 20 5342 1850 20 20 5378 1800 30 60 5412 1850 20 20 5516 1850 20 20 5532 1800 30 60 5582 1800 30 60 5586 1850 20 20 5892 1850 20 20 5912 1740 20 80 5930 1850 20 20 6006 1850 20 20 6024 1740 20 80 6042 1850 20 20 6070 1850 20 20 6090 1740 20 80 6110 1850 20 20 6130 1740 20 80 6144 1740 20 80 6164 1850 20 20 6398 1850 20 20 6406 1740 20 80 6432 1740 20 80 6432 1850 20 20 6818 1850 20 20 6824 1740 20 80 6850 1740 20 80 6850 1850 20 20 6862 1850 20 20 6862 1740 20 80 6954 1740 20 80 6954 1850 20 20 7012 1850 20 20 7012 1740 20 80 7040 1740 20 80 7040 1850 20 20 7060 1850 20 20 7060 1740 20 80 7084 1740 20 80 7092 1850 20 20 7094 1740 20 80 7126 1740 20 80 7132 1850 20 20 7178 1850 20 20 7180 1740 20 80 7202 1740 20 80 7212 1850 20 20 7226 1740 20 80 7248 1740 20 80 7248 1850 20 20 7266 1850 20 20 7270 1740 20 80 7668 1740 20 80 7668 1850 20 20 7690 1850 20 20 7698 1740 20 80 7726 1740 20 80 7732 1850 20 20 7744 1850 20 20 7756 1740 20 80 7976 1740 20 80 7976 1850 20 20 7990 1850 20 20 8002 1740 20 80 8020 1740 20 80 8024 1850 20 20 8044 1850 20 20 8050 1740 20 80 8180 1740 20 80 8192 1850 20 20 8262 1850 20 20 8262 1740 20 80 8292 1740 20 80 8292 1850 20 20 8386 1850 20 20 8386 1740 20 80 8410 1740 20 80 8410 1850 20 20 8422 1850 20 20 8432 1740 20 80 9134 1740 20 80 9164 1850 20 20 9194 1740 20 80 9214 1850 20 20 9234 1740 20 80 9364 1740 20 80