| Methods
for reconstructing Holocene glacier fluctuations |
Holocene
(post-glacial)
| 10000 yBP |
Little
Ice Age |
Today |
|
| Glaciological
methods |
Hydrological, meteorogical and glaciological
methods |
Direct measurement of snow and firn accumulation,
ablation and estimation of the mass balance |
 |
|
| Geodesic methods |
Length variations, calculation
of volume and surface fluctuations using serial photographs and measurements |
|
| Historical
methods |
Maps and relief
models |
|
 |
|
| Visual records |
Engravings, paintings, drawings, photographs |
 |
|
| Written
accounts |
Chronicles, contracts of purchase concerning
Alpine pastures near glaciers, hand written documents and travel books,
scientific papers and books about the Alps and glaciers |
 |
|
| Archeological methods |
Traces of ancient and human
activity in the vicinity of glaciers which can be correlated with
the development of the glacier (foundations and beams from old buildins,
remain of abandoned irrigation channels, particularly in the Valaisian
Alps). Dating with written accounts, 14C and dendrochronology |
 |
|
| Field
methods |
Mapping the proglacial area
with the moraine ridges |
Fossil soils, dating with 14C |
 |
|
| Fossil trees (trunks, branches and roots),
dating with 14C |
 |
|
Glacial fluctuations in the Holocene can be reconstructed using
various methods of differing precision and covering different periods
back into the past. 
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