APVV-15-0292

Fakulta prírodných vied UMB Banská Bystrica, Ekonomická fakulta UMB Banská Bystrica, Prírodovedecká fakulta UK Bratislava

The historical and meteorological climate records are too short to appreciate a global average temperature increase since 1990. Therefore it is necessary to search information about environmental changes in the past for reflections on future climate and environmental change and the mechanisms of natural climate variability. One of the most intensively studied geological period in palaeoclimatology is the transition between the last glacial maximum (LGM) and the Holocene when the average annual temperature of the atmosphere increased by 5°C and greatly affected the Earth’s ecosystems. LGM resulted in the formation of mountain glacier in the High Tatras, which after its maximum extension at around 23 ka retreated and disappeared 8330 BP. Knowledge about the timing of the deglaciation and the subsequent ecological changes remain limited despite 150 years of glaciological research in the High Tatras. The main project aim is study of deglaciation in alpine zone after LGM with respect to topography, altitude and orientation to north-south gradient. It will study a transition from glacial to post-glacial sedimentation and environmental changes in limnic sediments after the glacier retreat. To achieve the research objectives, the selected lakes cover a whole territory of the Slovak part of the High Tatras which has not yet been studied on the proposed scale. Sedimentary infill will be studied by analytical methods that have not yet been used in postglacial research in the Western Carpathians. A unique database of the High Tatras lakes infill will be built.