Kathryn Adamson

B.Sc. Geography – The University of Manchester – First Class Honours.
M.Sc. Quaternary Science – Royal Holloway, University of London/UCL - Distinction.

The response of Mediterranean river basins to Pleistocene glaciation.

Supervisors: Jamie Woodward and Phil Hughes.

Quaternary geomorphology, palaeohydrology, carbonate micromorphology, Quaternary sedimentology and stratigraphy.

The response of Mediterranean river basins to Pleistocene glaciation

This project aims to establish the impacts of ice caps and valley glaciers upon Pleistocene Mediterranean river systems. Focus is placed on fluvial systems draining the formerly glaciated Orjen Massif (1894 m a.s.l), on the border of Montenegro, Bosnia-Herzegovina, and Croatia. In Montenegro, the distinct climatic regime, dominantly limestone geology, and excellent preservation potential of the study sites provides a significant opportunity to explore long-term fluvial response to glaciation.

As one of the wettest parts of Europe, with precipitation inputs frequently exceeding 4,000mm/yr, the uplands of Montenegro contained some of the largest Pleistocene ice masses of the Mediterranean basin. Associated meltwater and sediment fluxes can influence landscape processes over prolonged timescales and for considerable distances downstream, potentially extending as far as the coastal zone. Glacially-derived alluvial deposits can therefore provide a valuable record of Quaternary glacial activity and palaeoenvironmental change. The meltwater routes emanating from the Orjen massif present a variety of depositional settings, including coastal and upland alluvial fans, polje fills and river terraces. These are all broadly representative of glaciated terrains across the Mediterranean and further afield.

The existing glacial record, that has been securely mapped and dated using U-series methods and detailed morphostratigraphy (Hughes et al., 2010), allows these fluvial settings to be studied in the context of a single, unified landsystem. This will allow us to investigate the timing and morphosedimentary response of river systems to Pleistocene glaciation over multiple glacial-interglacial cycles since MIS 12. These records therefore represent a significant, yet currently unexplored, archive of Quaternary environmental change in the Northern Hemisphere.

The primary research aims are as follows:

1. To establish the nature and timing of fluvial response to Pleistocene glaciation in Montenegro, and explore its wider significance.
2. To examine post-depositional pedogenic processes and establish the palaeoclimatic significance of secondary calcrete horizons.
3. To test current hypotheses of fluvial geomorphological and sedimentological response to Pleistocene glacial activity.

A combination of field and laboratory techniques, at 14 sites surrounding the Orjen massif, is employed at 3 spatial scales: large scale geomorphological mapping of the study region; local scale sedimentological and stratigraphic analysis; and micromorophological analysis of secondary carbonate horizons. A detailed U-series chronology, of 30 dates, is being developed in collaboration with the NERC U-series facility at the Open University. Palaeoenvironmental records obtained from the fluvial environment will then be reconciled with the Montenegrin glacial record and marine archives from the Bay of Kotor, as well as multi-proxy records from across the Mediterranean region. This will be used to test current ideas on the response of fluvial systems to Pleistocene glacial activity, within the wider Mediterranean region and elsewhere. Through adopting this approach, it is hoped to develop a truly integrated reconstruction of Pleistocene landsystem dynamics in this part of the Mediterranean.

Hughes, P. D., Woodward, J. C., van Calsteren, P. C., Thomas, L. E. and Adamson, K. R. (2010) ‘Pleistocene ice caps on the coastal mountains of the Adriatic Sea’ in Quaternary Science Reviews 29 (27-28) 3690-3708.

Candy, I., Adamson, K. R., Gallant, C. E. and Pope, R. (2011) ‘Oxygen and carbon isotopic composition of Quaternary meteoric carbonates from western and southern Europe: their role in palaoenvironmental reconstruction’ in Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology Accepted.