Pleistocene glacial and lacustrine activity in the southern part of Mount Olympus (central Greece)

Glacial activity affects landscape evolution in some parts of mountainous Greece. This paper deals with the southern part of Mount Olympus where the geomorphological impacts of Pleistocene glaciations are well presented. It is a preliminary study to demonstrate the landscape that has evolved as a result of glacial activity in these uplands. For this purpose, detailed field work and large-scale geomorphological mapping were performed. A 25-m sediment core was retrieved from the study area on which preliminary lithological and micropalaeontological-palaeobotanical analyses were performed. The intense glacial activity of the southern Mount Olympus area produced a number of landscape changes. Three cirques were identified in the uplands whose evolution has led to the formation of various types of moraines (ground, lateral, medial and terminal) down to an altitude of 1677 m. Intense glacio-fluvial activity caused a major reconfiguration of the drainage network in this area and also caused the formation of a lake. The occurrence of a water body in the area is documented by the presence of aquatic vegetation in parts of a 25-m core retrieved from this former lake basin. In recent times, the lake overtopped the fluvial deposits that bounded it, incising them and leading to the emptying of the lake.