The form, distribution and palaeoclimatic implications of cirques in southwest Turkey (Western Taurus)

Abstract

© 2021 Elsevier B.V.The Taurus Mountains of southwest Turkey are split into numerous separated ranges, of which eleven supported former glaciers. We describe cirques and related moraines in four new locations, as well as those in seven ranges where glaciation was previously known. This gives a complete inventory of the 85 cirques in southwest Turkey. These are comparable in size to those elsewhere, but narrower and often less developed. Lengths averaging 672 m are high relative to widths of 542 m. Overall axial gradients average 22.4°. Cirque floor altitudes are controlled largely by altitudes of the mountains above, but they also vary in relation to precipitation, in sympathy with ELAs (Equilibrium Line Altitudes) of former glaciers. In most ranges where glaciers were short (extending little beyond cirques), ELA can be predicted from mean mid-floor altitude. Our observations demonstrate lower ELAs than in previous literature. Both ELAs and cirque floors rise eastward in the west, and northward inland from the coast. This supports the importance of winds from the west and southwest, off the Mediterranean Sea, bringing LGM (Last Glacial Maximum) conditions wetter than present to mountains near the coast. Cirques face on average a little east of north, showing the effects of shade and differential solar radiation receipt.