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You are now standing at the edge of the glacier
foreland. One hundred and fifty years ago you would have been feeling the icy
air flowing down off the glacier, even in summer. At that time, almost the
entire floor of the valley was covered by ice. At the end of the Middle Ages,
after a long, fairly warm period, a cooler stage began, the «Little Ice
Age», which lasted until about 1850. Like many other alpine glaciers in
the «Little Ice Age», the Rhone Glacier advanced in several stages.
But this period was very short in comparison with the classic ice ages some ten
thousand years ago, when large parts of Switzerland were covered by glaciers.
Back then, with a length of over 300 kilometers, the Rhone Glacier was the
largest in the Alps. Even now it is one of the largest glaciers in Switzerland.
When the glacier melts away, it leaves a wasteland behind. Very rapidly,
though, the first plants take hold. The moraines and the various stages of
vegetation indicate the glacier's earlier extension. If you allow your eye to
roam across the valley in the direction of the glacier, you will see the
vegetation sequence typical of a glacier foreland. In the foreground, the plant
cover is compact. You can even see bushes and small trees. Now, please turn
towards the glacier. You can see an expanse of |
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Near the face of the receding glacier the ground is still bare; some
early plants have taken a tentative hold (left). Later on, shrubs of
«Alpenrose» and dwarf shrubs form a continuous plant cover (below).
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gravel and rock where plants have not yet had time to
take hold. The glacier cleared this area only a short time ago.
If you now
look towards the Furka Pass, you will find that the plant cover above the
valley floor does not grow thinner and poorer. On the contrary! The many bushes
make it look even more compact than on the valley floor. These slopes have been
clear of glacier ice for hundreds, even thousands of years. |
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Where the ice disappeared a long time ago, bushes and trees have had
time to grow |
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