Distribution, Thickness and Evolution of Permafrost in Central Europe in Late Quaternary

Distribution, Thickness and Evolution of Permafrost in Central Europe in Late Quaternary

The project deals with topical palaeo-geographical theme of Late Quaternary permafrost changes in non-alpine Central Europe. We intend to answer still-discussed and largely unresolved problems of what were the glacier–permafrost interactions around the southern limit of the Scandinavian ice sheet, how permafrost extent and thickness responded to climate fluctuations during stadials and interstadials and at the Pleistocene––Holocene transition, or how it degraded during the Holocene. We address these issues through an innovative approach that combines mathematical modelling of permafrost dynamics using palaeo-temperatures obtained from borehole temperature logs and proxy records with empirical reconstructions based on distribution and chronology of relict permafrost-related landforms and sedimentary structures. The project outputs will help to better understand the palaeo-environmental evolution of mid-latitude areas where permafrost has played an important role in the past as well as to assess the changes in present-day permafrost regions and to forecast their future dynamics.