APPLYING SCHMIDT-HAMMER EXPOSURE-AGE DATING (SHD) TO EVALUATE THE AGE OF PERIGLACIAL AND PARAGLACIAL FEATURES IN SOUTHERN NORWAY

Abstract

Schmidt-hammer exposure-age dating (SHD) was performed on various talus derived landforms along a west-east transect in southern Norway. SHD provides useful information on the timing of formation and stabilization of periglacial and paraglacial landforms. These landforms are often associated to be geomorphological footprints of climatic cooling during the late Quaternary and the Holocene. The landform ages from the western location show that those landforms reacted more sensitively to climatic fluctuations, as many of periglacial landforms were re-mobilized and stabilized in the late Holocene. This is in contrast to the eastern study area, where most of the landforms stabilized in the late Quaternary. The estimated SHD ages show that the landforms in the eastern study area were not re-mobilized during several cold climate periods following the last deglaciation. All landforms investigated appear to be relict without recent process dynamics. We explain this by the sufficient moisture supply which enhances processes responsible for periglacial landforms formation and re-mobilization in the maritime western fjord region.