Proof Of Warmer Earlier Climate! Swiss Geologist Studies 10,800-Year Old Tree Trunk Under Alps Glacier

Previously hidden under a Swiss glacier, a 10,800-year old tree trunk was discovered and tells us the Alps were much warmer in the early Holocene than today.

Online SRF Swiss Broadccasting recently reported on a fascinating find in the Swiss Alps: a more than 10,000 year old tree trunk that had been until recently buried under the Morteratsch Glacier.

University of Bern Professor Emeritus Christian Schlüchter says 10,800 year old larch tree trunk found under glacier Alps means it had to be warmer 10,800 years ago than today. Image: cropped from EIKE.

In 2018 renowned Swiss geologist Christian Schlüchter received a tip from the local forester of the exciting find that had been revealed by the retreating Morteratsch glacier. But this specimen was unusual in the sense it was some 2 meters long and included the rootstock. Moreover, it also was astonishingly intact, and even included some bark.

The SRF site features photos.

The unusual good condition of the larch tree trunk meant that it must not have been transported downward by the glacier, and thus not ground up in the process. This means its resting location had to be very close to where it had originally grown.

The SRF reported:

‘This is unique,’ says Schlüchter, saying he has never discovered anything like it in the Alps. With wood finds, he says, there is always one central question: ‘How far from the site did the trees grow, how far did the glacier transport them?’

A tree in this condition must have stood in the immediate vicinity, otherwise the trunk would look different, Schlüchter says.”

Schlüchter, a professor emeritus at the University of Bern, has been studying glacier wood for decades.

10,800 years ago, lived 337 years

According to Schlüchter, the original larch tree had lived 337 years before it died and the glacier buried it. Research shows that the larch started growing about 10,800 years ago, less than 1000 years after the last ice age ended.

The finding tells us that there used to be forests where glaciers are found today, which means the “Morteratsch glacier was once much smaller than it is today,” reports the SRF. The region was obviously warmer than today.

Rapid climate change 10,500 years ago

Schlüchter also points out that barely 1,000 years after the end of the ice age, there were already larches up there. Schlüchter says: “That shows the unheard-of dynamics we see here.”

More studies will be conducted on the tree specimen and parts of the large trunk will be on display in the museum in Pontresina in the future, writes the SRF.

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Christian Schlüchter is Professor emeritus for Quaternary Geology and Paleoclimatology at the University of Bern in Switzerland. He has authored/co-authored over 250 papers.




20 responses to “Proof Of Warmer Earlier Climate! Swiss Geologist Studies 10,800-Year Old Tree Trunk Under Alps Glacier”

  1. Ron Clutz

    Christian Schlüchter was one of the brave scientists who presented at the Nov. 2019 climate conference that Antifa protesters forced out of the Munich convention center. Blogger Andreas Müller summarized his and others presentations. Synopsis is here:

    https://rclutz.wordpress.com/2019/12/24/munich-climate-conference-2019/

    1. Ron Clutz

      Here is an infographic of Schlüchter’s work developed by Raymond in his Simple Science series:

      https://rclutz.files.wordpress.com/2020/02/06_infographic_wocc.png

      Summer Temperatures (May – September) A rise in temperature during a warming period will result in a glacier losing more surface area or completely vanishing. This can happen very rapidly in only a few years or over a longer period of time. If temperatures drop during a cooling period and summer temperatures are too low, glaciers will begin to grow and advance with each season. This can happen very rapidly or over a longer period in time. Special thanks to Prof. em. Christian Schlüchter / (Quartärgeologie, Umweltgeologie) Universität Bern Institut für Geologie His work is on the Western Alps and was so kind to help Raymond make this graphic as correct as possible.

      1. David Appell

        Again, Ron, we live now, not then.

        It’s warming now that matters and shapes our societies, not warming then.

        Do you honestly not understand this??

        1. Yonason

          “It’s warming now that matters…” – D.A.

          Not really, and besides, that’s not even the issue. The questions are if CO2 is causing the warming, and, if can we can prevent it, even if we could control CO3, which we can’t. Based on the paleo record of CO2 and temperature,…
          https://friendsofscience.org/assets/documents/FOS%20Essay/CO2_temp600MMya.jpg
          …the answers are “no” and “no.”

          What part of that don’t you understand?

          Also, claiming that warming is what “shapes our societies,” and using that as an argument that we should be concerned about something we aren’t causing and can’t change is at best just silly. The societal changes demanded by hysterical warmists, like yourself, are far more extensive and devastating than any that would be necessitated by a slight natural warming.

  2. John F Hultquist

    That tree looks to be in better shape than a few I have that died and fell within the last 50 years; Cottonwoods. Nearest glacier is on the top if Mt. Rainier, 100 k. away.
    Larch is one of my favorites. Locally, ours are called Tamarack, or Western Tamarack. {Larix occidentalis }

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  6. RoHa

    How can I recognize a larch?

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  8. drumphish

    Larch look like a conifer but lose their needles each autumn like deciduous trees do.

    A conifer needle is a modified leaf. A cactus needle is also a modified leaf.

    Mildest winter weather in 50 years.

    Two days of below zero temps is what we have had so far, most days in the low 30’s to mid 40’s Fahrenheit for daytime highs.

    One for the books.

    1. RoHa

      And no-one helped me with this?

      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H0zVsxUbbjM

  9. Paulo Alves

    65 million years ago, how would you feed the brontosaurus ?

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  12. David Appell

    Why does anyone think it matters if the Alps were warmer then than today?

    Are you living now, or are you living 10.8 kyrs ago? Are we growing food now, or then? Are we living on the coast now, with sea level rise, or then?

    Do you really not get this, people?

    1. Jan

      it falsify the co2 hypothesis,
      and the co2 hypothesis is right now driving policy,
      that is why history is important

  13. David Appell

    Paulo Alves wrote:
    65 million years ago, how would you feed the brontosaurus ?

    They died out about 145 Myrs ago.

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