Glacial and Periglacial Paleoenvironments in the Japanese Islands (第13回INQUA大会特集号"日本における第四紀研究の進展")

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The paper reviews three main topics of recent studies of Quaternary glacial and periglacial environments in Japan: chronology of glaciations, showline elevation, and permafrost distribution in the Last Glacial age. Two glaciations have been recognized in the Japanese high mountains during the Last Glacial age. The younger one corresponds to the isotope stage 2, and the older one to the stage 4. The alpine glacier attained its maximum extension in stage 4, because of more favorable snowfall conditions in this stage. The oldest glaciations which have been morphologically defined correspond to the isotope stage 5d or 6. The distribution of snowline elevation during stage 4 in eastern Asia shows (1) an abrupt increase of snowline elevation at the eastern margin of Qinghai-Xizang Plateau; (2) no possibility of Quaternary glaciation in the Mt. Lushan area in Southeast China; (3) existence of snowline trough which streches from Formosa towards the mountains of the Japan Sea side of Japan, and (4) the high snowline elevation in Central and Northern Hokkaido, suggesting the winter dryness. The research of present alpine permafrost environment on Mts. Daisetsuzan, central Hokkaido, and the fossil periglacial phenomena in the lowland of Hokkaido have revealed that the island was mostly in the discontinuous permafrost zone in the Last Glacial age.
日本第四紀学会の論文