25. Großglockner and Pasterze Glacier: Landscape Evolution at Austria’s Highest Summit and Its Neighbouring Glacier System

The Großglockner-Pasterze Glacier area represents one of the most famous mountain sceneries of the entire European Alps. It has attracted scientific and tourist attention since the mid-nineteenth century resulting in a long research tradition. This high mountain landscape is built of crystalline rocks, and the climate is characterised by low temperatures depending on elevation and by a pronounced precipitation gradient from north to south. This chapter is focussed on the Pasterze Glacier, and the glacial history from the Last Glacial Maximum to the glacier’s retreat since the Little Ice Age maximum is discussed. Significant findings of fossil wood and peat provide important palaeoclimatic information for the Holocene at Pasterze Glacier. Glacier length changes have been measured since 1879, revealing one of the longest records of glacier retreat worldwide. Data are also presented on the paraglacial gravitational processes that occur adjacent to the retreating glacier. In the foreseeable future, continuing glacier recession will foster mass wasting processes that are significant natural hazards. These developments are also of importance in the context of environmental protection within the Hohe Tauern National Park.