The Glacial history of Mt Parnassus, Central Greece
The core objective of this project is to constrain the age of Middle to Late Pleistocene glacial deposits on Mt Parnassus in central Greece, focusing on the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM or commonly known as Ice Age) and the Lateglacial (the transition period from the Ice Age to the current interglacial period known as Holocene). This study also aims at inferring information for the climate of the past through the comparison of the glacial record in Greece and the Balkans with other regional paleoclimatic records such as pollen records, lacustrine/marine sediment cores and speleothems. The goal of this study is to create a key link between the well-studied Pindus mountains/Mt Olympus in northern Greece and Mt Chelmos in the Peloponnese in the south, allowing for a first reconstruction of the palaeoclimatic conditions across Greece at these times as well as for the testing of the climatic hypothesis of a more arid climate during the Lateglacial in northern Greece compared to the south.
In the framework of this project a citizen-based sampling campaign for 36Cl dating of glacial deposits on Mt Parnassus was organised on the 26th and 27th of June 2021. The organization was jointly realized by geoscientists (Aris Leontaritis & Kosmas Pavlopoulos) and professional mountain-hiking guides (www.nomadspath.gr). An open call for the participation of citizens was made. A multi-beneficial collaboration was achieved which resulted in a very efficient and successful sampling campaign and a very interesting and fun scientific/hiking weekend for the participants. Particularly, a joint group of 13 persons collected 18 high quality samples from glacial boulders in selected moraines after hard and meticulous work. Within this group, two geoscientists coordinated and supervised the scientific work, and three professional hiking guides took responsibility of the group safety, the organization of the camp and of advising the 8 participants on tackling the challenges in this hard and remote mountain terrain. The samples are currently under AMS analysis (Accelarated Mass Spectrometry) in the SUERC lab facilities in Scotland and the results are anticipated with great excitement.
In collaboration with:
University of Aberdeen (Professor Matteo Spagnolo), The University of Manchester (Professor Philip D. Hughes), University of Pisa (Assoc. Professor Adriano Ribolini), Nomads Path Outdoor Adventures, Sorbonne University Abu Dhabi (Professor Kosmas Pavlopoulos)
Related Publications:
The Late Quaternary Glacial History of Greece (PhD Thesis) – 2021
The glacial history of Greece: a comprehensive review – 2020