Late Pleistocene glacial advances, equilibrium-line altitude changes and paleoclimate in the Jakupica Mts (North Macedonia)

In the Jakupica Mt. (North Macedonia, Central Balkan Peninsula; ~41.7° N, ~21.4 E; maximum elevation: 2540 m asl) a large plateau glacier was reconstructed. The lowest mapped moraines in the northeastern valleys are at elevations of 1490-1720 m asl and suggest the former existence of glacier tongues of ~3 km length. The maximum ice extent and five deglaciation phases were reconstructed. The equilibrium line altitude (ELA) of the most extended glacial phase is 2073+37/-25 m asl. The 10Be Cosmic Ray Exposure (CRE) age (n=8) of this phase was estimated at 19.3+1.7/-1.3 ka, conformable with the LGM similarly to the nearby Jablanica Mt [1]. CRE ages from the next moraine generation placed the first phase of deglaciation to 18.2+1.0/-3.0 ka (n=8). The samples from the moraine of the penultimate deglaciation phase (n=5) provided CRE ages with large scatter and biased towards old ages, which is probably the result of inherited cosmogenic nuclide concentrations within the rock [2, 3], as it was suggested in the cirques of the Retezat Mt. [4].Glacio-climatological modelling was performed under constrains of geomorphological evidence in order to make paleoclimatological inferences. The degree-day model was used to calculate the amount of accumulation required to sustain the glaciological equilibrium assuming a certain temperature drop at the ELA for the most extended stage.If the LGM mean annual temperature and the increased annual temperature range suggested by pollen-based paleoclimate reconstructions [5] are placed into the glaciological model the estimated annual total melt at the LGM ELA implies much wetter conditions compared to the current climate. This is in contrast with the regional LGM annual precipitation reconstructions of the same dataset, which suggests ~25% decrease in the Jakupica Mt. Alternatively, the model can be constrained with the current annual temperature range and the regional estimates of LGM temperature drop at 6-7 °C. This suggests 1.3 to 1.8 times more simulated precipitation than today.These results support paleoclimate models, which predict increased precipitation in this region and suggest that in the Central Balkan region either the precipitation or the annual temperature amplitude (or both) are inaccurate in the pollen-based paleoclimate reconstruction database. Funding: NKFIH FK124807; GINOP-2.3.2-15-2016-00009; RADIATE 19001688-ST. [1] Ruszkiczay-Rüdiger et al. 2020. Geomorphology 351: 106985[2] Ruszkiczay-Rüdiger et al. 2021. GRA, EGU21-4573[3] Ruszkiczay-Rüdiger et al. 2021. vDEUQUA2021, Book of Abstracts, DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.5526214[4] Ruszkiczay-Rüdiger et al. 2021. Geomorphology, 107719.[5] Bartlein, et al. 2011. Clim. Dyn. 37, 775–802.