| 1. |
- Bouchard, Frederic, et al.
(författare)
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"Frozen-Ground Cartoons" : Permafrost comics as an innovative tool for polar outreach, education, and engagement
- 2018
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Ingår i: Polar Record. - : Cambridge University Press. - 0032-2474 .- 1475-3057. ; 54:5-6, s. 366-372
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Permafrost occupies 20 million square kilometres of Earth's high-latitude and high-altitude landscapes. These regions are sensitive to climate change and human activities; hence, permafrost research is of considerable scientific and societal importance. However, the results of this research are generally not known by the general public. Communicating scientific concepts is an increasingly important task in the research world. Different ways to engage learners and incorporate narratives in teaching materials exist, yet they are generally underused. Here we report on an international scientific outreach project called "Frozen-Ground Cartoons", which aims at making permafrost science accessible and fun for students, teachers, and parents through the creation of comic strips. We present the context in which the project was initiated, as well as recent education and outreach activities. The future phases of the project primarily involve a series of augmented reality materials, such as maps, photos, videos, and 3D drawings. With this project we aim to foster understanding of permafrost research among broader audiences, inspire future permafrost researchers, and raise public and science community awareness of polar science, education, outreach, and engagement.
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| 2. |
- Ebert, Karin, et al.
(författare)
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Opportunities and challenges for building alumni networks in Sweden : a case study of Stockholm University
- 2015
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Ingår i: Journal of Higher Education Policy and Management. - 1360-080X .- 1469-9508. ; 37:2, s. 252-262
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Because of the potential value of alumni involvement for student success, for connections to society and as a base for future philanthropy, there is growing interest in developing university alumni relations programmes in countries that do not have a long tradition in this area. This case study of Stockholm University describes the goals, strategies, barriers and successes of building an alumni programme in an environment that lacks a tradition of alumni relations and aims to provide perspectives and ideas that can help other universities worldwide with their work towards building alumni programmes that fit their cultural contexts and goals.
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| 3. |
- Fu, Ping, et al.
(författare)
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Glacial geomorphology of the Haizi Shan area, SE Tibetan Plateau
- 2009
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)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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| 4. |
- Harbor, Jon, et al.
(författare)
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Glacial Geomorphology of the Haizi Shan area, SE Tibetan Plateau
- 2010
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)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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| 5. |
- Heyman, Jakob, 1979-, et al.
(författare)
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A paleoglaciological reconstruction for Bayan Har Shan, NE Tibetan Plateau
- 2009
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)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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| 6. |
- Heyman, Jakob, 1979-, et al.
(författare)
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An evaluation of multiple working hypotheses to explain cosmogenic exposure age data from glacial deposits in the Bayan Har Shan, NE Tibetan Plateau
- 2009
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Ingår i: Proceedings.
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)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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| 7. |
- Heyman, Jakob, et al.
(författare)
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Boulder cosmogenic exposure ages as constraints for glacial chronologies
- 2010
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Ingår i: Geophysical Research Abstracts.
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)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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| 8. |
- Heyman, Jakob, 1979-, et al.
(författare)
-
Boulder cosmogenic exposure ages as constraints for glacial chronologies
-
Annan publikation (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)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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| 9. |
- Heyman, Jakob, 1979-, et al.
(författare)
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Constraining the glacial chronology of Bayan Har Shan, NE Tibetan Plateau – Cosmogenic exposure dating of boulders, surface pebbles/cobbles and sediment depth profiles
- 2009
-
Ingår i: Geophysical Research Abstracts.
-
Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- The paleoglaciology of the Tibetan Plateau remains elusive, with important hiata regarding the style, extent, and timing of glaciations. Bayan Har Shan is a mountain region on the northeastern Tibetan Plateau, in a transition zone from the dry interior of the plateau in the west to the wetter eastern margin affected by the Asian monsoon. Bayan Har Shan hosts an ample record of glacial landforms and deposits indicating paleo-glaciers ranging from cirque and valley glaciers to ice-fields and ice caps. These glaciers, it has been suggested, also nourished a regional ice sheet. In an attempt to constrain the timing of glaciations in Bayan Har Shan, we have performed terrestrial cosmogenic nuclide (TCN) exposure dating on surface boulders and pebbles/cobbles from glacial deposits, and on pebbles in sediment depth profiles. The aim has been two-fold: to constrain the glacial chronology and to compare and evaluate the TCN ages of the three different TCN sample types. We present the result of 67 Be-10 measurements from 15 sites in central Bayan Har Shan (40 boulder samples, 12 surface pebbles/cobbles samples and 15 depth profile samples from four depth profiles). The obtained TCN apparent exposure ages of boulders and surface pebbles/cobbles range from 3 ka to 145 ka with wide age spreads within groups of samples collected from one glacial deposit. Our TCN results of three different sample types (boulders, surface pebbles/cobbles and depth profile pebbles) from the northeastern Tibetan Plateau form an intriguing data set that may yield different age estimates with different interpretation strategies. However, they permit the following conclusions to be advanced: • Pebbles/cobbles ages are broadly in agreement with boulder ages. • Three depth profiles yield exponential curves for Be-10 concentrations with depth, in agreement with theoretical TCN depth profiles; ages are in broad agreement with boulder and surface pebbles/cobbles samples. • Maximum ages (adopting an approach where the maximum ages constrain the minimum age of formation) of multiple sample sites are all c. 50 ka or older. This is underlined by the maximum ages around 50 ka from three moraines formed by glaciers just a few kilometres long, indicating that there has been no significant glaciation of central Bayan Har Shan over the last 50 ka.
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| 10. |
- Heyman, Jakob, 1979-, et al.
(författare)
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Cosmogenic exposure ages of glacial boulders from the Tibetan Plateau - Age distributions support boulder exhumation/erosion and indicate old glacial deposits.
- 2009
-
Ingår i: Geophysical Research Abstracts.
-
Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)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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| 11. |
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| 12. |
- Heyman, Jakob, 1979-, et al.
(författare)
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Glacial boulder exposure ages from the Tibetan Plateau - old deposits and postglacial shielding
- 2009
-
Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)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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| 13. |
- Heyman, Jakob, et al.
(författare)
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Glacial landforms and deposits of the Bayan Har Shan, NE Tibetan plateau – a dataset for reconstructing the extent of former glaciations
- 2008
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- Glacial reconstructions of the Tibetan plateau range from a plateau-scale ice sheet to restricted valley glaciers and ice caps. However, the Tibetan glacial landforms and sediments – although forming a crucial tool for paleoglaciological reconstructions – have rarely been mapped for larger areas. We here present data on the glacial landforms and deposits in the Bayan Har Shan area on the northeastern Tibetan plateau, previously suggested to have nourished the most extensive Quaternary Tibetan ice mass. Detailed geomorphological mapping based on remote sensing and extensive field studies reveal a generous array of glacial landforms and deposits, indicating former glaciers of varying extent. Large scale glacial landforms mapped from a digital elevation model and satellite imagery are abundant in elevated mountain blocks. The mapped landforms testify of alpine style glaciation but lend no support to the existence of any ice sheet. Field observations of glacial, and non-glacial, deposits further enhance the dataset concerning former glacial extent. Tills and erratic boulders are present within the glacial landscape based on remote sensing, but in several localities they also exist further down some distance outside mapped glacial landforms. There is a notable absence of glacial deposits around the Huang He valley and in the northern part of the study area, where they have previously been reported as evidence of a paleo-ice sheet. We argue for a non-glacial origin of deposits in these areas, because we have not found any indications of a glacial origin. The mapped landforms and deposits display an interesting dataset for paleoglaciological reconstructions. While the glacial landforms from remote sensing – by virtue of completeness covering extensive areas – present a good image of the more restricted glaciations, the identified most extensive glaciation is so far only recorded as point data in the form of glacial deposits.
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| 14. |
- Heyman, Jakob, et al.
(författare)
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Landscape evolution of the northeastern Tibetan plateau - relict surfaces and fluvial margins
- 2007
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Ingår i: Geophysical Research Abstracts.
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- The actively uplifting Tibetan plateau has a profound impact on climate and displays a landscape marked by geomorphological action. This is because the uplift is counteracted by intense fluvial incision of some of the world’s largest rivers and their tributaries that drain the plateau. Glaciers and glacial landforms occur predominantly in and around the highest elevation areas. By investigating the imprints of glacial and fluvial erosion we can enhance our understanding of the long-term landscape evolution, as well as illuminate the paleoglaciology of the Tibetan plateau. We here present an investigation of the large-scale geomorphology of the northeastern Tibetan plateau and its implication for landscape evolution and paleoenvironmental reconstructions.The northeastern part of the Tibetan plateau is characterized by a plateau surface at c. 4300 m asl with higher mountain groups reaching up to 1500 m above the surrounding plateau surface. We used SRTM 90 m digital elevation model, satellite images and Google Earth imagery to map the large-scale geomorphology for an area of c. 135.000 km2 centered around the Bayan Har mountains. Our mapping reveals a clear pattern of substantial glacial erosion on the highest, central parts of the mountain areas and decreasing amounts of glacial erosion with decreasing elevation and increasing distance away from these centers of glaciation. Beyond the areas of glacial erosion, there is a low-relief fluvial landscape that typifies the rest of the plateau surface. The plateau margins are formed by steep fluvial valleys which cut backwards into the gentle sloping relict plateau surface. Thus, the overall landscape may be divided into three classes; (i) glacially eroded surfaces in the highest areas, (ii) a relict, low-relief plateau surface, and (iii) a steep, fluvial landscape juxtaposing the former two classes.The distribution of the different landscapes indicates the following temporal evolution of the landscape. The glacial landforms indicate a repeated glaciation of the mountain areas. The steep fluvial valleys consuming the relict plateau surface represent an ongoing adjustment of the river channels to the actively uplifting plateau margin. The pattern of abandoned fluvial erosion of the northern part of the study area supports the notion of a stepwise uplift. This is because progressively younger uplift of the northern parts of the area induced a piracy of originally N-flowing rivers to currently ESE-flowing rivers along major faults (such as we infer for the Huang He river). It is noteworthy that the outline of the relict landscape, that is the pronounced break in slope between the low-relief relict landscape and the young fluvial landscape, coincides almost completely with the outline of a hypothesized former ice sheet, the Huang He ice sheet. We have not been able to confirm the presence of geomorphology or stratigraphy that would support this reconstruction. If true, however, our notion of outline conformance could indicate that the Huang He ice sheet may actually have been larger than suggested and that glacial traces are being consumed by the fluvial incision triggered by plateau uplift.
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| 15. |
- Heyman, Jakob, et al.
(författare)
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LGM Tibetan Plateau glaciers were not much larger than today
- 2010
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Ingår i: Geophysical Research Abstracts.
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)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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| 16. |
- Heyman, Jakob, 1979-, et al.
(författare)
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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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Ingår i: Journal of Quaternary Science. - : John Wiley & Sons. - 0267-8179 .- 1099-1417. ; 24:7, s. 710-727
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)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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| 17. |
- Heyman, Jakob, 1979-, et al.
(författare)
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Palaeoglaciology of Bayan Har Shan, NE Tibetan Plateau: the case of a missing LGM expansion
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Annan publikation (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)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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| 18. |
- Heyman, Jakob, et al.
(författare)
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Reconstructing former glacial extent of the NE Tibetan Plateau – combining remote sensing and field data of glacial geology
- 2008
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Ingår i: Geophysical Research Abstracts.
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- Glacial reconstructions of the Tibetan Plateau range from a plateau-scale ice sheet to restricted valley glaciers and ice caps. However, glacial landforms and sediments – although forming a crucial fundament for paleoglaciological reconstructions – have rarely been mapped for extensive areas of the Tibetan Plateau. The NE Tibetan Plateau hosts a wide array of glacial landforms and deposits, and the area has been suggested to have nourished an extensive Quaternary ice mass on the Tibetan Plateau – the Huang He ice sheet. We here present data on the glacial geology of the Bayan Har Shan area, NE Tibetan Plateau, based on two diverse methods: remote sensing and field observations. Using the SRTM 90 m resolution digital elevation model, Landsat ETM+ satellite images and Google EarthTM imagery, a detailed mapping of the glacial geomorphology for a 135.000 km2 area has been performed. Mapped landforms include glacial valleys/troughs, marginal moraines, glacial lineations, meltwater channels and hummocky terrain. During 2005-2007 field work we have gathered data on glacial and non-glacial deposits. Deposits affirmative of glacial action occur in the form of till, glaciofluvial sediments and erratic boulders. Using a simple identification scheme, based on the abundance of erratic boulders, striated clasts and presence of diamictic sediments, we have mapped the occurrence of glacial deposits.The remote sensing and field data in general strongly support the presence of former glaciers centred on mountain blocks, and offers no support for the former existence of an ice sheet. However, there is a discrepancy between the glacial geomorphology mapped by remote sensing and the distribution of glacial deposits as mapped in the field. Glacial landforms mapped by remote sensing indicate former glaciers of varying extent, ranging from cirque glaciers to extended valley glacier networks, with glacial U-shaped valleys up to 60 km long. Whereas glacial deposits occur most frequently in the areas of mapped glacial landforms, they also occur up to 25 km outside mapped glacial landforms and indicate ice cap/ice field glaciation, presumably predating more restricted glaciations marked by marginal moraines and meltwater channels. The presence of glacial deposits in the absence of glacial morphology has implications for the large-scale glacial imprint, as glacial landforms of the most extensive glaciation(s) have either been eroded/degraded, or been buried by subsequent deposits, or else were never been formed. On the basis of an absence of erosional morphology, we conclude that erosion by such an enlarged ice cap/ice field beyond the mountains has been negligible.
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| 19. |
- Jansen, John D., et al.
(författare)
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Inner gorges cut by subglacial meltwater during Fennoscandian ice sheet decay
- 2014
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Ingår i: Nature Communications. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 2041-1723. ; 5, s. 3815-
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)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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| 20. |
- Li, Yingkui, et al.
(författare)
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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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Ingår i: Earth and Planetary Science Letters. - : Elsevier BV. - 0012-821X .- 1385-013X. ; 398, s. 77-89
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)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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| 21. |
- Li, Yingkui, et al.
(författare)
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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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Ingår i: Quaternary Science Reviews. - : Elsevier BV. - 0277-3791 .- 1873-457X. ; 98, s. 7-23
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)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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| 22. |
- Lifton, Nathaniel, et al.
(författare)
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Constraints on the late Quaternary glacial history of the Inylchek and Sary-Dzaz valleys from in situ cosmogenic Be-10 and Al-26, eastern Kyrgyz Tian Shan
- 2014
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Ingår i: Quaternary Science Reviews. - : Elsevier BV. - 0277-3791 .- 1873-457X. ; 101, s. 77-90
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Paleoclimatic constraints from regions at the confluence of major climate systems are particularly important in understanding past climate change. Using geomorphic mapping based on remote sensing and field investigations, combined with in situ cosmogenic Be-10 and Al-26 dating of boulders associated with glacial landforms, we investigate the chronology of past glaciation in the Inylchek and Sary-Dzaz valleys in the eastern Kyrgyz Tian Shan, a tectonically active area with some of the highest peaks in the world outside of the Himalayas. Cosmogenic Be-10 and (26) Al exposure ages of boulders on moraines record up to five glacial advances including: Lateglacial age lateral moraine remnants and meltwater channels in the upper Inylchek Valley; Last Glacial Maximum (LGM, Marine Oxygen Isotope Stage [MIS] 2) moraines in the Sary-Dzaz Valley and in a terminal moraine complex at the west end of the Inylchek Valley, overriding older moraines; an MIS 4 or 5 moraine remnant above the Inylchek terminal moraine complex; and an older high moraine remnant down-valley from the confluence of the Inylchek and Sary-Dzaz valleys. The evidence for glacial extent in this study is consistent with a limited ice expansion hypothesis for Tian Shan glaciation. Published results from the western and central Kyrgyz Tian Shan do not show evidence for significant LGM glacier expansion, which in combination with the results presented here, indicate a spatial variation in glacier records along the Tian Shan. This may reflect either paleoclimatic gradients or the impact of local physiographic conditions on responses to regional climate change, or both.
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| 23. |
- Napieralski, Jacob, et al.
(författare)
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Towards a GIS assessment of numerical ice sheet model performance using geomorphological data
- 2007
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Ingår i: Journal of Glaciology. ; 53:180, s. 71-83
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- A major difficulty in assimilating geomorphological information with ice-sheet models is the lack of a consistent methodology to systematically compare model output and field data. As an initial step in establishing a quantitative comparison methodology, automated proximity and conformity analysis (APCA) and automated flow direction analysis (AFDA) have been developed to assess the level of correspondence between modelled ice extent and ice-marginal features such as end moraines, as well as between modelled basal flow directions and palaeo-flow direction indicators, such as glacial lineations. To illustrate the potential of such an approach, an ensemble suite of 40 numerical simulations of the Fennoscandian ice sheet were compared to end moraines of the Last Glacial Maximum and the Younger Dryas and to glacial lineations in northern Sweden using APCA and AFDA. Model experiments evaluated in this manner were ranked according to level of correspondence. Such an approach holds considerable promise for optimizing the parameter space and coherence of ice-flow models by automated, quantitative assessment of multiple ensemble experiments against a database of geological or glaciological evidence.
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| 24. |
- Stroeven, Arjen, et al.
(författare)
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Landscape analysis of the Huang He headwaters, NE Tibetan Plateau — Patterns of glacial and fluvial erosion
- 2009
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Ingår i: Geomorphology. - : Elsevier. - 0169-555X .- 1872-695X. ; 103:2, s. 212-226
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The large-scale geomorphology of the Huang He (Yellow River) headwaters, centered around the Bayan Har Shan (5267 m asl) in the northeastern part of the Tibetan Plateau, is dominated by an uplifted remnant of a low-relief relict plateau with several mountain ranges. We have performed geomorphological mapping using SRTM topographic data and Landsat 7 ETM+ satellite imagery to evaluate landscape characteristics and patterns, and to investigate the relative importance of different erosional processes in the dissection of this plateau remnant. The distribution of valley morphologies indicates that the eastern and southern margins of the plateau remnant have been extensively dissected by the Huang He and Chang Jiang (Yangtze) rivers and associated tributaries, while the mountain ranges have valley morphologies with U-shaped cross-sections that indicate large impacts from glacial erosion during Quaternary glaciations. An east-west decrease in the abundance of glacial valleys in mountains above 4800 m asl suggests that the diminishing size of the mountain blocks, coupled with increased continentality, resulted in more restricted glaciations to the west. Glacial valleys in mountain blocks on the plateau remnant are wider and deeper than adjacent fluvial valleys. This indicates that, integrated over time, the glacial system has been more effective in eroding the mountains of the relict upland surface than the fluvial system. This erosion relationship is reversed, however, on the plateau margin where dramatic fluvial rejuvenation in valleys that are part of the Huang He and Chang Jiang watersheds has consumed whatever glacial morphology existed. A remarkable correspondence exists between the outline of the relict plateau remnant and the outline that has been proposed for the Huang He Ice Sheet. This coincidence could mean that the Huang He Ice Sheet was larger than originally proposed, but that evidence for this has been consumed by fluvial incision at the plateau margin. Alternatively, this coincidence could indicate that what has been described as an ice sheet border is merely the outline of a relict plateau landscape. In apparent support of the latter, the absence of large-scale glacial geomorphological evidence on the plains of the relict plateau surface is not consistent with the hypothesis of a Huang He Ice Sheet.
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| 25. |
- Stroeven, Arjen, et al.
(författare)
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Paleoglaciology of the Bayan Har Mountain area, eastern Tibetan Plateau
- 2006
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Ingår i: Asian Conference on Permafrost.
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- The glacial history of the Tibetan Plateau is a topic of considerable interest because of its significance for regional and global environmental reconstructions, and its interaction with variations in monsoon strength and plateau uplift. Published glacial reconstructions for the last glaciation range from a large ice sheet covering the entire Tibetan Plateau to extended valley glaciation forming discrete glaciated mountain blocks. Although current chronologies appear to underpin the restricted glaciation model, there appears to be enough regional variation to motivate further study, especially the glacial history predating the last glaciation. We therefore study the glacial history of a large upland section of the eastern Tibetan Plateau centered on the currently unglaciated Bayan Har Mountains (BHM), partly because chronological constraints are entirely absent, and partly because the area may once have been covered by an ice sheet of intermediate proportions. The BHM area, which houses the headwaters of the Huang He (Yellow River), contains a wide array of glacial deposits and morphologies. Moreover, it appears that superseding glaciations were ever limiting in extent and the area therefore presents optimal conditions to investigate glaciations over long time periods.We report from an on-going investigation into the extent and chronology of Quaternary glaciers in this region, manifested in glacial deposits and landforms (e.g., erratics, end moraines, tills and trough valleys). Previous studies have indicated the occurrence of two phases of mountain glaciation during the last glaciation (OIS 2-4), with mountain glaciers distributed around the highest summits, and two prior glaciations of ice sheet glaciation character (the penultimate glaciation, OIS 6, and the Huang He ice sheet, OIS 12).We mapped the glacial morphology of the area using satellite images and a DEM of 90 m resolution. Large-scale glacial landforms such as cirques, glacial troughs and U-shaped valleys indicate repeated glaciations, and so do series of moraine ridges and meltwater channels. The abundance of glacial traces detectable through remote sensing techniques diminish with decreasing elevation, and it appears that evidence for former ice sheets are based mainly on sedimentary evidence.In an introductory field work in 2005, surface boulders (including erratics) and boulders in till profiles have been sampled for dating using terrestrial cosmogenic nuclide (TCN) concentrations in quartz. Sampling was carried out along a 300 km stretch of the Qingkang highway, crossing the 80,000 km2 area of the Huang He ice sheet. We intend to present these first TCN results at the meeting.Our study will present new data for the paleoglaciology of the eastern Tibetan Plateau, and will contribute to the resolution of questions such as:• What glacial fluctuations occurred in the BHM area throughout the last glaciation?• When did glaciation pre-dating the last glaciation occur?• Was the area ever covered by an ice sheet?• What is the relation Tibetan glaciation – uplift – climate variations?These are questions of special significance also for former periglacial conditions, as reconstructed glaciers and ice sheets had a fundamental effect on regional paleoenvironmental conditions.
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