The Alps: glacial landforms from the Bølling-Allerød Interstadial

The Bølling-Allerød Interstadial was characterized by a sharp warming in comparison to the preceding Oldest Dryas promoting final collapse of the Alpine glaciers of the Gschnitz stadial advance. During the interstadial, periglacial processes led to the spread of rock glaciers at high elevations, while forests recovered the valley slopes up to 2000 m a.s.l. If glaciers did advance slightly during the interstadial, the glacial landforms were likely obliterated by subsequent marked advances of the Younger Dryas (Egesen stadial).