| 1. |
- Chandler, Benjamin M. P., et al.
(author)
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Glacial geomorphological mapping : A review of approaches and frameworks for best practice
- 2018
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In: Earth-Science Reviews. - : Elsevier BV. - 0012-8252 .- 1872-6828. ; 185, s. 806-846
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Research review (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Geomorphological mapping is a well-established method for examining earth surface processes and landscape evolution in a range of environmental contexts. In glacial research, it provides crucial data for a wide range of process-oriented studies and palaeoglaciological reconstructions; in the latter case providing an essential geomorphological framework for establishing glacial chronologies. In recent decades, there have been significant developments in remote sensing and Geographical Information Systems (GIS), with a plethora of high quality remotely-sensed datasets now (often freely) available. Most recently, the emergence of unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) technology has allowed sub-decimetre scale aerial images and Digital Elevation Models (DEMs) to be obtained. Traditional field mapping methods still have an important role in glacial geomorphology, particularly in cirque glacier, valley glacier and icefield/ice-cap outlet settings. Field mapping is also used in ice sheet settings, but often takes the form of necessarily highly-selective ground-truthing of remote mapping. Given the increasing abundance of datasets and methods available for mapping, effective approaches are necessary to enable assimilation of data and ensure robustness. This paper provides a review and assessment of the various glacial geomorphological methods and datasets currently available, with a focus on their applicability in particular glacial settings. We distinguish two overarching 'work streams' that recognise the different approaches typically used in mapping landforms produced by ice masses of different sizes: (i) mapping of ice sheet geomorphological imprints using a combined remote sensing approach, with some field checking (where feasible); and (ii) mapping of alpine and plateau-style ice mass (cirque glacier, valley glacier, icefield and ice-cap) geomorphological imprints using remote sensing and considerable field mapping. Key challenges to accurate and robust geomorphological mapping are highlighted, often necessitating compromises and pragmatic solutions. The importance of combining multiple datasets and/or mapping approaches is emphasised, akin to multi-proxy approaches used in many Earth Science disciplines. Based on our review, we provide idealised frameworks and general recommendations to ensure best practice in future studies and aid in accuracy assessment, comparison, and integration of geomorphological data. These will be of particular value where geomorphological data are incorporated in large compilations and subsequently used for palaeoglaciological reconstructions. Finally, we stress that robust interpretations of glacial landforms and landscapes invariably requires additional chronological and/or sedimentological evidence, and that such data should ideally be collected as part of a holistic assessment of the overall glacier system.
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| 2. |
- Heyman, Jakob, et al.
(author)
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Boulder height - exposure age relationships from a global glacial Be-10 compilation
- 2016
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In: Quaternary Geochronology. - : Elsevier BV. - 1871-1014 .- 1878-0350. ; 34, s. 1-11
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Cosmogenic exposure dating of glacial boulders is commonly used to estimate the timing of past glaciations because the method enables direct dating of the duration a boulder has been exposed to cosmic rays. For successful dating, the boulders must have been fully shielded from cosmic rays prior to deposition and continuously exposed to cosmic rays ever since. A common assumption is that boulder height (the distance between the top of the boulder and the surrounding surface) is important, and that tall boulders are more likely to have been continuously exposed to cosmic rays than short boulders and therefore yield more accurate exposure ages. Here we test this assumption 'based on exposure age clustering for groups of glacial boulders (and single cobbles) Be-10 exposure ages that have recorded boulder heights (3741 boulders; 579 boulder groups with >= 3 boulders). Of the full set of boulder groups with >= 3 boulders, 21% fulfill a reduced chi square criterion (chi(2)(R) < 2) for well-clustered exposure ages. For boulder groups containing only tall boulders, the fraction of well-clustered exposure age groups is consistently larger. Moreover, this fraction of well-clustered exposure age groups increases with the minimum boulder height in each group. This result confirms the common assumption that tall boulders are generally better targets for cosmogenic exposure dating compared to short boulders. Whereas the tall boulder groups have a significantly larger fraction of well-clustered exposure age groups, there is nonetheless a dominant fraction (>50%) of the boulder groups with scattered exposure ages, highlighting the problem with prior and incomplete exposure for cosmogenic dating of glacial boulders. (C) 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
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| 3. |
- Jansen, John D., et al.
(author)
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Inner gorges cut by subglacial meltwater during Fennoscandian ice sheet decay
- 2014
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In: Nature Communications. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 2041-1723. ; 5, s. 3815-
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- The century-long debate over the origins of inner gorges that were repeatedly covered by Quaternary glaciers hinges upon whether the gorges are fluvial forms eroded by subaerial rivers, or subglacial forms cut beneath ice. Here we apply cosmogenic nuclide exposure dating to seven inner gorges along similar to 500 km of the former Fennoscandian ice sheet margin in combination with a new deglaciation map. We show that the timing of exposure matches the advent of ice-free conditions, strongly suggesting that gorges were cut by channelized subglacial meltwater while simultaneously being shielded from cosmic rays by overlying ice. Given the exceptional hydraulic efficiency required for meltwater channels to erode bedrock and evacuate debris, we deduce that inner gorges are the product of ice sheets undergoing intense surface melting. The lack of postglacial river erosion in our seven gorges implicates subglacial meltwater as a key driver of valley deepening on the Baltic Shield over multiple glacial cycles.
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| 4. |
- Patton, H., et al.
(author)
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Deglaciation of the Eurasian ice sheet complex
- 2017
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In: Quaternary Science Reviews. - : Elsevier BV. - 0277-3791 .- 1873-457X. ; 169, s. 148-172
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- The Eurasian ice sheet complex (EISC) was the third largest ice mass during the Last Glacial Maximum with a span of over 4500 km and responsible for around 20 m of eustatic sea-level lowering. Whilst recent terrestrial and marine empirical insights have improved understanding of the chronology, pattern and rates of retreat of this vast ice sheet, a concerted attempt to model the deglaciation of the EISC honouring these new constraints is conspicuously lacking. Here, we apply a first-order, thermo-mechanical ice sheet model, validated against a diverse suite of empirical data, to investigate the retreat of the EISC after 23 ka BP, directly extending the work of Patton et al. (2016) who modelled the build-up to its maximum extent. Retreat of the ice sheet complex was highly asynchronous, reflecting contrasting regional sensitivities to climate forcing, oceanic influence, and internal dynamics. Most rapid retreat was experienced across the Barents Sea sector after 17.8 ka BP when this marine-based ice sheet disintegrated at a rate of similar to 670 gigatonnes per year (Gt a(-1)) through enhanced calving and interior dynamic thinning, driven by oceanic/atmospheric warming and exacerbated by eustatic sea-level rise. From 14.9 to 12.9 ka BP the EISC lost on average 750 Gt a(-1), peaking at rates >3000 Gt a(-1), roughly equally partitioned between surface melt and dynamic losses, and potentially contributing up to 2.5 m to global sea-level rise during Meltwater Pulse 1A. Independent glacio-isostatic modelling constrained by an extensive inventory of relative sea-level change corroborates our ice sheet loading history of the Barents Sea sector. Subglacial conditions were predominately temperate during deglaciation, with over 6000 subglacial lakes predicted along with an extensive subglacial drainage network. Moreover, the maximum EISC and its isostatic footprint had a profound impact on the proglacial hydrological network, forming the Fleuve Manche mega-catchment which had an area of similar to 2.5 x 10(6) km(2) and drained the present day Vistula, Elbe, Rhine and Thames rivers through the Seine Estuary. During the Bolling/Allerod oscillation after c. 14.6 ka BP, two major proglacial lakes formed in the Baltic and White seas, buffering meltwater pulses from eastern Fennoscandia through to the Younger Dryas when these massive proglacial freshwater lakes flooded into the North Atlantic Ocean. Deglaciation temporarily abated during the Younger Dryas stadial at 12.9 ka BP, when remnant ice across Svalbard, Franz Josef Land, Novaya Zemlya, Fennoscandia and Scotland experienced a short-lived but dynamic re-advance. The final stage of deglaciation converged on present day ice cover around the Scandes mountains and the Barents Sea by 8.7 ka BP, although the phas-lagged isostatic recovery still continues today. (C) 2017 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.
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| 5. |
- Schneider, Ramona A. A., et al.
(author)
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Paleoglacial footprint and fluvial terraces of the Shaluli Shan, SE Tibetan Plateau
- 2021
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In: Journal of Maps. - : Informa UK Limited. - 1744-5647. ; 17:2, s. 439-452
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- This study provides mapping of glacial and fluvial geomorphology in the Shaluli Shan region on the eastern margin of the south-eastern Tibetan Plateau. Based on TanDEM-X 12 m elevation data and GoogleEarth imagery, glacial valleys, ice-marginal moraines, glacial lineations, scoured terrain and fluvial terraces were mapped. Covering around 11,000 km2, this map is the first for this region to display geomorphology at a spatial resolution of 0.4 arcsec (= c. 11 m) and to include fluvial terraces. Its glacial landform distribution is largely consistent with previous mapping. The substantially higher level of detail in this study is reflected in an approximately tenfold number and smaller median sizes of individual landforms such as moraines and glacial lineations. These results underscore the importance of high-resolution DEM data such as TanDEM-X for the identification of glacial and fluvial geomorphology. The map presented here will be used for detailed paleoglacial reconstructions and landscape evolution studies combining both glacial and fluvial landforms.
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| 6. |
- Andersen, J. L., et al.
(author)
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Ice surface changes during recent glacial cycles along the Jutulstraumen and Penck Trough ice streams in western Dronning Maud Land, East Antarctica
- 2020
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In: Quaternary Science Reviews. - : Elsevier BV. - 0277-3791 .- 1873-457X. ; 249
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Reconstructing past ice-sheet surface changes is key to testing and improving ice-sheet models. Data constraining the past behaviour of the East Antarctic Ice Sheet are sparse, limiting our understanding of its response to past, present and future climate change. Here, we report the first cosmogenic multinuclide (Be-10, Al-26, Cl-36) data from bedrock and erratics on nunataks along the Jutulstraumen and Penck Trough ice streams in western Dronning Maud Land, East Antarctica. Spanning elevations between 741 and 2394 m above sea level, the samples have apparent exposure ages between 2 ka and 5 Ma. The highest-elevation bedrock sample indicates (near-) continuous minimum exposure since the Pliocene, with a low apparent erosion rate of 0.15 +/- 0.03 m Ma(-1), which is similar to results from eastern Dronning Maud Land. In contrast to studies in eastern Dronning Maud Land, however, our data show clear indications of a thicker-than-present ice sheet within the last glacial cycle, with a thinning of similar to 35-120 m during the Holocene (similar to 2-11 ka). Difficulties in separating suitable amounts of quartz from the often quartz-poor rock-types in the area, and cosmogenic nuclides inherited from exposure prior to the last deglaciation, prevented robust thinning estimates from elevational profiles. Nevertheless, the results clearly demonstrate ice-surface fluctuations of several hundred meters between the current grounding line and the edge of the polar plateau for the last glacial cycle, a constraint that should be considered in future ice-sheet model simulations.
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| 7. |
- Blomdin, Robin, et al.
(author)
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Evaluating the timing of former glacier expansions in the Tian Shan : A key step towards robust spatial correlations
- 2016
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In: Quaternary Science Reviews. - : Elsevier BV. - 0277-3791 .- 1873-457X. ; 153, s. 78-96
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- The timing of past glaciation across the Tian Shan provides a proxy for past climate change in this critical area. Correlating glacial stages across the region is difficult but cosmogenic exposure ages have considerable potential. A drawback is the large observed scatter in Be-10 surface exposure data. To quantify the robustness of the dating, we compile, recalculate, and perform statistical analyses on sets of 10Be surface exposure ages from 25 moraines, consisting of 114 new and previously published ages. We assess boulder age scatter by dividing boulder groups into quality classes and rejecting boulder groups of poor quality. This allows us to distinguish and correlate robustly dated glacier limits, resulting in a more conservative chronology than advanced in previous publications. Our analysis shows that only one regional glacial stage can be reliably correlated across the Tian Shan, with glacier expansions occurring between 15 and 281 a during marine oxygen isotope stage (MIS) 2. However, there are examples of older more extensive indicators of glacial stages between MIS 3 and MIS 6. Paleoglacier extent during MIS 2 was mainly restricted to valley glaciation. Local deviations occur: in the central Kyrgyz Tian Shan paleoglaciers were more extensive and we propose that the topographic context explains this pattern. Correlation between glacial stages prior to late MIS 2 is less reliable, because of the low number of samples and/or the poor resolution of the dating. With the current resolution and spatial coverage of robustly-dated glacier limits we advise that paleoclimatic implications for the Tian Shan glacial chronology beyond MIS 2 are speculative and that continued work toward robust glacial chronologies is needed to resolve questions regarding drivers of past glaciation in the Tian Shan and Central Asia.
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| 8. |
- Blomdin, Robin, 1986-, et al.
(author)
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Glacial geomorphology of the Altai and Western Sayan Mountains, Central Asia
- 2016
-
In: Journal of Maps. - : Informa UK Limited. - 1744-5647. ; 12:1, s. 123-136
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- In this article, we present a map of the glacial geomorphology of the Altai andWestern Sayan Mountains, covering an area of almost 600,000 km2. Although numerous studies provide evidence for restricted Pleistocene glaciations in this area, others have hypothesized the past existence of an extensive ice sheet. To provide a framework for accurate glacial reconstructions of the Altai and Western Sayan Mountains, we present a map at a scale of 1:1,000,000 based on a mapping from 30 m resolution ASTER DEM and 15 m/30 mresolution Landsat ETM+ satellite imagery. Four landform classes have been mapped: marginal moraines, glacial lineations, hummocky terrain, and glacial valleys. Our mapping reveals an abundance of glacial erosional and depositional landforms. The distribution of these glacial landforms indicates that the Altai and Western Sayan Mountains have experienced predominantly alpine-style glaciations, with some small ice caps centred on the higher mountain peaks. Large marginal moraine complexes mark glacial advances in intermontane basins. By tracing the outer limits of present-day glaciers, glacial valleys, and moraines, we estimate that the past glacier coverage have totalled to 65,000 km2 (10.9% of the mapped area), whereas present-day glacier coverage totals only 1300 km2 (0.2% of the mapped area). This demonstrates the usefulness of remote sensing techniques for mapping the glacial geomorphology in remote mountain areas and for quantifying the past glacier dimensions. The glacial geomorphological map presented here will be used for further detailed reconstructions of the paleoglaciology and paleoclimate of the region.
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| 9. |
- Blomdin, Robin, 1986-, et al.
(author)
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Paleoglaciation on opposite flanks of the Ikh-Turgen Mountains, Central Asia : Importance of style of moraine deposition for 10-Be surface exposure dating
-
Other publication (other academic/artistic)abstract
- The ages of marginal moraines that record extensive glacier expansions across the Altai Mountains of Central Asia are poorly documented. We present 18 10Be exposure ages from moraines in valleys on opposite flanks of the Ikh-Turgen Mountains. On the eastern side, exposure ages from a latero-frontal moraine indicate deglaciation during MIS 3 (45.3±2.7 ka) and MIS 2 (22.8±3.5 ka). Corresponding exposure ages, from the western side, indicate a more complex story with large scatter (~14-53 ka). Owing to their close proximity, the paleoglaciers should have responded similarly to climate forcing, yet they exhibited a distinctly different behavior. We propose that differences in glacier dynamics caused differences in ice-marginal depositional environments, explaining the scatter in exposure ages on the western side. This study shows the importance of style of deposition in chronological studies of glacial landforms and demonstrates that certain moraine types can be difficult to use as paleoclimate proxies.
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| 10. |
- Blomdin, Robin, 1986-
(author)
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Paleoglaciology of the Tian Shan and Altai Mountains, Central Asia
- 2016
-
Doctoral thesis (other academic/artistic)abstract
- The mountain-systems of Central Asia, act as barriers to atmospheric circulation patterns, which in turn impose striking climate gradients across the region. Glaciers are sensitive indicators of climate change and respond to changes in climate gradients over time by advancing during cold and wet periods and receding during warm and dry periods. The aim of this thesis is to investigate whether there are large-scale patterns in how past glaciers in the Tian Shan and the Altai Mountains of Central Asia responded to climate change. Multiple methods have been used, including: remote sensing, terrain analysis, field investigations, and cosmogenic nuclide (CN) dating. The glacial landform records indicate that the region experienced mainly alpine-style glaciations in the past. Large complexes of ice-marginal moraines in high elevation basins are evidence of outlet glaciers sourced from large valley glaciers, ice caps and ice-fields, and these moraine sequences, record the maximum extent of paleoglaciation. In the Ikh-Turgen Mountains, located in the continental, eastern Altai Mountains, deglaciation of these moraines occurred during marine oxygen isotope stage (MIS) 3 at ~45 ka. This is consistent with a colder and wetter climate during this time, inferred from ice core and lake level proxies. Another deglacial phase occurred during MIS 2 at ~23 ka, synchronous with the global Last Glacial Maximum. In the Russian Altai Mountains, lobate moraines in the Chuya Basin indicate deglaciation at ~19 ka, by a highly dynamic paleoglacier in the Chagan-Uzun catchment, which experienced surge-like behaviour. Furthermore, across the Tian Shan, an evaluation of new and existing CN glacial chronologies (25 dated moraines) indicates that only one regional glacial stage, between 15 and 28 ka (MIS 2), can be defined and spatially correlated across the region. These paleoglaciers were mainly restricted to valleys as a result of arid conditions during this time and variation in their extents is interpreted to reflect topographic modulation on regional climate. The ages of the oldest evidence for robust local glacial stages in the Tian Shan are not yet well constrained, however, moraines in the central Kyrgyz Tian Shan and the eastern Chinese Tian Shan have apparent minimum ages overlapping with MIS 5 and MIS 3 (with missing MIS 4 and 6 stages). However, different geological processes, such as inheritance and post-depositional shielding (e.g. deposition by surging glaciers or hummocky terrain deposition), have influenced the dating resolution, making several moraine ages inappropriate for regional comparison. Finally, to quantify regional patterns of paleoglaciation, the hypsometry (area-elevation distribution) of glacial landforms is used to estimate average paleo equilibrium line altitudes for the region. This analysis shows that while present-day ELAs mirror strong climate gradients, paleoglaciation patterns were characterised by more gentle ELA gradients. The paleo-ELA depressions across Central Asia were most prominent in the continental southern and eastern regions (500–700 m). Finally, the results from this thesis, show that Central Asia was repeatedly glaciated in the past, but underscore the importance of considering 1) catchment characteristics and styles of glaciation and 2) other non-climatic factors controlling glacier dynamics when interpreting CN chronologies to make paleoclimate inference.
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| 11. |
- Blomdin, Robin, et al.
(author)
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Timing and dynamics of glaciation in the Ikh Turgen Mountains, Altai region, High Asia
- 2018
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In: Quaternary Geochronology. - : Elsevier BV. - 1871-1014 .- 1878-0350. ; 47, s. 54-71
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Spanning the northern sector of High Asia, the Altai region contains a rich landform record of glaciation. We report the extent, chronologies, and dynamics of two paleoglaciers on opposite flanks of the Ikh Turgen mountains (In Russian: Chikhacheva Range), straddling the border between Russia and Mongolia, using a combination of remote sensing-based glacial geomorphological mapping, 10Be surface exposure dating, and geomorphometric analysis. On the eastern side (Mongolia), the Turgen-Asgat paleoglacier, with its potential for developing a large accumulation area (∼257 km2), expanded 40 km down valley, and mean ages from a latero-frontal moraine indicate deglaciation during marine oxygen isotope stage (MIS) 3 (45.1 ± 1.8 ka, n = 4) and MIS 2 (22.8 ± 3.3 ka, n = 5). These minimum age constraints are consistent with other 10Be glacial chronologies and paleoclimate records from the region, which indicates glacier culmination during cold and wet conditions coinciding with MIS 3 (piedmont-style glaciation; inferred for a few sites across the region) and glacier culmination during cold and dry conditions coinciding with MIS 2 (mainly valley-style glaciation; inferred from several sites across the region). On the western side (Russia), the Boguty paleoglacier had a smaller accumulation area (∼222 km2), and advanced 30 km down valley across a low gradient forefield. Surface exposure ages from two moraine complexes on this side of the mountains exhibit wide scatter (∼14–53 ka, n = 8), making paleoclimate inferences and comparison to other proxies difficult. Ice surface profile reconstructions imply that the two paleoglaciers likely shared an ice divide. © 2018 Elsevier B.V.
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| 12. |
- Blomdin, Robin, et al.
(author)
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Topographic and climatic controls on paleoglaciation patterns across the Tian Shan and Altai Mountains, Central Asia
-
Other publication (other academic/artistic)abstract
- Reconstructing spatial patterns of the extents and dynamics of paleoglaciers across Central Asia is key in understanding the mechanisms of global environmental change. The Tian Shan and Altai Mountains are located in the continental interior of Eurasia, at the confluence of several major climate systems. In order to test hypothesized patterns in paleoglacier extent, and to test the role of paleoclimate and mountain topography in modulating the evolution of these glacial systems, we perform a domain-wide terrain analysis. We first divide the Tian Shan and the Altai Mountains into six physiographic regions delineated by major drainage divides and outlining generalised climate zones. Thereafter we mine published datasets on the distribution of glaciers and glacial landforms, calculate their area-elevation distributions (hypsometry), and extract present-day regional equilibrium line altitudes (ELAs) and long-term average ELAs (paleo-ELAs). We show that the use of glacial landform hypsometry is an effective tool to quantify broad-scale paleoglaciation patterns and find that there is a regional variability in glacier extents across the Tian Shan and Altai Mountains. Reconstructed ELAs show pronounced spatial gradients; increasing ELAs from northern to southern Tian Shan, and increasing ELAs from the northern to both the southeastern and southwestern Altai Mountains. In contrast, maximum paleoglaciation patterns and paleo-ELAs were more uniform across the two mountain systems, with inter-regional topographic variability influencing moraine distributions and thus complicating regional paleo-ELA determinations. Because estimated paleo-ELAs were relatively uniform across the Tian Shan and Altai Mountains, the paleo-ELA lowering were most pronounced in the more continental southern and eastern regions. Our current data is insufficient to explain whether this observation is the result of a different regional paleoclimatic regime than today, or if paleoglaciers responded dynamically different to a paleoclimate forcing of the same magnitude. Our ELA reconstructions also lack temporal constraints, so we furthermore propose that future studies systematically compare hypsometry-derived ELA reconstructions with those stemming from surface energy mass balance models, other proxy records (i.e. lake- and ice core records), and from chronologically constrained ice-marginal moraines.
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| 13. |
- Dulfer, Helen E., et al.
(author)
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Reconstructing the advance and retreat dynamics of the central sector of the last Cordilleran Ice Sheet
- 2022
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In: Quaternary Science Reviews. - : Elsevier BV. - 0277-3791 .- 1873-457X. ; 284
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- The advance of the Cordilleran Ice Sheet (CIS) towards its Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) configuration and its subsequent retreat remain poorly understood. We use the glacial landform record to determine ice dynamics for the central sector of the CIS in northern British Columbia, Canada, beneath the LGM ice divide. We classify seventy ice-flow indicator flowsets based on morphology, elevation, orientation and cross-cutting relationships into one of three stages, whereby stage 1 is oldest and stage 3 youngest. Combined with ice-contact geomorphology, our reconstruction highlights complex changes in ice flow over time as a result of ice divide migrations through the LGM and deglacial phases. The orientation and distribution of landforms indicates active post-LGM ice retreat westward through the Cassiar and Omineca mountains. We map the regional distribution of independent mountain glaciers, ice caps, and ice fields that regrew during a cooling event in the Late Glacial and show that some of these readvance glaciers were subsequently overrun by advancing outlet glaciers of the CIS. We use the cross-cutting relationship between readvance glaciers and CIS outlet glaciers and available chronological data to reconstruct the eastern CIS margin during the Late Glacial for the first time.
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| 14. |
- Fu, Ping, 1982-, et al.
(author)
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Complex erosion patterns produced by the Haizishan paleo-ice cap
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Other publication (other academic/artistic)abstract
- Determining patterns and rates of glacial erosion is important in understanding landscape evolution, topographic relief production, geochemical cycles, climate change, and glacial thermal regimes of paleo glaciers and ice sheets. Combining in situ $^{10}$Be and $^{26}$Al apparent exposure age dating, geomorphological mapping, and field investigations, we examine glacial erosion patterns of the almost 4 000 km$^2$ Haizishan paleo-ice cap on the southeastern Tibetan Plateau. Our results show that ice caps developed several times on the low relief Haizishan Plateau and produced a zonal pattern of landscape modification. In locations where apparent exposure ages on bedrock are consistent with last deglaciation, complete resetting of the cosmogenic exposure age clock indicates that more than 2 m of glacial erosion occurred during the last major glaciation (which in this area correlates with the global Last Glacial Maximum (gLGM)). However, older apparent exposure ages on bedrock and in saprolites profiles in areas known to have been covered by the paleo ice cap during gLGM indicate inheritance and thus limited or no erosion by the last ice cap in several areas, including the central zone of the paleo ice cap and at the head of an outlet glacier. Similarly, cosmogenic radionuclide depth profiles in saprolites show erosion of $>$2 m in an outlet valley bottom and in the mountains that make up the northern border of the paleo ice cap, while samples from saprolites in areas of otherwise scoured terrain have a large nuclide inheritance indicating limited erosion. As patterns of glacial erosion intensity are largely driven by basal thermal regime, our results are consistent with a hypothesis of complex thermal regimes for the paleo Haizishan ice cap during gLGM that was proposed previously on the basis of landform patterns. Future work, including glaciological modeling, is required to fully understand the implications and mechanisms of the complex thermal regime of this paleo ice cap.
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| 15. |
- Fu, Ping, 1982-, et al.
(author)
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Glacial geomorphology and paleoglaciation patterns in Shaluli Shan, the southeastern Tibetan Plateau — Evidence for polythermal ice cap glaciation
- 2013
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In: Geomorphology. - : Elsevier BV. - 0169-555X .- 1872-695X. ; 182, s. 66-78
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Glacial geomorphological mapping from satellite imagery and field investigations provide the basis for a reconstructionof the extent and style of glaciation of the Shaluli Shan, a mountainous area on the southeastern TibetanPlateau. Our studies provide evidence for multiple glaciations, including the formation of regional ice caps andvalley glaciers. The low-relief topographywithin the Shaluli Shan, the Haizishan Plateau, and Xinlong Plateau displayzonal distributions of glacial landforms that is similar to those imprinted by Northern Hemisphere ice sheetsduring the last glacial cycle, indicating the presence of regional, polythermal ice caps. Abundant alpine glaciallandforms occur on high mountain ranges. The pattern of glaciated valleys centered on high mountain rangesand ice-scoured low relief granite plateaus with distinctive patterns of glacial lineations indicate a strong topographiccontrol on erosional and depositional patterns by glaciers and ice caps. In contrast to the Shaluli Shan,areas farther north and west on the Tibetan Plateau have not yielded similar landform evidence for regionalice capswith complex thermal basal conditions. Such spatial differences across the Tibetan Plateau are the resultof variations in climate and topography that control the extent and style of glaciations and that reinforce the importanceof detailed geomorphological mapping for understanding paleoclimate variations and characteristics offormer glaciations.
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| 16. |
- Fu, Ping, et al.
(author)
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Glacial geomorphology of the Haizi Shan area, SE Tibetan Plateau
- 2009
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Conference paper (peer-reviewed)abstract
- The Haizi Shan area on the SE Tibetan Plateau is characterized by an elliptical relatively low relief plateau surrounded by steeper fluvial valleys. Glacial deposits and erosive imprints are widely distributed indicating former glacier expansions of varying extents in a presently ice-free area. We have initiated a project on the glacial history of the Haizi Shan area and we here present some initial mapping results. Glacial landforms have been mapped based on remote sensing (SRTM digital elevation model, Landsat ETM+ satellite imagery, and Google Earth) and one short reconnaissance field season. Well-preserved moraines from different stages and distinctive U-shaped glacial valleys are abundant (Fig. 1). In the Daocheng Valley southwest of the Haizi Shan Plateau we have mapped glacial deposits in the form of discontinued moraine ridges at Sangdui village. This line, which might be the maximum Quaternary glacial extent, can be traced for several kilometers along the western side of the valley as dispersed erratic boulders. This implies that during the maximum glaciation, ice from the Haizi Shan Plateau crossed the valley and reached up to the piedmont of the opposite mountain. Smaller in extent than the former, numerous large moraine ridges reach down towards valley floors along the edges of the Haizi Shan Plateau. In several locations these valleys lack cirque heads indicating former outlet glaciers emanating from a Haizi Shan ice cap. We will use TCN and OSL dates of samples collected from numerous ice marginal moraines of the Haizi Shan Plateau to determine a glacial chronology. Hence, using remote sensing, field investigations and numerical dating techniques for the Haizi Shan we aim to advance our knowledge on Quaternary glaciations of the SE Tibetan Plateau.
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| 17. |
- Fu, Ping, et al.
(author)
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Ice cap erosion patterns from bedrock Be-10 and Al-26, southeastern Tibetan Plateau
- 2019
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In: Earth Surface Processes and Landforms. - : Wiley. - 0197-9337 .- 1096-9837. ; 44:4, s. 918-932
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Quantifying glacial erosion contributes to our understanding of landscape evolution and topographic relief production in high altitude and high latitude areas. Combining in situ Be-10 and Al-26 analysis of bedrock, boulder, and river sand samples, geomorphological mapping, and field investigations, we examine glacial erosion patterns of former ice caps in the Shaluli Shan of the southeastern Tibetan Plateau. The general landform pattern shows a zonal pattern of landscape modification produced by ice caps of up to 4000 km(2) during pre-LGM (Last Glacial Maximum) glaciations, while the dating results and landforms on the plateau surface imply that the LGM ice cap further modified the scoured terrain into different zones. Modeled glacial erosion depth of 0-0.38 m per 100 ka bedrock sample located close to the western margin of the LGM ice cap, indicates limited erosion prior to LGM and Late Glacial moraine deposition. A strong erosion zone exists proximal to the LGM ice cap marginal zone, indicated by modeled glacial erosion depth >2.23 m per 100 ka from bedrock samples. Modeled glacial erosion depths of 0-1.77 m per 100 ka from samples collected along the edge of a central upland, confirm the presence of a zone of intermediate erosion in-between the central upland and the strong erosion zone. Significant nuclide inheritance in river sand samples from basins on the scoured plateau surface also indicate restricted glacial erosion during the last glaciation. Our study, for the first time, shows clear evidence for preservation of glacial landforms formed during previous glaciations under non-erosive ice on the Tibetan Plateau. As patterns of glacial erosion intensity are largely driven by the basal thermal regime, our results confirm earlier inferences from geomorphology for a concentric basal thermal pattern for the Haizishan ice cap during the LGM.
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| 18. |
- Fu, Ping, 1982-, et al.
(author)
-
Paleoglaciation of Shaluli Shan, southeastern Tibetan Plateau
- 2013
-
In: Quaternary Science Reviews. - : Elsevier BV. - 0277-3791 .- 1873-457X. ; 64, s. 121-135
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Reconstructing the paleoglaciation of the Tibetan Plateau is critical to understanding linkages between regional climate changes and global climate changes, and here we focus on the glacial history of the Shaluli Shan, an area of the southeastern Tibetan Plateau that receives much of its precipitation from monsoon flow. Based on field investigation, geomorphological mapping, and Be-10 exposure dating of moraines, we identify glacial deposits from the Late Glacial, with minimum ages at 13.0 +/- 1.2 -17.1 +/- 1.6 ka, global Last Glacial Maximum (gLGM) at 21.6 +/- 2.0 ka, and pre-gLGM at 102.3 +/- 10.0-183.6 +/- 17.0 ka. These ages are consistent with and significantly extend the known range from most prior chronological work using terrestrial cosmogenic nuclides in this area, and include a set of dates for the Kuzhaori moraine that raise questions about prior chronologies based on the electron spin resonance technique. Ice caps about 4000 km(2) in size covered the Haizishan Plateau and the Xinlong Plateau during the global LGM, with large glaciers extending far down outlet valleys. The presence of ice cap glaciation, here, contrasts strongly to glaciation elsewhere in the Shaluli Shan and more central regions of the Tibetan Plateau where ice expansion remained constricted to valleys. This work provides important insights into the paleoclimate pattern and monsoon evolution of the Tibetan Plateau over past glacial cycles and indicates that the Shaluli Shan has a glacial chronology more consistent with the Northern Hemisphere paleo-ice sheets than other areas of the Tibetan Plateau.
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| 19. |
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| 20. |
- Goodfellow, Bradley W., et al.
(author)
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Arctic-alpine blockfields in the northern Swedish Scandes : late Quaternary - not Neogene
- 2014
-
In: Earth Surface Dynamics. - : Copernicus GmbH. - 2196-6311 .- 2196-632X. ; 2:2, s. 383-401
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Autochthonous blockfield mantles may indicate alpine surfaces that have not been glacially eroded. These surfaces may therefore serve as markers against which to determine Quaternary erosion volumes in adjacent glacially eroded sectors. To explore these potential utilities, chemical weathering features, erosion rates, and regolith residence durations of mountain blockfields are investigated in the northern Swedish Scandes. This is done, firstly, by assessing the intensity of regolith chemical weathering along altitudinal transects descending from three blockfield-mantled summits. Clay / silt ratios, secondary mineral assemblages, and imaging of chemical etching of primary mineral grains in fine matrix are each used for this purpose. Secondly, erosion rates and regolith residence durations of two of the summits are inferred from concentrations of in situ-produced cosmogenic Be-10 and Al-26 in quartz at the blockfield surfaces. An interpretative model is adopted that includes temporal variations in nuclide production rates through surface burial by glacial ice and glacial isostasy-induced elevation changes of the blockfield surfaces. Together, our data indicate that these blockfields are not derived from remnants of intensely weathered Neogene weathering profiles, as is commonly considered. Evidence for this interpretation includes minor chemical weathering in each of the three examined blockfields, despite consistent variability according to slope position. In addition, average erosion rates of similar to 16.2 and similar to 6.7 mm ka(-1), calculated for the two blockfield-mantled summits, are low but of sufficient magnitude to remove present blockfield mantles, of up to a few metres in thickness, within a late Quaternary time frame. Hence, blockfield mantles appear to be replenished by regolith formation through, primarily physical, weathering processes that have operated during the Quaternary. The persistence of autochthonous blockfields over multiple glacial-interglacial cycles confirms their importance as key markers of surfaces that were not glacially eroded through, at least, the late Quaternary. However, presently blockfield-mantled surfaces may potentially be subjected to large spatial variations in erosion rates, and their Neogene regolith mantles may have been comprehensively eroded during the late Pliocene and early Pleistocene. Their role as markers by which to estimate glacial erosion volumes in surrounding landscape elements therefore remains uncertain.
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| 21. |
- Goodfellow, Bradley W., et al.
(author)
-
Controls of tor formation, Cairngorm Mountains, Scotland
- 2014
-
In: Journal Of Geophysical Research: Earth Surface. - 2169-9003. ; 119:2, s. 225-246
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Tors occur in many granitic landscapes and provide opportunities to better understand differential weathering. We assess tor formation in the Cairngorm Mountains, Scotland, by examining correlation of tor location and size with grain size and the spacing of steeply dipping joints. We infer a control on these relationships and explore its potential broader significance for differential weathering and tor formation. We also assess the relationship between the formation of subhorizontal joints in many tors and local topographic shape by evaluating principle surface curvatures from a digital elevation model of the Cairngorms. We then explore the implications of these joints for tor formation. We conclude that the Cairngorm tors have formed in kernels of relatively coarse grained granite. Tor volumes increase with grain size and the spacing of steeply dipping joints. We infer that the steeply dipping joints largely formed during pluton cooling and are more widely spaced in tor kernels because of slower cooling rates. Preferential tor formation in coarser granite with a wider joint spacing that is more easily grusified indicates that joint spacing is a dominant control on differential weathering. Sheet jointing is well developed in tors located on relatively high convex surfaces. This jointing formed after the gross topography of the Cairngorms was established and before tor emergence. The presence of closely spaced (tens of centimeters), subhorizontal sheeting joints in tors indicates that these tors, and similarly sheeted tors elsewhere, formed either after subaerial exposure of bedrock or have progressively emerged from a regolith only a few meters thick. Key Points Tors form in kernels of coarse-grained granite among finer-grained granite Wide joint spacing in tors attributable to a slow cooling rate of the granite Sheet jointing discounts tor formation within a thick regolith
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| 22. |
- Goodfellow, Bradley W., et al.
(author)
-
Last ice sheet recession and landscape emergence above sea level in east-central Sweden, evaluated using in situ cosmogenic 14C from quartz
- 2024
-
In: GEOCHRONOLOGY. - 2628-3719. ; 6:2, s. 291-302
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- In situ cosmogenic C-14 (in situ C-14) in quartz provides a recently developed tool to date exposure of bedrock surfaces of up to similar to 25 000 years. From outcrops located in east-central Sweden, we tested the accuracy of in situ C-14 dating against (i) a relative sea level (RSL) curve constructed from radiocarbon dating of organic material in isolation basins and (ii) the timing of local deglaciation constructed from a clay varve chronology complemented with traditional radiocarbon dating. Five samples of granitoid bedrock were taken along an elevation transect extending southwestwards from the coast of the Baltic Sea near Forsmark. Because these samples derive from bedrock outcrops positioned below the highest postglacial shoreline, they target the timing of progressive landscape emergence above sea level. In contrast, in situ C-14 concentrations in an additional five samples taken from granitoid outcrops above the highest postglacial shoreline, located 100 km west of Forsmark, should reflect local deglaciation ages. The 10 in situ C-14 measurements provide robust age constraints that, within uncertainties, compare favourably with the RSL curve and the local deglaciation chronology. These data demonstrate the utility of in situ C-14 to accurately date ice sheet deglaciation, and durations of postglacial exposure, in regions where cosmogenic Be-10 and Al-26 routinely return complex exposure results.
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| 23. |
- Gribenski, Natacha, 1986-
(author)
-
Comparison of dating methods for paleoglacial reconstruction in Central Asia
- 2016
-
Doctoral thesis (other academic/artistic)abstract
- Reconstruction of former Central Asian glaciers extents can provide valuable information about past atmospheric circulation variations. These extents, often marked by terminal moraines, need to be chronologically constrained. Cosmogenic nuclide exposure (CNE) dating is widely used to directly date moraines. In addition, there is increasing interest on using optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) techniques for dating glacial landforms. This thesis focuses on the methodological aspects of directly dating glacial landforms to perform paleoglacial reconstructions in Central Asia, with an emphasis on OSL dating.For OSL dating of sediments from glacial settings, it is important to measure the luminescence signal at the single grain scale, because the sediments are likely affected by partial bleaching due to short light exposure during glacial or glaciofluvial transport. The use of an Electron Multiplying Charges Coupled Device (EMCCD)-based imaging system for single grain OSL measurements would offer larger flexibility in light stimulation and sediment type, compared to the current Single Grain Risø reader. An automated image processing procedure has been developed to compensate for sample carrier displacement over repeated measurements and for attributing pixels to each grain for signal integration when using this imaging system. However, significant cross talk contamination, demonstrated by laboratory and simulation experiments, prohibits accurate single grain luminescence measurements. Preliminary experiments using a basic image processing algorithm show good potential for software correction solutions.Paleoglacial reconstructions conducted in the Altai Mountains, Central Asia, using both CNE and OSL dating demonstrate that luminescence measurements of glaciofluvial sediments performed at the multi-grain scale result in large age overestimates, and that single grain measurements allow for more accurate dating of glacial landforms. However, uncertainties remain that are related to the model used for extracting equivalent doses for well-bleached grains and to fading corrections when using feldspar minerals. The timing of glaciation can be inferred from scattered CNE moraine boulder ages if most of the ages are concentrated within a few thousand years, with only few ages clearly older or younger. Overall, combining CNE and OSL techniques for dating a glacial landform is a powerful approach for producing robust glacial chronologies, despite uncertainties inherent to each technique.Paleoglacial reconstructions from the Altai Mountains indicate Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 2 and MIS 4/late MIS 5 local Last Glacial Maximums. In Central Asia, in addition to a regional MIS 2 glaciation, previous studies indicate a period of major glacial advances during MIS 3 that is out of phase with global ice volume records. However, most MIS 3 glacial chronologies from Central Asia are based on too few or too heavily scattered CNE data sets, or on OSL or Electron Spin Resonance (ESR) ages for which partial bleaching has not been properly investigated. Hence, at this stage, chronological evidence is insufficient to demonstrate a regional MIS 3 glaciation in Central Asia.Surge-related glacial features identified in the Russian Altai also highlight the importance of conducting detailed geomorphology and sedimentology studies to understand former ice dynamics, which is essential for inferring appropriate paleoclimate information from paleoglacial reconstructions.
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| 24. |
- Gribenski, Natacha, 1986-, et al.
(author)
-
Complex patterns of glacier advances during the late glacial in the Chagan Uzun Valley, Russian Altai
- 2016
-
In: Quaternary Science Reviews. - : Elsevier BV. - 0277-3791 .- 1873-457X. ; 149, s. 288-305
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- The Southern part of the Russian Altai Mountains is recognized for its evidence for catastrophic glacial lake outbursts. However, little is known about the late Pleistocene paleoglacial history, despite the interest in such reconstructions for constraining paleoclimate. In this study, we present a detailed paleoglaciological reconstruction of the Chagan Uzun Valley, in the Russian Altai Mountains, combining for the first time detailed geomorphological mapping, sedimentological logging, and in situ cosmogenic 10Be and 26Al surface exposure dating of glacially-transported boulders. The Chagan Uzun Valley exhibits the most impressive glacial landforms of this sector of the Altai, with extensive lobate moraine belts deposited in the intramontane Chuja Basin, reflecting a series of pronounced former glacial advances. Observations of “hillside-scale” folding and extensive faulting of pre-existing soft sediments within the outer moraine belts, together with the geomorphology, strongly indicate that these moraine belts were formed during surge-like events. Identification of surge-related features is essential for paleoclimate inference because these features correspond to a glacier system that is not in equilibrium with the contemporary climate, but instead largely influenced by various internal and external factors. Therefore, no strict relationship can be established between climatic variables and the pronounced distal glacial extent observed in the Chagan Uzun Valley/Chuja basin. In contrast, the inner (up-valley) glacial landforms of the Chagan Uzun valley were likely deposited during retreat of temperate valley glaciers, close to equilibrium with climate, and so most probably triggered by a general warming. Cosmogenic ages associated with the outermost, innermost, and intermediate stages all indicate deposition times clustered around 19 ka. However, the actual deposition time of the outermost moraine may slightly predate the 10Be ages due to shielding caused by subsequent lake water coverage. This chronology indicates a Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 2 last maximum extent of the Chagan Uzun Glacier, and an onset of the deglaciation around 19 ka. This is consistent with other regional paleoclimate proxy records and with the Northern Hemisphere glaciation chronology. Finally, this study also highlights the highly dynamic environment in this area, with complex interactions between glacial events and the formation and drainage of lakes.
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| 25. |
- Gribenski, Natacha, 1986-, et al.
(author)
-
Major glaciation in Central Asia during MIS 3: reality or dating artefact?
-
Other publication (other academic/artistic)abstract
- Previous investigations have concluded that a period of major glacial advances occurred during Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 3 (57-29 ka) in Central Asia, out of phase with global ice volume records. We have re-examined the Kanas moraine complex in the Altai Mountains, where an MIS 3 glaciation has been previously inferred. New cosmogenic exposure and single grain luminescence ages indicate that the Kanas complex was formed during MIS 2 (29-12 ka); we regard the initial MIS 3 interpretation as a result of dating artefacts. Building on this example, we reanalyze chronological data associated with proposed major MIS 3 glacial advances in Central Asia (24 sites). We find that chronological data do not allow glaciation timing inferences for most of the sites, and that chronological evidence for major MIS 3 glacial advance only exists at one site.
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| 26. |
- Gribenski, Natacha, et al.
(author)
-
Re-evaluation of MIS 3 glaciation using cosmogenic radionuclide and single grain luminescence ages, Kanas Valley, Chinese Altai
- 2018
-
In: Journal of Quaternary Science. - : Wiley. - 0267-8179 .- 1099-1417. ; 33:1, s. 55-67
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Previous investigations observed a period of major glacial advances in Central Asia during marine oxygen isotope stage (MIS) 3 (57–29 ka), out of phase with global ice volume records. We have re-examined the Kanas moraine complex in the Altai Mountains of Central Asia, where an MIS 3 glaciation had been previously inferred. New and consistent cosmogenic exposure and single-grain luminescence ages indicate that the Kanas complex was formed during MIS 2 (29–12 ka), which brings its timing in line with the global ice volume record. We also identified a lateral moraine from a more extensive ice extent that dates to late MIS 5/MIS 4. To place our results in a wider contextual framework, we review the chronologies of another 26 proposed major MIS 3 glacial advances in Central Asia. For most of these sites, we find that the chronological data do not provide an unequivocal case for MIS 3 glaciation. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
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| 27. |
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| 28. |
- Hall, Adrian M., et al.
(author)
-
Glacial ripping: geomorphological evidence from Sweden for a new process of glacial erosion
- 2020
-
In: Geografiska Annaler Series a-Physical Geography. - : Informa UK Limited. - 0435-3676 .- 1468-0459. ; 2:4, s. 333-53
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- In low relief Precambrian gneiss terrain in eastern Sweden, abraded bedrock surfaces were ripped apart by the Fennoscandian Ice Sheet. The resultantboulder spreadsare covers of large, angular boulders, many with glacial transport distances of 1-100 m. Boulder spreads occur alongside partly disintegrated roches moutonnees and associated fracture caves, and are associated withdisrupted bedrock, which shows extensive fracture dilation in the near surface. These features are distributed in ice-flow parallel belts up to 10 km wide and extend over distances of >500 km. Our hypothesis is that the assemblage results from (1) hydraulic jacking and bedrock disruption, (2) subglacial ripping and (3) displacement, transport and final deposition of boulders. Soft sediment fills indicate jacking and dilation of pre-existing bedrock fractures by groundwater overpressure below the ice sheet. Overpressure reduces frictional resistance along fractures. Where ice traction overcomes this resistance, the rock mass strength is exceeded, resulting in disintegration of rock surfaces and ripping apart into separate blocks. Further movement and deposition create boulder spreads and moraines. Short boulder transport distances and high angularity indicate that glacial ripping operated late in the last deglaciation. The depths of rock mobilized in boulder spreads are estimated as 1-4 m. This compares with 0.6-1.6 m depths of erosion during the last glaciation derived from cosmogenic nuclide inventories of samples from bedrock surfaces without evidence of disruption. Glacially disrupted and ripped bedrock is also made ready for removal by future ice sheets. Henceglacial rippingis a highly effective process of glacial erosion.
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| 29. |
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| 30. |
- Harbor, Jon, et al.
(author)
-
Glacial Geomorphology of the Haizi Shan area, SE Tibetan Plateau
- 2010
-
Conference paper (peer-reviewed)abstract
- The Haizi Shan area on the SE Tibetan Plateau is characterized by a relatively low relief plateau surrounded by steeper fluvial valleys. Glacial deposits and erosive imprints are widely distributed indicating former glacier expansions of varying extents in a presently ice-free area. Glacial landforms have been mapped using remote sensing (SRTM digital elevation model, Landsat ETM+ satellite imagery, and Google Earth) and field reconnaissance. Well-preserved moraines from different stages and distinctive U-shaped glacial valleys are abundant. In the Daocheng Valley southwest of the Haizi Shan Plateau we have mapped glacial deposits which likely reflect the maximum Quaternary glacial extent for several kilometers along the western side of the valley. During the maximum glaciation, we infer that ice from the Haizi Shan Plateau crossed the valley and extended in to tributary valleys. Numerous large moraine ridges also reach down towards valley floors along the edges of the Haizi Shan Plateau. In several locations these valleys lack cirque heads indicating former outlet glaciers emanating from a Haizi Shan ice cap. In ongoing work we are using TCN and OSL to determine a glacial chronology for this area and advance our knowledge of Quaternary glaciations of the SE Tibetan Plateau.
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| 31. |
- Heyman, Jakob, 1979-, et al.
(author)
-
A paleoglaciological reconstruction for Bayan Har Shan, NE Tibetan Plateau
- 2009
-
Conference paper (peer-reviewed)abstract
- The paleoglaciology of the Tibetan Plateau has remained elusive because extensive areas still lack detailed scrutiny. We here present a paleoglaciological reconstruction for the Bayan Har Shan region, NE Tibetan Plateau, which could serve as a working model to investigate other poorly investigated regions. The reconstruction is primarily based on three methods for revealing the glacial history; 1) remote sensing (geomorphology), 2) field studies (stratigraphy), and 3) numerical dating techniques. Remote sensing (SRTM elevation data, Landsat ETM+ satellite imagery and Google Earth) of a 136 500 km2 area reveals an abundance of glacial landforms in the highest mountain areas and an absence of glacial landforms on intervening plateau surfaces. Stratigraphical data collected during three field seasons supplement the picture emerging from remote sensing. Glacial deposits (including erratic boulders and till) occur in the elevated mountain areas but are absent on the intervening plateau areas. Marginal moraines in central Bayan Har can be grouped to represent at least three separate glacial extents and scattered observations of glacial deposits indicate the presence of a fourth (and maximum) glacial extent. To tie the glacial geological record to a chronology we have employed terrestrial cosmogenic nuclide (TCN) exposure and optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) dating. Beryllium apparent exposure ages of 65 glacial boulders, surface cobbles/pebbles and depth profile samples yield minimum ages for the three youngest glacial extents of 40-65 ka, 60-100 ka, and 95-165 ka (with the wide age ranges due to TCN dating uncertainties). A preliminary OSL age of c. 160 ka from glacial sediments of the oldest of these glacial extents supports our interpretation based on TCN dating. The glacial extent presented here is more restricted than most previous reconstructions, most notably with very restricted glaciers over at least the last 40-65 ka. These results indicate that while continental-scale ice sheets evolved and disappeared in North America and Eurasia over the last half of the last glacial cycle, the NE corner of the Tibetan Plateau experienced relatively minor glacial fluctuations.
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| 32. |
- Heyman, Jakob, 1979-, et al.
(author)
-
An evaluation of multiple working hypotheses to explain cosmogenic exposure age data from glacial deposits in the Bayan Har Shan, NE Tibetan Plateau
- 2009
-
In: Proceedings.
-
Conference paper (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Many questions remain unanswered regarding the Quaternary glaciations of the Tibetan Plateau. We have used terrestrial cosmogenic nuclide (TCN) exposure age dating of glacial deposits to examine the style, extent, and timing of past glaciations of the Bayan Har Shan, a mountain region on the northeastern Tibetan Plateau. This area lies within a transition zone between the dry interior of the Tibetan Plateau and the wetter eastern margin affected by the Asian monsoon. Bayan Har Shan has many glacial landforms and deposits that provide evidence for former glaciation ranging from cirque and valley glaciers to ice-fields and ice caps.In an attempt to constrain the timing of glaciations in Bayan Har Shan, we have performed TCN exposure dating on 65 samples in central Bayan Har Shan from glacial deposits. boulders (39 samples), on surface pebbles/cobbles (12 samples), and on pebbles in sediment depth profiles (14 samples from four profiles) allow us to examine the timing and extent of glaciations in this area. As is often the case, there are some challenges in interpreting the range of TCN apparent exposure ages that is found in data from several samples and sample types on a single deposit and from samples taken at various sites. Thus we evaluate multiple working hypotheses to explain apparent exposure ages on glacial deposits, which in this case range from 3 ka to 129 ka. We consider three different hypotheses; 1) some samples have erroneously old exposure ages due to inheritance, 2) samples have been preserved under cold-based, non-erosive ice, and 3) samples have experienced only post-glacial shielding. Only when we adopt a hypothesis that assumes no prior exposure, and thus that maximum apparent exposure ages constrain the minimum age of formation of a feature (working hypotheses 3), do we find broad consistency between apparent exposure ages from different sample types (erratic boulders, surface pebbles/cobbles and pebbles from depth profiles). This leads to the conclusion that all of the sites of former glaciations we examined are at least 50ka in age, and that there has been no large-scale expansion of glaciers in the central Bayan Har Shan over the last 50ka.
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| 33. |
- Heyman, Jakob, et al.
(author)
-
Boulder cosmogenic exposure ages as constraints for glacial chronologies
- 2010
-
In: Geophysical Research Abstracts.
-
Conference paper (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Cosmogenic exposure dating greatly enhances our ability to define glacial chronologies spanning several global cold periods, and glacial boulder exposure ages are now routinely used to constrain deglaciation ages. However, calculating an exposure age from a measured cosmogenic nuclide concentration involves assumptions about the geological history of the sample that are difficult to test and yet have a profound effect on the inferred age.Two principal geological factors yield erroneous inferred ages: pre-depositional exposure (yielding exposure ages that are too old) and post-depositional shielding (yielding exposure ages that are too young). To evaluate the importance of these two problems we have compiled datasets of glacial boulder 10Be exposure ages from theTibetan Plateau (1099 boulders), the Northern Hemisphere palaeo-ice sheets (613 boulders), and present-day glaciers (141 boulders). All exposure ages have been recalculated with the CRONUS online calculator version 2.2 (http://hess.ess.washington.edu/) using the new 10Be half-life of 1.36 Ma. All boulders from present-day glaciers have exposure ages <3.5 ka indicating that none of these boulders experienced significant pre-depositional exposure.The palaeo-ice sheet boulders in the dataset were deposited during the last deglaciation c. 25-8 ka. By subtracting independently-derived, primarily radiocarbon-based, deglaciation ages we have quantified the inheritance of cosmogenic nuclides from pre-depositional exposure. Only 4% of the boulders from glacially modified landscapes (n = 385; dated to constrain the glacial chronology) have exposure ages >10 ka older than the deglacial age of the surface. Boulders from the Tibetan Plateau have mainly been collected from moraine ridges. We haveorganized them into boulder groups, each of which has one deglacial age. The age spread of the Tibetan Plateau boulder group dataset is significantly higher than the inheritance observed in the palaeo-ice sheet boulders. If this spread is attributed to inheritance we would conclude that on the Tibetan Plateau inheritance plays a much more prominent role than is seen in the palaeo-ice sheet areas. Alternatively, a simple exponential post-glacial landform degradation model produces exposure age distributions remarkably similar to the measured data, indicating that post-depositional shielding is likely the dominant process producing spread among boulder age distributions. Our analysis lends strong support to the argument that post-depositional shielding is the most important geological process leading to potential errors in cosmogenic exposure ages for glacial boulders older than a few thousand years. The strong recommendation emerging from this analysis of global 10Be exposure ages is to interpret sets of dates from glacial settings in terms of post-depositional shielding: i.e., that exposure ages represent minimum ages of deglaciation.
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| 34. |
- Heyman, Jakob, 1979-, et al.
(author)
-
Boulder cosmogenic exposure ages as constraints for glacial chronologies
-
Other publication (other academic/artistic)abstract
- Cosmogenic exposure dating has greatly enhanced our ability to define glacial chronologies spanning several global cold periods, and glacial boulder exposure ages are now routinely used to constrain deglaciation ages. However, exposure dating involves assumptions about the geological history of the sample that are difficult to test and yet may have a profound effect on the inferred age. Two principal geological factors yield erroneous inferred ages: exposure prior to glaciation (yielding exposure ages that are too old) and post-glacial shielding (yielding exposure ages that are too young). Here we show that post-glacial shielding is more important than prior exposure, using datasets of glacial boulder 10Be exposure ages from the Tibetan Plateau (1123 boulders), Northern Hemisphere palaeo-ice sheets (615 boulders), and present-day glaciers (186 boulders). No boulders from present-day glaciers and very few boulders from the palaeo-ice sheets have exposure ages significantly older than independently known deglaciation ages, indicating that prior exposure is of limited significance. Further, the exposure age distribution of boulders from the Tibetan Plateau agrees with the distribution produced by a simple post-glacial landform degradation model, indicating that post-glacial shielding is important. The large global dataset demonstrates that, in the absence of other evidence, glacial boulder exposure ages should be viewed as minimum limiting deglaciation ages.
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| 35. |
- Heyman, Jakob, 1979-, et al.
(author)
-
Cosmogenic exposure ages of glacial boulders from the Tibetan Plateau - Age distributions support boulder exhumation/erosion and indicate old glacial deposits.
- 2009
-
In: Geophysical Research Abstracts.
-
Conference paper (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Terrestrial cosmogenic nuclide (TCN) exposure dating has become the most dominant technique for constraining glacial chronologies. This is particularly true for the Tibetan Plateau because of its low frequency of organic material (limiting the possibilities to use radiocarbon dating) and high altitude (favouring TCN dating with high cosmogenic nuclide production rates), with, consequently, a large number of TCN samples processed. However, multiple samples from one glacial deposit commonly yield a wide range of TCN ages which complicates their interpretation. Two principal possibilities can cause a wide range of ages to result from one glacial deposit. First, TCN ages may exceed the true age by a varying number of years as a result of pre-depositional cosmogenic nuclide inheritance. Second, TCN ages may underestimate the true age by a varying number of years as a result of post-depositional exhumation and/or erosion. By analysing trends within a large set of TCN ages we can evaluate whether inheritance (too old TCN ages) or exhumation/erosion (too young TCN ages) has best explanatory power. We have thus analysed 794 Be-10 TCN ages from 211 individual groups of glacial boulders collected from 30 different areas on the Tibetan Plateau. Analysis of the 211 sample group age distributions and the relationships with their maximum and minimum ages clearly reveals that older sample groups have wider age spread. This fact indicates that if inheritance is the cause of the wide age spread, older deposits have higher cosmogenic inheritance. However, the wide age spread and distinct age spread/deposition age-trend argue against this explanation. Furthermore, there is no significant inheritance in boulders from young (late Holocene) glacial deposits of the Tibetan Plateau. Exhumation/erosion of boulders, on the other hand, may explain the age distribution as a result of post-depositional shielding of samples. With degrading moraine ridges exhuming boulders and erosion of the boulder surfaces, previous shielding of the collected samples will result in TCN ages underestimating the true age to a varying degree depending on the rate and timing of exhumation/erosion. If exhumation/erosion is a continuous process, older deposits will have wider age spread due to the longer time (higher probability) of exhumation/erosion. Thus, the age distribution within groups of boulder TCN ages from the Tibetan Plateau indicates that cosmogenic inheritance is probably not an overarching problem, and that the spread in ages in glacial deposits is generally caused by boulder exhumation and/or erosion. By inference, the oldest boulder of each sample group most reliably constrains the minimum age of glacial deposition. Because the average of the 211 maximum ages is 61 ka and half of them are older than 25 ka, an important conclusion of our trend analysis is that the glacial geological record of the Tibetan Plateau to a large extent corresponds to glaciations pre-dating the global Last Glacial Maximum. Hence, the Tibetan Plateau offers a window into glaciations significantly older than is normally found in the northern hemisphere.
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| 36. |
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| 37. |
- Heyman, Jakob, 1979-, et al.
(author)
-
Glacial boulder exposure ages from the Tibetan Plateau - old deposits and postglacial shielding
- 2009
-
Conference paper (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Terrestrial cosmogenic nuclide (TCN) exposure dating is an important chronological tool in Quaternary glacial geology. For the Tibetan Plateau, with its lack of organic material (hindering radiocarbon dating) and high altitude (yielding high cosmogenic isotope production rates), TCN dating has been widely used over the last 10 years to provide evidence for limited glacial expansion during the last glacial cycle. However, for a large number of TCN samples, apparent exposure ages deviate from depositional ages as shown by wide age spreads from multiple samples. There are two principal geological explanations for the presence of incorrect and varying exposure ages; 1) pre-glacial exposure and 2) post-glacial shielding. While pre-glacial exposure results in inherited cosmogenic isotope concentrations (yielding too old exposure ages), post-glacial shielding results in reduced cosmogenic isotope concentrations (yielding too young exposure ages). To evaluate the likelihood of each explanation, and to provide guidance on how to interpret the often complex TCN exposure assemblages, we have compiled a large data set of 945 10Be TCN ages from glacial boulders on the Tibetan Plateau and 578 10Be TCN ages from glacial boulders displaced by Laurentide and European ice sheets. TCN ages from the Tibetan Plateau derive from 237 groups with multiple boulders. The grouping of boulders allows us to evaluate the age spread for locations of the same age. All TCN ages have been recalculated (from original publications) using the CRONUS-Earth online calculator version 2.2 (http://hess.ess.washington.edu/) which standardizes measurements using different 10Be standards (thus allowing comparison of multiple TCN age studies) and applies a new 10Be half-life of 1.36 Ma. TCN apparent exposure ages range from 0 to 450 ka and reveal a clear trend with wider age spread (higher uncertainty) with increasing age (valid for both minimum and maximum ages). This characteristic may be explained by shielding during post-glacial time, or, alternatively, would require very high and increasing inheritance with age if explained by pre-glacial exposure. To further evaluate these two explanatory models, we have employed two simple numerical models simulating inheritance and postglacial shielding. We have also compared the Tibetan age spreads with glacial boulder 10Be TCN ages for the Laurentide and European ice sheets, for which we have a relatively good idea of the glacial chronology. The outcome of our analysis is that, although we can not rule out inheritance for individual boulders, post-glacial shielding is a far more poweful explanatory model to explain the increasingly wide age spreads. By inference, the glacial boulder TCN record of the Tibetan Plateau reveals a paleoglaciological record which is significantly older than normally found in the Northern Hemisphere; with discernable glaciations up to several hundred thousand years old.
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| 38. |
- Heyman, Jakob, 1979-
(author)
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Glacial geology of Bayan Har Shan, northeastern Tibetan Plateau
- 2008
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Licentiate thesis (other academic/artistic)abstract
- The paleoglaciology of the Tibetan Plateau is still largely unexplored, despite its importance for regional and global climate reconstructions. In this thesis a comprehensive glacial geological record is presented from an extensive part of the northeastern Tibetan Plateau centred on the Bayan Har Shan. Glacial reconstructions for this region range from restricted mountain glaciers through the intermediate-size regional-scale Huang He ice sheet to a plateau-scale Tibetan ice sheet. To provide a robust basis for glacial reconstructions, this thesis provides conclusions based on two principle methods, remote sensing and field studies. The remote sensing of a 90 m resolution digital elevation model and 15- and 30 m resolution satellite imagery renders a detailed data set with complete spatial coverage of large- and medium-scale glacial landforms, and large-scale plateau geomorphology. Observations from fieldwork campaigns add detailed point information for the distribution of glacial deposits. Geomorphological glacial traces such as glacial valleys, glacial lineations, marginal moraines, meltwater channels, and hummocky terrain occur frequently in elevated mountain areas, indicating former alpine-style glaciations. Glacial deposits in the form of till, erratic boulders, and glaciofluvial sediments are common in areas with mapped glacial landforms, but also beyond, in areas lacking large-scale glacial landforms. For extensive plateau areas in-between formerly glaciated mountain blocks, there is a striking absence of glacial landforms and sediments, indicating that these areas, perhaps, never were ice covered. Interestingly, glacial deposits occur further away from the mountain blocks than the large- and medium-scale glacial landforms, indicating insignificant erosion beneath the maximum ice covers close to their margins. The large-scale geomorphology of the northeastern Tibetan Plateau is characterised by a low-relief plateau surface with glacial valleys in elevated mountain blocks and marginal steep V-shaped valleys. This geographical distribution indicates a dominance of glacial erosion in the elevated mountain areas and a dominance of fluvial erosion along the steep plateau margins, dissecting a relict plateau surface. The outline of the relict plateau surface mimics the proposed outline of the Huang He ice sheet, suggesting that the inferred ice sheet may represent a misinterpreted relict surface with scattered glacial traces. In conclusion, the glacial geology examined in the Bayan Har Shan region is consistent with paleo-glaciers of varying extent restricted to elevated mountain areas. Even though extensive icefields/ice caps were centred on discrete mountain areas, there is no indication that these ice masses merged but rather that they were separated from each other by unglaciated plateau areas. The presented glacial geological record will be used in further studies towards a robust paleoglaciological reconstruction for the northeastern Tibetan Plateau.
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| 39. |
- Heyman, Jakob, et al.
(author)
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Glacial geomorphology of the Bayan Har sector of the NE Tibetan Plateau
- 2008
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In: Journal of Maps. - : Informa UK Limited. - 1744-5647. ; 2008, s. 42-62
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- We here present a detailed glacial geomorphological map covering 136,500 km2 of the Bayan Har sector of the northeastern Tibetan Plateau - an area previously suggested to have nourished the most extensive Quaternary glaciers of the Tibetan Plateau. The map, presented at a scale of 1:650,000, is based on remote sensing of a 90 m SRTM digital elevation model and 15/30 m Landsat ETM+ satellite imagery. Seven landform types have been mapped; glacial valleys, glacial troughs, glacial lineations,marginal moraines, marginal moraine remnants, meltwater channels and hummocky terrain. A large number of glacial landforms exist, concentrated around mountain blocks protruding above the surrounding plateau area, testifying to former glacial activity. In contrast, large plateau areas of lower altitude lack glacial landforms. The mapped glacial geomorphology indicates multiple former glacial advances primarily by valley and piedmont glaciers, but lends no support to the hypothesis of ice sheet scale glaciation in the area. The presented glacial geomorphological map demonstrates the usefulness of remote sensing techniques for mapping the glacial geomorphology of the Tibetan Plateau, and it will be used for reconstructing the paleoglaciology of the Bayan Har sector of the northeastern Tibetan Plateau.
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| 40. |
- Heyman, Jakob, et al.
(author)
-
LGM Tibetan Plateau glaciers were not much larger than today
- 2010
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In: Geophysical Research Abstracts.
-
Conference paper (peer-reviewed)abstract
- The Tibetan Plateau is the largest and highest elevated area on Earth with consequential impacts on regional (monsoon development) and global (CO2 sequestering) climate patterns and evolution, and with its glaciers providing meltwater for some of the largest rivers of the world. The glacial history of the Tibetan Plateau is dominantly characterized by glaciers and ice caps centered on elevated mountain regions of the plateau, as evidenced by an extensive glacial geological record. Here we present the outcome of a five year project aiming towards a palaeoglaciological reconstruction for the Bayan Har Shan region of the northeastern Tibetan Plateau. We have used remote sensing, field studies and 10Be exposure ages towards a robust reconstruction of former glaciation. Glacial landforms and sediments in Bayan Har Shan, distributed around elevated mountain areas, indicate a maximum Quaternary glaciation significantly larger than today. We have dated 40 boulders, 12 surface pebbles samples, and 15 depth profile samples (in 4 depth profiles) from 15 sites (mainly moraine ridges) using 10Be exposure dating. Our boulder and pebble exposure ages range from 3 ka to 128 ka with large age spreads within populations of individual sites. Based on the premise that cosmogenic age spreads within populations are caused by post-depositional shielding which yields exposure ages younger than deglaciation ages (see Heyman et al. Abstract/Poster in session CL4.7/GM2.4/SSP2.5/SSP3.9: EGU2010-14159-1) and based on the exposure ages of the multiple sample types, all dated glacial deposits pre-date the global Last Glacial Maximum (LGM). Our results further indicate that even the innermost and highest of the dated moraines, formed by glaciers <10 km long, have minimum deglaciation ages of 45 ka. These results agree well with those sites on the Tibetan Plateau where samples close outside present-day glacier margins have yielded exposure ages significantly older than the LGM. In fact, for sites where exposure age studies have been performed on the Tibetan Plateau, it is a rule rather than an exception with pre-LGM exposure ages close outside present-day glacier margins. This indicates that during the LGM, when large ice sheets covered North America and northern Europe, glaciers on the northeastern Tibetan Plateau, and perhaps the plateau at large, did not grow much larger than today. To explore the climate implications of restricted Tibetan Plateau LGM glaciers, we employ a high-resolution 3D glacier model forced with static climate perturbations of the present-day climate (WorldClim data:http://www.worldclim.org/). Allowing glaciers to grow and expand to but not exceed well-dated moraines enables us to derive and present climate constraints for the Tibetan Plateau during the LGM.
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| 41. |
- Heyman, Jakob, 1979-, et al.
(author)
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Palaeoglaciation of Bayan Har Shan, northeastern Tibetan Plateau: glacial geology indicates maximum extents limited to ice cap and ice field scales
- 2009
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In: Journal of Quaternary Science. - : John Wiley & Sons. - 0267-8179 .- 1099-1417. ; 24:7, s. 710-727
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Key locations within an extensive area of the northeastern Tibetan Plateau, centred on Bayan Har Shan, have been mapped to distinguish glacial from non-glacial deposits. Prior work suggests palaeo-glaciers ranging from valley glaciers and local ice caps in the highest mountains to a regional or even plateau-scale ice sheet. New field data show that glacial deposits are abundant in high mountain areas in association with large-scale glacial landforms. In addition, glacial deposits are present in several locations outside areas with distinct glacial erosional landforms, indicating that the most extensive palaeo-glaciers had little geomorphological impact on the landscape towards their margins. The glacial geological record does indicate extensive maximum glaciation, with local ice caps covering entire elevated mountain areas. However, absence of glacial traces in intervening lower-lying plateau areas suggests that local ice caps did not merge to form a regional ice sheet on the northeastern Tibetan Plateau around Bayan Har Shan. No evidence exists for past ice sheet glaciation.
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| 42. |
- Heyman, Jakob, et al.
(author)
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Palaeoglaciology of Bayan Har Shan, NE Tibetan Plateau : exposure ages reveal a missing LGM expansion
- 2011
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In: Quaternary Science Reviews. - : Elsevier BV. - 0277-3791 .- 1873-457X. ; 30:15-16, s. 1988-2001
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- The Bayan Har Shan, a prominent upland area in the northeastern sector of the Tibetan Plateau, hosts an extensive glacial geological record. To reconstruct its palaeoglaciology we have determined (10)Be exposure ages based on 67 samples from boulders, surface pebbles, and sediment sections in conjunction with studies of the glacial geology (remote sensing and field studies) and numerical glacier modelling. Exposure ages from moraines and glacial sediments in Bayan Har Shan range from 3 ka to 129 ka, with a large disparity in exposure ages for individual sites and within the recognised four morphostratigraphical groups. The exposure age disparity cannot be explained by differences in inheritance without using unrealistic assumptions but it can be explained by differences in post-depositional shielding which produces exposure ages younger than the deglaciation age. We present a palaeoglaciological time-slice reconstruction in which the most restricted glaciation, with glaciers less than 10 km long, occurred before 40-65 ka. More extensive glaciations occurred before 60-100 ka and 95-165 ka. Maximum glaciation is poorly constrained but probably even older. The Bayan Hat Shan exposure age dataset indicates that glaciers on the northeastern Tibetan Plateau have remained surprisingly restricted for at least 40 ka, including the global last glacial maximum (LGM). This case of a missing LGM is further supported by high-resolution glacier modelling experiments.
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| 43. |
- Heyman, Jakob, 1979-, et al.
(author)
-
Palaeoglaciology of Bayan Har Shan, NE Tibetan Plateau: the case of a missing LGM expansion
-
Other publication (other academic/artistic)abstract
- The Bayan Har Shan, a prominent upland area in the northeastern sector of the Tibetan Plateau, hosts an extensive glacial geological record. To reconstruct its palaeoglaciology we have determined 10Be apparent exposure ages based on 67 samples from boulders, surface pebbles, and sediment sections in conjunction with studies of the glacial geology (remote sensing and field studies) and numerical glacier modelling. Apparent exposure ages from moraines and glacial sediments in Bayan Har Shan range from 3 ka to 129 ka, with a large disparity in ages for individual sites and within the recognised four morphostratigraphical groups. The age disparity is inexplicable as arising from differences in inheritance without the application of unrealistic assumptions but it can be explained as arising from differences in post-glacial shielding, yielding exposure ages younger than the deglaciation age. We present a palaeoglaciological time-slice reconstruction in which the most restricted glaciation, with glaciers less than 10 km long, occurred before 40-65 ka. More extensive glaciations occurred before 60-100 ka and 95-165 ka. Maximum glaciation is poorly constrained but probably even older. The Bayan Har Shan exposure age dataset indicates that glaciers on the northeastern Tibetan Plateau have remained surprisingly restricted for at least 40 ka, including the global last glacial maximum (LGM). This case of a missing LGM is supported by high-resolution glacier modelling experiments.
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| 44. |
- Heyman, Jakob, 1979-
(author)
-
Palaeoglaciology of the northeastern Tibetan Plateau
- 2010
-
Doctoral thesis (other academic/artistic)abstract
- This study concerns the palaeoglaciation of the northeastern Tibetan Plateau, with emphasis on the Bayan Har Shan (Shan = Mountain) in the headwaters of Huang He (Yellow River). To reconstruct past glacier development multiple techniques, including remote sensing, field investigations, cosmogenic exposure dating, and numerical modelling have been employed. Analysis of the large-scale geomorphology indicates that glacial erosion has been dominant in the elevated mountain areas on the low-relief plateau, whereas fluvial erosion outpaces glacial erosion along the plateau margin. Landform and sediment records yield evidence for multiple local glaciations, restricted to the highest mountain areas, and a maximum glaciation beyond the mountain front. Absence of data supporting the former presence of proposed ice sheets, plateau-wide or regional, tentatively indicates that no ice sheet glaciation occurred on the northeastern Tibetan Plateau. Cosmogenic exposure dating of boulders, surface pebbles, and sediment sections in central Bayan Har Shan indicates that its record of past glaciations predates the global Last Glacial Maximum (LGM). Based on a world-wide analysis, yielding that wide age disparity within apparent exposure age datasets is most likely caused by post-glacial shielding processes, the Bayan Har Shan exposure ages constrain four periods of glaciation with minimum ages of 40-65 ka, 60-100 ka, 95-165 ka, and undetermined oldest stage. Similar to Bayan Har Shan, the plateau-wide distribution of boulders with pre-LGM exposure ages close to present-day glaciers shows that its LGM glaciers were generally not much larger than today. The results of a high resolution glacier model applied to nine regions across the plateau indicates that temperature depressions of 2-4 K are enough to expand glaciers beyond their global LGM extent, implying that during periods of Northern Hemisphere glaciation the Tibetan Plateau was not much colder than today or became exceedingly dry.
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| 45. |
- Heyman, Jakob, et al.
(author)
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Too young or too old: Evaluating cosmogenic exposure dating based on an analysis of compiled boulder exposure ages
- 2011
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In: Earth and Planetary Science Letters. - : Elsevier BV. - 0012-821X .- 1385-013X. ; 302:1-2, s. 71-80
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Cosmogenic exposure dating has greatly enhanced our ability to define glacial chronologies spanning several global cold periods, and glacial boulder exposure ages are now routinely used to constrain deglaciation ages. However, exposure dating involves assumptions about the geological history of the sample that are difficult to test and yet may have a profound effect on the inferred age. Two principal geological factors yield erroneous inferred ages: exposure prior to glaciation (yielding exposure ages that are too old) and incomplete exposure due to post-depositional shielding (yielding exposure ages that are too young). Here we show that incomplete exposure is more important than prior exposure, using datasets of glacial boulder 10Be exposure ages from theTibetan Plateau (1420 boulders), Northern Hemisphere palaeo-ice sheets (631 boulders), and present-day glaciers (208 boulders). No boulders from present-day glaciers and few boulders from the palaeo-ice sheets have exposure ages significantly older than independently known deglaciation ages, indicating that prior exposure is of limited significance. Further, while a simple post-depositional landform degradation model can predict the exposure age distribution of boulders from the Tibetan Plateau, a prior exposure model fails, indicating that incomplete exposure is important. The large global dataset demonstrates that, in the absence of other evidence, glacial boulder exposure ages should be viewed as minimum limiting deglaciation ages.
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| 46. |
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| 47. |
- Johnsen, Timothy, 1971-, et al.
(author)
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High-elevation cosmogenic nuclide dating of the last deglaciation in the central Swedish mountains: implications for the timing of tree establishment
-
Other publication (other academic/artistic)abstract
- We use cosmogenic exposure ages to determine the timing of deglaciation of the Scandinavian ice sheet (SIS) at summit elevation in the central Swedish mountains. Mean exposure ages for boulders on the summit of Mt. Åreskutan (10.6 ±0.6 ka, n = 3, 1420 m a.s.l.) and from the highest-elevation moraine related to SIS deglaciation in Sweden (12.0 ±0.6 ka, n = 3, 1135 m a.s.l.) are consistent with previous lower-elevation radiocarbon age estimates for the timing of deglaciation. Summit areas in this region deglaciated ~12.0-10.6 ka, coinciding approximately with the termination of the Younger Dryas cold interval (11.7 ka). Unusually old radiocarbon ages of tree remains previously studied from the summit-area of Mt. Åreskutan are rejected on the basis of incompatibility with consistent TCN ages for deglaciation, and incompatibility with established paleoecological and paleoglaciological reconstructions. Analysis of the new exposure ages against radiocarbon ages from lower elevation indicates that the SIS decayed rapidly during final deglaciation.
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| 48. |
- Kirchner, Nina, 1972-, et al.
(author)
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Paleoglaciological reconstructions for the Tibetan Plateau during the last glacial cycle : evaluating numerical ice sheet simulations driven by GCM-ensembles
- 2011
-
In: Quaternary Science Reviews. - : Elsevier BV. - 0277-3791 .- 1873-457X. ; 30:1-2, s. 248-267
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- The Tibetan Plateau is a topographic feature of extraordinary dimension and has an important impact on regional and global climate. However, the glacial history of the Tibetan Plateau is more poorly constrained than that of most other formerly glaciated regions such as in North America and Eurasia. On the basis of some field evidence it has been hypothesized that the Tibetan Plateau was covered by an ice sheet during the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM). Abundant field- and chronological evidence for a predominance of local valley glaciation during the past 300,000 calendar years (that is, 300 kyr), coupled to an absence of glacial landforms and sediments in extensive areas of the plateau, now refute this concept. This, furthermore, calls into question previous ice sheet modeling attempts which generally arrive at ice volumes considerably larger than allowed for by field evidence. Surprisingly, the robustness of such numerical ice sheet model results has not been widely queried, despite potentially important climate ramifications. We simulated the growth and decay of ice on the Tibetan Plateau during the last 125 kyr in response to a large ensemble of climate forcings (90 members) derived from Global Circulation Models (GCMs), using a similar 3D thermomechanical ice sheet model as employed in previous studies. The numerical results include as extreme end members as an ice free Tibetan Plateau and a plateau-scale ice sheet comparable, in volume, to the contemporary Greenland ice sheet. We further demonstrate that numerical simulations that acceptably conform to published reconstructions of Quaternary ice extent on the Tibetan Plateau cannot be achieved with the employed stand-alone ice sheet model when merely forced by paleoclimates derived from currently available GCMs. Progress is, however, expected if future investigations employ ice sheet models with higher resolution, bidirectional ice sheet-atmosphere feedbacks, improved treatment of the surface mass balance, and regional climate data and climate reconstructions.
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| 49. |
- Li, Yingkui, et al.
(author)
-
Patterns of landscape evolution on the central and northern Tibetan Plateau investigated using in-situ produced Be-10 concentrations from river Sediments
- 2014
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In: Earth and Planetary Science Letters. - : Elsevier BV. - 0012-821X .- 1385-013X. ; 398, s. 77-89
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Quantifying long-term erosion rates across the Tibetan Plateau and its bordering mountains is of critical importance to an understanding of the interaction between climate, tectonic movement, and landscape evolution. We present a new dataset of basin-wide erosion rates from the central and northern Tibetan Plateau derived using in-situ produced Be-10 concentrations of river sediments. Basin-wide erosion rates from the central plateau range from 10.1 +/- 0.9 to 36.8 +/- 3.2 mm/kyr, slightly higher than published local erosion rates measured from bedrock surfaces. These values indicate that long-term downwearing of plateau surfaces proceeds at low rates and that the landscape is demonstrably stable in the central plateau. In contrast, basin-wide erosion rates from the Kunlun Shan on the northern Tibetan Plateau range from 19.9 +/- 1.7 to 163.2 +/- 15.9 mm/kyr. Although the erosion rates of many of these basins are much higher than the rates from the central plateau, they are lower than published basin-wide erosion rates from other mountains fringing the Tibetan Plateau, probably because the basins in the Kunlun Shan include both areas of low-relief plateau surface and high-relief mountain catchments and may also result from retarded fluvial sediment transport in an arid climate. Significantly higher basin-wide erosion rates derived from the Tibetan Plateau margin, compared to the central plateau, reflect a relatively stable plateau surface that is being dissected at its margins by active fluvial erosion.
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| 50. |
- Li, Yingkui, et al.
(author)
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Timing and extent of Quaternary glaciations in the Tianger Range, eastern Tian Shan, China, investigated using Be-10 surface exposure dating
- 2014
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In: Quaternary Science Reviews. - : Elsevier BV. - 0277-3791 .- 1873-457X. ; 98, s. 7-23
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Reconstructing glacial chronologies with consistent methods is critical for efforts to examine the timing and pattern of past climate change. Cosmogenic Be-10 surface exposure dating has been widely used to constrain the timing of glacial events on the Tibetan Plateau and in Central Asia. However, few such studies have been conducted in the Chinese Tian Shan and available Be-10 ages from this region have only provided evidence for glacial events during the global Last Glacial Maximum (gLGM) and Lateglacial. Here, we present 45 Be-10 surface exposure ages from glacial landforms in the Ala and Daxi valleys, two formerly glaciated valleys draining the Tianger Range, eastern Tian Shan. Combined with previously published Be-10 surface exposure ages from the Daxi Valley in the source area of the Urumqi River, the new ages record five major glacial events during Marine Oxygen Isotope Stages (MIS) 6 or older, 4, 3, 2, and 1 (during the Little Ice Age, LIA). Landforms from glacial events since MIS 2 are found on the northern slope of the Tianger Range (Daxi Valley), whereas evidence for the older glacial events is only preserved on its southern slope (Ala Valley). This disparity may be caused by different preservation- and micro-climatic conditions on the northern and southern slopes of this mountain range, due to differences in gradient and aspect. The LIA glacial advances are apparently the only Holocene glacial event recorded in this area. Earlier Holocene glacial events were probably so restricted in extent that they were destroyed by subsequent LIA advances.
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