Permafrost response to the post Little Ice Age climate variability in the Romanian Carpathians

Abstract

The geomorphological evidences along with the range of methods recently (since 2008) applied in the Romanian Carpathians indicate that most of the rock glaciers are relict or inactive in the present. Only a few cases of active or complex rock glaciers (active only across their upper parts) are supposed to exist in the highest granitic massifs of Southern Carpathians (Retezat and Parâng), but contemporary inactivation trends seem to take place as indicated by growth of vegetation (especially Pinus mugo) on their fronts. On the other hand, most of the inactive rock glaciers present distinct signs of activity in the recent past that followed the Little Ice Age colder period which in the Romanian Carpathians had its last maximum between 1820 and 1840 (Popa and Kern, 2008).