Revised deglaciation history of the Pietrele-Stânişoara glacial complex, Retezat Mts, Southern Carpathians, Romania

Although geomorphological evidences of Quaternary glaciations of the Southern Carpathians were extensively studied and discussed, the limited number of chronological studies resulted in poor and controversial knowledge on the age of glaciations and deglaciation of the area. We use new and recalculated in situ produced 10Be surface exposure ages of glacial landforms to shed light on the age of the maximum glacial extent and the glacier oscillations during the last deglaciation process on the northern side of the Retezat Mountains. According to our data, the maximum ice extent documented by preserved moraines occurred around 21.0−1.5+0.8 ka, coincident with the global Last Glacial Maximum (LGM). The deglaciation process during the Lateglacial was characterized by two glacial advances at 18.6−0.8+0.9 and 16.3−0.6+0.6 ka. Inferred stabilization date of the penultimate glacial stage at 15.2−0.8+0.7 ka was closely followed by the abrupt warming at the onset of the Bølling/Allerød documented by a local chironomid-based temperature reconstruction. The last small glacier advance was dated to 13.5−0.4+0.5 ka. These recessional/readvance phases agree with other European glacial chronologies.