European Glacial Landscapes

European Glacial Landscapes: The Role of Glaciers in Shaping the Landscape of Europe brings together relevant experts on the history of glaciers and their impact on the landscape of the main regions of Europe. In some regions the largest recorded glaciations occurred before the Last Glacial Cycle, in one of the major glacial cycles of the Middle Pleistocene. However, the best-preserved evidence of glaciation in the landscape is from the Last Glacial Cycle (Late Pleistocene). In many areas, the European glaciers recorded their last maximum expansion from around between 29,000 to 19,000 years ago, when ice-sheets covered all the Scandinavian countries, Finland, much of the British Isles, the shores of the Baltic Sea and Central-Europe until roughly the present Rhine River. The glaciers covered also large areas of the main European mountains, such as the Urals, the Carpathians, the Alps, the Balkans, the Pyrenees, etc. Even in the southernmost mountains glaciers were present, sometimes forming substantial ice caps with cirque glaciers on relatively low mountains bordering the Mediterranean Sea. The book examines the landscapes produced by glaciers throughout Europe, from the earliest recorded glaciations to the most impressive and most obvious legacy of the Last Glacial Cycle.In addition to the geomorphological effects of glaciations, the book also examines the chronology and evolution of the past glaciers, with the aim of understanding the interrelationship between glacial expansion and climate changes on this continent. Glacial expansion and retreat occurred numerous times over the last million years, with cold periods interrupted by short warm periods, interglacials, with massive shrinkage of the glaciers. Curiously, each of glacial expansions in Europe reached limits very similar to the previous ones, erasing in part previous landforms and deposits. In fact, the glaciers of the Last Glacial Cycle erased most of the landforms left by the previous cycles, although with a few notable exceptions. The book also analyses these older glacial landforms that can sometimes still be seen in the landscape today. Together, the glacial landforms and associated deposits of Europe represent highly valuable heritage of past environmental changes and their consequences on the layout of rivers, soil characteristics, coastal, lowlands and highland landforms. This analysis serves to better understand the succession of Pleistocene glaciations and the intervening interglacial periods and to examine their possible continental synchrony or asynchrony of past glacier behaviour. The ultimate result of this analysis is to provide important new insights and information on the origin and effects of climatic and geomorphological variability across Europe. Provides a synthesis that highlights the main similarities or differences, through both space and time, during the maximum recorded expansions of Pleistocene glaciers in EuropeFeatures research from experts in glacial geomorphology, palaeo-glaciology, palaeo-climatology and palaeo-oceanography on glacial expansion in EuropeIncludes access to a website with an interactive map, photos of glacial features, and geospatial data about the landscapes related to glacial expansions in Europe