Publication details
The Periglaciation of Europe
| Authors | |
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| Year of publication | 2023 |
| Type | Chapter of a book |
| MU Faculty or unit | |
| Citation | |
| Description | Europe includes a vast surface extent from subtropical to polar latitudes. The rough relief of the continent with several peninsulas, islands, capes, bays and several mountain ranges exceeding 2,500–3,000 m conditions a broad diversity of climate regimes, which has determined the distribution of past and present periglacial dynamics. Quaternary climate variability has favoured an alternation of glacial and periglacial processes in present-day cold-climate areas of the continent, such as mountain regions and high latitudes. In these areas, we found a wide variety of glacial and periglacial features. Regions that were covered by the ice during Pleistocene glacial cycles have subsequently been shaped by periglacial processes which, in some cases, still prevail nowadays. By contrast, periglacial landforms are relict in areas that were affected by periglacial processes during past glacial cycles. Indeed, some of these inherited landforms showed evidence of the past occurrence of permafrost, which is currently limited to the highest mountain areas at ca. 2,500–3,000 m in southern-central Europe decreasing to ca. 800–1,000 m in Iceland and northern Scandinavia. At lower elevations, environmental dynamics in the current periglacial belt in mountain regions are controlled by seasonal frost. |