SGER: Quantifying subglacial erosion rates and Timing of Holocene warm periods by in-situ 14C/10Be - A proof of concept

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This project will develop and apply a novel in situ carbon-14/beryllium-10 (14C/10Be) chronometer as a tool to quantify periods during which mountain glaciers and ice-sheets were smaller than today. The results will provide a semi-continuous record of fluctuations of the Rhone Glacier during the Holocene, which can be combined with glacier energy balance models to estimate temperature and precipitation changes. The project will also aid in providing a better understanding of the patterns and rates of subglacial erosion beneath an alpine type glacier, and it will afford a calibration for the new isotopic earth surface process tool, which could be applied in many other glacier and ice-sheet systems globally. The research will quantify the duration in which glaciers were smaller than today and, in turn, infer key information related to climate warm periods, which will provide relevant information concerning the present-day global warmth. This is a neglected area of investigation, since we often operate under the assumption that recent climate change has been continuously in one direction. This research has the potential to provide realistic constraints on the extent and nature of previous warm episodes and to develop a method for extending this analysis to other parts of the globe.