I GHIACCIAI DELLA VAL SISSONE (VALTELLINA, ALPI RETICHE) E LA LORO STORIA OLOCENICA

Abstract

The Val Sissone glaciers (Valtellina, Rhetian Alps) and their holocenic evolution. The reconstruction of the evolution of
some Val Sissone glaciers (Rhetian Alps, Italy), with particular attention to the Disgrazia Glacier, gives a contribution to the knowledge
of the glacial fluctuations since the Little Ice Age in the Italian Alps. By utilizing different dating methods (radiocarbon, dendrogeomorphology, historical documentation), it is possible to attribute the maximum glacial advance to a period after the XIX Century. Other glacier expansion phases belong to the ’20 yrs of the XIX Century and to the ’20 and ’80 years of the XX Century. The XX Century trend, based on terminus variation direct measurements, was in any case absolutely negative and caused a retreat of the Disgrazia Glacier snout of about 1 km