Can ERT analysis near Großser Rachel, Bavaria, tell us more about glaciation extent of the area and the mountain range?

Abstract

The existence of glaciers and glacier related relief forms in the Bohemian Forest is indubitable. However, the opinion on the glaciation extent of this mountain range is not unified and approach to it varies throughout the researcher communities on both sides of the range. One premiss anticipates that a large-scale glaciation once affected the range, the other one that only isolated glaciers formed there. Even though a glaciation more extensive than the one of LGM is known from other Variscan mountain ranges in central Europe, the evidence from the Bohemian Forest is insufficient. Due to a location of the setting in the heart of Bavarian Forest National Park, application of a method of non-destructive nature was essential. Using the method of electrical resistivity tomography (ERT) as the most widely chosen geophysical method in geomorphology nowadays, the results of geophysical analysis carried out in the vicinity of Rachel‑Nordkar (Bavaria) are presented. Since the nature of this method is not destructive, the data are merely indirect. Nevertheless, we identified a location of possible glacier deposits of a more extensive and/or probably older glaciation than that of LGM.