Holocene cirque glacier activity in Rondane, southern Norway

Skriufonnen is a small cirque glacier (0.03 km2) in the continental mountains of Rondane in southern Norway. At present, it is the only glacier in Rondane, and very little is known about Holocene glacier fluctuations in this region. Direct observations of the glacier began in 2002, since which time Skriufonnen has been in a state of strong decline. In order to provide a temporal context, past glacier fluctuations were reconstructed based on a series of short HTH gravity cores (n = 8) and long piston cores (n = 6) retrieved from three downstream lakes of Skriufonnen. The cores were analysed for selected magnetic properties (χbulk, ARM, SIRM, 77 K/293 K), organic content (LOI), and geochemical trace elements. Soil catchment samples (n = 6) were collected along a transect running from the three lakes up to the present glacier terminus. Bulk susceptibility (χbulk) measurements show that the finest fractions systematically return the highest values and that ferromagnetic minerals are depleted with distance to the glacier front. This means that periods dominated by paramagnetic minerals indicate very little or no glacier activity, whereas intervals with more ferromagnetic minerals suggest increased glacier activity. The quantitative core analyses indicate that Skriufonnen existed prior to 10,200 b2k (years before A.D. 2000) and disappeared ~ 10,000 b2k. No glacier activity is recorded from c. 10,000 b2k until the glacier reoccurred at the onset of the local Neoglacial period, c. 4000 b2k. The glacier attained its maximum extent between 3200 and 2400 b2k and during the end of the 'Little Ice Age' (LIA) c. A.D. 1800. Neoglacial fluctuations of Skriufonnen are in line with shifts in local summer temperatures and show a delayed Neoglacial inception compared to western Norway.