Glacial forms and ice distribution in the Northern Vosges during the last ice age

Abstract

During the last ice age, the Northern Vosges have been intensely glaciated. The climatic snow line was at an altitude of approximately 700 m. Nevertheless, the floors of some typical cirques do lay at even lower altitudes, as a result of important snow drift by SW winds. Comparison of snow drift mechanisms and of the loess distribution pattern in the Alsatian graben suggests frequent anticyclonic conditions during winter in Central Europe. This was probably in the form of a high pressure bridge linking the early autumn. High temperatures resulted in more abundant precipitation, mostly snow which played a major role in the glaciation, principally replenishing glaciers on leeslopes, facing NE, in the Buntsandstein plateau area. Nevertheless, 'typical' glacial landforms are uncommon. They are restricted to cirques. This suggests that the so-called 'typical' glacial landforms are an extreme case, their occurrence depending on specific lithological characteristics.