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Abstract
Eighteen radiocarbon age determinations are presented from a single horizon (FH) of a humo-ferric podzol that was buried beneath the outermost Neoglacial end moraine of the southern Norwegian glacier, Haugabreen. Thin slices of this organic-rich surface horizon revealed, after physico-chemical fractionation, near-surface ages as young as 485 ± 60 (14C yr ± 1δ), basal ages up to 4020 ± 70, a strong linear increase in age with depth and an age reversal in the top 10 mm. Regression analysis of the ‘humic acid’ ages at eight depths predicted that the palaeosol was buried 253 ± 365 Calendar years B. P. (with 95 % confidence), an estimate in good agreement with independent evidence for burial by the glacier at its ‘Little Ice Age’ maximum extent about A. D. 1750. Thus quite close estimates of the timing of events which led to the burial of palaeosols may be possible, provided that the dating is sufficiently sophisticated. It is also suggested that relatively sudden initiation of horizon development before about 4500 Calendar years B. P. may have been caused by a deteriorating climate.