Decoupling glacier retreat and surface stabilization on the Snežnik Plateau (Slovenia), insights from in situ cosmogenic 36 Cl exposure and depth‐profile ages

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Abstract
Glaciokarst landscapes pose distinctive challenges for cosmogenic dating because meltwater and runoff can be rapidly rerouted into ponors and conduit networks, weakening glacier–river coupling and promoting local sediment storage. We reconstruct glacier retreat and postglacial stabilization on the Snežnik Plateau (SW Slovenia) using in situ cosmogenic 36 Cl exposure ages from moraine boulders and 36 Cl depth‐profile ages from moraine matrix and glaciofluvial outwash. At Sviščaki (NW sector), boulder ages span 13.0 ± 1.7 to 8.0 ± 1.0 ka and, together with a moraine‐matrix depth‐profile age of 11.4 ± 0.7 ka, indicate deglaciation by the Late Glacial and surface stabilization by ~11 ka. At Praprotna Draga (NE sector), the oldest boulder ages are ~15 ka, while an adjacent outwash/alluvial‐fan depth profile (~12 ka) suggests that proglacial reworking waned near the Late Glacial–Early Holocene transition. In contrast, the Gomance piedmont polje yields an outwash depth‐profile age of 8.4 ± 0.2 ka, consistent with prolonged storage and repeated burial–exposure dynamics in a karst sediment sink. Overall, the Snežnik chronology shows that cosmogenic ages in glaciokarst commonly track stabilization and process filtering rather than uniquely dating maximum ice extent.

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