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1.
The Sierra los Cuchumatanes (3837 m), Guatemala, supported a plateau ice cap and valley glaciers around Montaña San Juan (3784 m) that totaled ∼ 43 km2 in area during the last local glacial maximum. Former ice limits are defined by sharp-crested lateral and terminal moraines that extend to elevations of ∼ 3450 m along the ice cap margin, and to ca. 3000-3300 m for the valley glaciers. Equilibrium-line altitudes (ELAs) estimated using the area-altitude balance ratio method for the maximum late Quaternary glaciation reached as low as 3470 m for the valley glaciers and 3670 m for the Mayan Ice Cap. Relative to the modern altitude of the 0°C isotherm of ∼ 4840 m, we determined ELA depressions of 1110-1436 m. If interpreted in terms of a depression of the freezing level during maximal glaciation along the modern lapse rate of − 5.3°C km− 1, this ΔELA indicates tropical highland cooling of ∼ 5.9 to 7.6 ± 1.2°C. Our data support greater glacial highland cooling than at sea level, implying a high tropical sensitivity to global climate changes. The large magnitude of ELA depression in Guatemala may have been partially forced by enhanced wetness associated with southward excursions of the boreal winter polar air mass.  相似文献   

2.
Using data from glacial geomorphology, tephra–soil stratigraphy and mineralogy, palynology, and radiocarbon dating, a sequence of glacial and bioclimatic stades and interstades has been identified for the last ca. 50000 yr in the Ruiz-Tolima massif, Cordillera Central, Colombia. Six Pleistocene cold stades separated by warmer interstades occurred: before 48000, between 48000 and 33000, between 28000 and 21000, from ≥16000 to ca. 14000, ca. 13000–12400, and ca. 11000–10000 yr BP. Although these radiocarbon ages are minimum-limiting ages obtained from tephra layers on top of tills, the tills are not significantly older because most are bracketed by dated tephra sets in measured stratigraphic sections. Two minor moraine stages likely reflect glacier standstill during cold intervals ca. 7400 yr BP and slightly earlier. Finally, glaciers readvanced between the seventeenth and nineteenth centuries. In contrast to the ice-clad volcanoes of the massif, ca. 34 km2 in area above an altitude of ca. 4800 m, the ice cover expanded to 1200 km2 during the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) and was still 800 km2 during Late-glacial time (LGT). Glacier reconstructions based on the moraines suggest depression of the equilibrium line altitude (ELA) by ca. 1100 m during the LGM and 500–600 m during LGT relative to the modern ELA, which lies at ca. 5100 m in the Cordillera Central. Glaciers in this region apparently reached their greatest extent when the climate was cold and wet, e.g. during stades corresponding to Oxygen Isotope Stage 3; glaciers were still expanding during the LGM ca. 28000–21000 yr BP, but they shrank considerably after 21000 yr BP because of greatly reduced precipitation. © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.  相似文献   

3.
Kuhle  Matthias 《GeoJournal》1988,17(4):581-595
During seven expeditions new data were obtained on the maximum extent of glaciation in Tibet and the surrounding mountains. Evidence was found of moraines at altitudes as low as 980 m on the S flank of the Himalayas and 2300 m on the N slope of the Tibetan Plateau, in the Qilian Shan. On the N slopes of the Karakoram, Aghil and Kuen Lun moraines occur as far down as 1900 m. In S Tibet radiographic analyses of erratics document former ice thicknesses of at least 1200 m. Glacial polishing and knobs in the Himalayas, Karakoram etc. are proof of glaciers as thick as 1200–2000 m. On the basis of this evidence, a 1100–1600 m lower equilibrium line altitude (ELA) was reconstructed for the Ice Age, which would mean 2.4 million km2 of ice covering almost all of Tibet, since the ELA was far below the average altitude of Tibet. On Mt. Everest and K2 radiation was measured up to 6650 m, yielding values of 1200–1300 W/m2. Because of the subtropical latitude and the high altitude solar radiation in Tibet is 4 times greater than the energy intercepted between 60 and 70° N or S. With an area of 2.4 million km2 and an albedo of 90% the Tibetan ice sheet caused the same heat loss to the earth as a 9.6 million km2 sized ice sheet at 60–70° N. Because of its proximity to the present-day ELA, Tibet must have undergone large-scale glaciation earlier than other areas. Being subject to intensive radiation, the Tibetan ice must have performed an amplifying function during the onset of the Ice Age. At the maximum stage of the last ice age the cooling effect of the newly formed, about 26 million km2 sized ice sheets of the higher latitudes was about 3 times that of the Tibetan ice. Nevertheless, without the initial impulse of the Tibetan ice such an extensive glaciation would never have occurred. The end of the Ice Age was triggered by the return to preglacial radiation conditions of the Nordic lowland ice. Whilst the rise of the ELA by several hundred metres can only have reduced the steep marginal outlet glaciers, it diminished the area of the lowland ice considerably.  相似文献   

4.
Geomorphological mapping of North Harris provides evidence for the former existence of 10 glaciers with a total area of ca 35 km2. A Loch Lomond (Younger Dryas) Stadial age (ca 12.9–11.5 kyr BP) for this glacial episode is inferred from glacier configuration, landsystems dominated by hummocky recessional moraines, and relationships with Lateglacial periglacial phenomena. Equilibrium line altitudes (ELAs) of 150–289 m were calculated for individual glaciers. ELA variability mainly reflects differences in snow-contributing area. The area-weighted mean ELA (204 m) is consistent with a northwards decline in ELAs along the western seaboard of the British Isles of 69.5 m (100 km)−1, equivalent to a northwards ablation-season temperature decrease of 0.42 °C (100 km)−1. This latitudinal temperature gradient implies a mean July sea-level temperature of ca 7.2 °C for the coldest part of the stade, roughly 6 °C lower than at present. Sea-level precipitation at the time of the LLS glacial maximum is inferred to have been between ca 1970±200 and 2350±200 mm yr−1, implying that LLS precipitation was up to 25% greater than now. Patterns of recessional moraines indicate that the glaciers remained close to climatic equilibrium as they retreated to their sources, though moraine belts implying near-stationary or readvancing ice margins on flat valley floors are separated by moraine-free zones indicating uninterrupted retreat. Calculation of ELAs for ‘residual’ glaciers in former source areas suggests that summer warming of 1.0 °C would have resulted in shrinkage of the glaciers to their sources.  相似文献   

5.
Geomorphic mapping and stratigraphic analysis of a lake core document the late Quaternary glacial history of the Central and Eastern Massifs of the Picos de Europa, northwestern Spain. The distribution of glacial deposits indicates that at their most advanced positions glaciers occupied 9.1 km2, extended as far as 7 km down-valley and had an estimated equilibrium-line altitude (ELA) ranging between 1666 and 1722 m. Radiocarbon dating of sediment deposited in a lake dammed by moraines of this advance show that the maximum glacial extent was prior to 35,280 ± 440 cal yr BP. This advance was followed by two subsequent but less extensive late Pleistocene advances, recorded by multiple moraines flanking both massifs and sedimentary characteristics in the lake deposits. The last recognized glacial episode is the 19th-century maximum extent of small Little Ice Age glaciers in the highest cirques above 2200 m.  相似文献   

6.
Central Ethiopia comprises a high plateau at 2000–3000 m, formed from Tertiary lava flows and bisected by the Eastern African Rift. Ten volcanic mountains rise to altitudes of just over 4000 m, but on only three has Quaternary glaciation been substantiated by published field observations. On the Bale Mountains (4400 m), a previous report based on limited evidence proposed an ice‐cap extending to 600 km2. Based on aerial photographs and ground surveys, this paper reports evidence of a more complex situation. A wide spread of large erratic boulders on the plateau records a central ice cap of 30 km2, though ice probably extended for a further 40 km2. Further north two groups of deeply incised and clearly glaciated valleys contain moraines and roches moutonnées (60 km2). On interfluves between them and on the open north slopes are moraines from an earlier stage of the same glaciation or from a distinct older event. Altogether about 180 km2 may have been glaciated. Cores dated by 14C from inside and outside the glaciated area suggest that at least the northern valley glaciers may date from the Last Glacial Maximum. Estimated equilibrium line altitudes for these glaciers and the ice‐cap are 3750–4230 m. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.  相似文献   

7.
Sharp-crested moraines, up to 120 m high and 9 km beyond Little Ice Age glacier limits, record a late Pleistocene advance of alpine glaciers in the Finlay River area in northern British Columbia. The moraines are regional in extent and record climatic deterioration near the end of the last glaciation. Several lateral moraines are crosscut by meltwater channels that record downwasting of trunk valley ice of the northern Cordilleran ice sheet. Other lateral moraines merge with ice-stagnation deposits in trunk valleys. These relationships confirm the interaction of advancing alpine glaciers with the regionally decaying Cordilleran ice sheet and verify a late-glacial age for the moraines. Sediment cores were collected from eight lakes dammed by the moraines. Two tephras occur in basal sediments of five lakes, demonstrating that the moraines are the same age. Plant macrofossils from sediment cores provide a minimum limiting age of 10,550-10,250 cal yr BP (9230 ± 50 14C yr BP) for abandonment of the moraines. The advance that left the moraines may date to the Younger Dryas period. The Finlay moraines demonstrate that the timing and style of regional deglaciation was important in determining the magnitude of late-glacial glacier advances.  相似文献   

8.
Six methods for approximating late Pleistocene (Pinedale) equilibrium-line altitudes (ELAs) are compared for rapidity of data collection and error (RMSE) from first-order trend surfaces, using the Colorado Front Range. Trend surfaces computed from rapidly applied techniques, such as glaciation threshold, median altitude of small reconstructed glaciers, and altitude of lowest cirque floors have relatively high RMSEs (97–186 m) because they are subjectively derived and are based on small glaciers sensitive to microclimatic variability. Surfaces computed for accumulation-area ratios (AARs) and toe-to-headwall altitude ratios (THARs) of large reconstructed glaciers show that an AAR of 0.65 and a THAR of 0.40 have the lowest RMSEs (about 80 m) and provide the same mean ELA estimate (about 3160 m) as that of the more subjectively derived maximum altitudes of Pinedale lateral moraines (RMSE = 149 m). Second-order trend surfaces demonstrate low ELAs in the latitudinal center of the Front Range, perhaps due to higher winter accumulation there. The mountains do not presently reach the ELA for large glaciers, and small Front Range cirque glaciers are not comparable to small glaciers existing during Pinedale time. Therefore, Pleistocene ELA depression and consequent temperature depression cannot reliably be ascertained from the calculated ELA surfaces.  相似文献   

9.
Matthias Kuhle   《Tectonophysics》2007,445(1-2):116
Since 1973 new data were obtained on the maximum extent of glaciation in High Asia. Evidence for an ice sheet covering Tibet during the Last Glacial Period means a radical rethinking about glaciation in the Northern Hemisphere. The ice sheet's subtropical latitude, vast size (2.4 million km2) and high elevation (6000 m asl) are supposed to have resulted in a substantial, albedo-induced cooling of the Earth's atmosphere and the disruption of summer monsoon circulation. Moraines were found to reach down to 460 m asl on the southern flank of the Himalayas and to 2300 m asl on the northern slope of the Tibetan Plateau, in the Qilian Shan region. On the northern slopes of the Karakoram, Aghil and Kuen-Lun mountains, moraines occur as far down as 1900 m asl. In southern Tibet radiographic analyses of erratics suggest a former ice thickness of at least 1200 m. Glacial polish and roches moutonnées in the Himalayas and Karakoram suggest former glaciers as thick as 1200–2700 m. On the basis of this evidence, a 1100–1600 m lower equilibrium line (ELA) has been reconstructed, resulting in an ice sheet of 2.4 million km2, covering almost all of Tibet. Radiometric ages, obtained by different methods, classify this glaciation as isotope stage 3–2 in age (Würmian = last glacial period). With the help of 13 climate measuring stations, radiation- and radiation balance measurements have been carried out between 3800 and 6650 m asl in Tibet. They indicate that the subtropical global radiation reaches its highest energies on the High Plateau, thus making Tibet today's most important heating surface of the atmosphere. At glacial times 70% of those energies were reflected into space by the snow and firn of the 2.4 million km2 extended glacier area covering the upland. As a result, 32% of the entire global cooling during the ice ages, determined by the albedo, were brought about by this area — now the most significant cooling surface. The uplift of Tibet to a high altitude about 2.75 Ma ago, coincides with the commencement of the Quaternary Ice Ages. When the Plateau was lifted above the snowline (= ELA) and glaciated, this cooling effect gave rise to the global depression of the snowline and to the first Ice Age. The interglacial periods are explained by the glacial-isostatic lowering of Tibet by 650 m, having the effect that the initial Tibet ice – which had evoked the build-up of the much more extended lowland ices – could completely melt away in a period of positive radiation anomalies. The next ice age begins, when – because of the glacial-isostatic reverse uplift – the surface of the Plateau has again reached the snowline. This explains, why the orbital variations (Milankovic-theory) could only have a modifying effect on the Quaternary climate dynamic, but were not primarily time-giving: as long as Tibet does not glaciate automatically by rising above the snowline, the depression in temperature is not sufficient for initiating a worldwide ice age; if Tibet is glaciated, but not yet lowered isostatically, a warming-up by 4 °C might be able to cause an important loss in surface but no deglaciation, so that its cooling effect remains in a maximum intensity. Only a glaciation of the Plateau lowered by isostasy, can be removed through a sufficiently strong warming phase, so that interglacial climate conditions are prevailing until a renewed uplift of Tibet sets in up to the altitude of glaciation.An average ice thickness for all of Tibet of approximately 1000 m would imply that 2.2 million km3 of water were stored in the Tibetan ice sheet. This would correspond to a lowering in sea level of about 5.4 m.  相似文献   

10.
Latest Pleistocene and Holocene glacier variations in the European Alps   总被引:1,自引:0,他引:1  
In the Alps, climatic conditions reflected in glacier and rock glacier activity in the earliest Holocene show a strong affinity to conditions in the latest Pleistocene (Younger Dryas). Glacier advances in the Alps related to Younger Dryas cooling led to the deposition of Egesen stadial moraines. Egesen stadial moraines can be divided into three or in some cases even more phases (sub-stadials). Moraines of the earliest and most extended advance, the Egesen maximum, stabilized at 12.2 ± 1.0 ka based on 10Be exposure dating at the Schönferwall (Tyrol, Austria) and the Julier Pass-outer moraine (Switzerland). Final stabilization of moraines at the end of the Egesen stadial was at 11.3 ± 0.9 ka as shown by 10Be data from four sites across the Alps. From west to east the sites are Piano del Praiet (northwestern Italy), Grosser Aletschgletscher (central Switzerland), Julier Pass-inner moraine (eastern Switzerland), and Val Viola (northeastern Italy). There is excellent agreement of the 10Be ages from the four sites. In the earliest Holocene, glaciers in the northernmost mountain ranges advanced at around 10.8 ± 1.1 ka as shown by 10Be data from the Kartell site (northern Tyrol, Austria). In more sheltered, drier regions rock glacier activity dominated as shown, for example, at Julier Pass and Larstig valley (Tyrol, Austria). New 10Be dates presented here for two rock glaciers in Larstig valley indicate final stabilization no later than 10.5 ± 0.8 ka. Based on this data, we conclude the earliest Holocene (between 11.6 and about 10.5 ka) was still strongly affected by the cold climatic conditions of the Younger Dryas and the Preboreal oscillation, with the intervening warming phase having had the effect of rapid downwasting of Egesen glaciers. At or slightly before 10.5 ka rapid shrinkage of glaciers to a size smaller than their late 20th century size reflects markedly warmer and possibly also drier climate. Between about 10.5 ka and 3.3 ka conditions in the Alps were not conducive to significant glacier expansion except possibly during rare brief intervals. Past tree-line data from Kaunertal (Tyrol, Austria) in concert with radiocarbon and dendrochronologically dated wood fragments found recently in the glacier forefields in both the Swiss and Austrian Alps points to long periods during the Holocene when glaciers were smaller than they were during the late 20th century. Equilibrium line altitudes (ELA) were about 200 m higher than they are today and about 300 m higher in comparison to Little Ice Age (LIA) ELAs. The Larstig rock glacier site we dated with 10Be is the type area for a postulated mid-Holocene cold period called the Larstig oscillation (presumed age about 7.0 ka). Our data point to final stabilization of those rock glaciers in the earliest Holocene and not in the middle Holocene. The combined data indicate there was no time window in the middle Holocene long enough for rock glaciers of the size and at the elevation of the Larstig site to have formed. During the short infrequent cold oscillations between 10.5 and 3.3 ka small glaciers (less than several km2) may have advanced to close to their LIA dimensions. Overall, the cold periods were just too short for large glaciers to advance. After 3.3 ka, climate conditions became generally colder and warm periods were brief and less frequent. Large glaciers (for example Grosser Aletschgletscher) advanced markedly at 3.0–2.6 ka, around 600 AD and during the LIA. Glaciers in the Alps attained their LIA maximum extents in the 14th, 17th, and 19th centuries, with most reaching their greatest LIA extent in the final 1850/1860 AD advance.  相似文献   

11.
Only a few chronological constraints on Lateglacial and Early Holocene glacier variability in the westernmost Alps have hitherto been obtained. In this paper, moraines of two palaeoglaciers in the southern Écrins massif were mapped. The chronology of the stabilization of selected moraines was established through the use of 10Be cosmic ray exposure (CRE) dating. The equilibrium line altitude (ELA) during moraine deposition was reconstructed assuming an accumulation area ratio (AAR) of 0.67. Ten pre‐Little Ice Age (LIA) ice‐marginal positions of the Rougnoux palaeoglacier were identified and seven of these have been dated. The 10Be CRE age of a boulder on the lowermost sampled moraine indicates that the landform may have been first formed during a period of stable glaciers at around 16.2±1.7 ka (kiloyears before AD 2017) or that the sampled boulder experienced pre‐exposure to secondary cosmic radiation. The moraine was re‐occupied or, alternatively, shaped somewhat before 12.2±0.6 ka when the ELA was lowered by 230 m relative to the LIA ELA. At least six periods of stable ice margins occurred thereafter when the ELA was 220–160 m lower than during the LIA. The innermost dated moraine stabilized at or before 10.9±0.7 ka. Three 10Be CRE ages from a moraine of the Prelles palaeoglacier indicate a period of stationary ice margins at or before 10.9±0.6 ka when the ELA was lowered by 160 m with respect to the end of the LIA. The presented 10Be CRE ages are in good agreement with those of moraines that have been attributed to the Egesen stadial. Assuming unchanged precipitation, summer temperature in the southern Écrins massif at ~12 ka must have been at least 2 °C lower relative to the LIA.  相似文献   

12.
Northern Folgefonna (c. 23 km2), is a nearly circular maritime ice cap located on the Folgefonna Peninsula in Hardanger, western Norway. By combining the position of marginal moraines with AMS radiocarbon dated glacier‐meltwater induced sediments in proglacial lakes draining northern Folgefonna, a continuous high‐resolution record of variations in glacier size and equilibrium‐line altitudes (ELAs) during the Lateglacial and early Holocene has been obtained. After the termination of the Younger Dryas (c. 11 500 cal. yr BP), a short‐lived (100–150 years) climatically induced glacier readvance termed the ‘Jondal Event 1’ occurred within the ‘Preboreal Oscillation’ (PBO) c. 11 100 cal. yr BP. Bracketed to 10 550–10 450 cal. yr BP, a second glacier readvance is named the ‘Jondal Event 2’. A third readvance occurred about 10 000 cal. yr BP and corresponds with the ‘Erdalen Event 1’ recorded at Jostedalsbreen. An exponential relationship between mean solid winter precipitation and ablation‐season temperature at the ELA of Norwegian glaciers is used to reconstruct former variations in winter precipitation based on the corresponding ELA and an independent proxy for summer temperature. Compared to the present, the Younger Dryas was much colder and drier, the ‘Jondal Event 1’/PBO was colder and somewhat drier, and the ‘Jondal Event 2’ was much wetter. The ‘Erdalen Event 1’ started as rather dry and terminated as somewhat wetter. Variations in glacier magnitude/ELAs and corresponding palaeoclimatic reconstructions at northern Folgefonna suggest that low‐altitude cirque glaciers (lowest altitude of marginal moraines 290 m) in the area existed for the last time during the Younger Dryas. These low‐altitude cirque glaciers of suggested Younger Dryas age do not fit into the previous reconstructions of the Younger Dryas ice sheet in Hardanger. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.  相似文献   

13.
Many moraines formed between Daduka and Chibai in the Tsangpo River valley since Middle Pleistocene. A prominent set of lacustrine and alluvial terraces on the valley margin along both the Tsangpo and Nyang Rivers formed during Quaternary glacial epoch demonstrate lakes were created by damming of the river. Research was conducted on the geological environment, contained sediments, spatial distribution, timing, and formation and destruction of these paleolakes. The lacustrine sediments 14C (10537±268 aBP at Linzhi Brick and Tile Factory, 22510±580 aBP and 13925±204 aBP at Bengga, 21096±1466 aBP at Yusong) and a series of ESR (electron spin resonance) ages at Linzhi town and previous data by other experts, paleolakes persisted for 691~505 kaBP middle Pleistocene ice age, 75–40 kaBP the early stage of last glacier, 27–8 kaBP Last Glacier Maximum (LGM), existence time of lakes gradually shorten represents glacial scale and dam moraine supply potential gradually cut down, paleolakes and dam scale also gradually diminished. This article calculated the average lacustrine sedimentary rate of Gega paleolake in LGM was 12.5 mm/a, demonstrates Mount Namjagbarwa uplifted strongly at the same time, the sedimentary rate of Gega paleolake is more larger than that of enclosed lakes of plateau inland shows the climatic variation of Mount Namjagbarwa is more larger and plateau margin uplifted more quicker than plateau inland. This article analyzed formation and decay cause about the Zelunglung glacier on the west flank of Mount Namjagbarwa got into the Tsangpo River valley and blocked it for tectonic and climatic factors. There is a site of blocking the valley from Gega to Chibai. This article according to moraines and lacustrine sediments yielded paleolakes scale: the lowest lake base altitude 2850 m, the highest lake surface altitude 3585 m, 3240 m and 3180 m, area 2885 km2, 820 km2 and 810 km2, lake maximum depth of 735 m, 390 m and 330 m. We disclose the reason that previous experts discovered there were different age moraines dividing line of altitude 3180 m at the entrance of the Tsangpo Grand Canyon is dammed lake erosive decay under altitude 3180 m moraines in the last glacier era covering moraines in the early ice age of late Pleistocene, top 3180 m in the last glacier moraine remained because ancient dammed lakes didn’t erode it under 3180 m moraines in the early ice age of late Pleistocene exposed. The reason of the top elevation 3585 m moraines in the middle Pleistocene ice age likes that of altitude 3180 m. There were three times dammed lakes by glacier blocking the Tsangpo River during Quaternary glacial period. During other glacial and interglacial period the Zelunglung glacier often extended the valley but moraine supplemental speed of the dam was smaller than that of fluvial erosion and moraine movement, dam quickly disappeared and didn’t form stable lake.  相似文献   

14.
The area studied includes a little-known portion on the Dry Andes of the San Juan Frontal Cordillera, Argentina, where the hydrological significance of glaciers and rock glaciers was earlier never studied. The surveyed sector includes Cerro El Potro (5,870 m ASL) and nearby mountain chains (28°S). The predominant landforms in these areas were shaped in a periglacial environment superimposed on an earlier glacial landscape. These regions comprise abundant rock glaciers, a noteworthy rock glacier zone in the world, of which little is known in South America. This work employs geomorphological mapping to analyze the distribution of active rock glaciers in relation to altitude, aspect and slope using optical remote sensing techniques with GIS. Statistical estimation techniques were used based on a Digital Elevation Model (DEM) and aerial photos and Spot images interpretation. The specific density of rock glaciers’ estimation in the surveyed area (Argentine border) is 1.56% with corresponds to 38 rock glaciers with an area of 5.86 km2 and 0.12 km3 of water equivalent. Furthermore, the analytical results show that elevations >4,270 m ASL, a southeast-facing aspect, and slope between 2° and 40° favor the existence of rock glaciers, Finally, a comparison with glacier water equivalent, which covers an area of ~16 km2 and 0.9 km3 of water equivalent, shows that glaciers are the main stores of water at 28°S (Cerro El Potro Glacier). However, the importance of rock glaciers as water reserves in this portion of Argentina should not be underestimated.  相似文献   

15.
Field geomorphology and remote sensing data, supported by Optical Stimulated Luminescence (OSL) dating from the Mandakini river valley of the Garhwal Himalaya enabled identification of four major glacial events; Rambara Glacial Stage (RGS) (13 ± 2 ka), Ghindurpani Glacial Stage (GhGS) (9 ± 1 ka), Garuriya Glacial Stage (GGS) (7 ± 1 ka) and Kedarnath Glacial Stage (KGS) (5 ± 1 ka). RGS was the most extensive glaciation extending for ~6 km down the valley from the present day snout and lowered to an altitude of 2800 m asl at Rambara covering around ~31 km2 area of the Mandakini river valley. Compared to this, the other three glaciations (viz., GhGS, GGS and KGS) were of lower magnitudes terminating around ~3000, ~3300 and ~3500 m asl, respectively. It was also observed that the mean equilibrium line altitude (ELA) during RGS was lowered to 4747 m asl compared to the present level of 5120 m asl. This implies an ELA depression of ~373 m during the RGS which would correspond to a lowering of ~2°C summer temperature during the RGS. The results are comparable to that of the adjacent western and central Himalaya implying a common forcing factor that we attribute to the insolation-driven monsoon precipitation in the western and central Himalaya.  相似文献   

16.
During the Itkillik Glaciation the Brooks Range supported an extensive mountain-glacier complex that extended for 750 km between 141° and 158°W longitude. Individual ice streams and piedmont lobes flowed as much as 50 km beyond the north and south margins of the range. Glaciers in the southern Brooks Range were longer than those farther north because of a southerly precipitation source, whereas those in the central and eastern part of the range were larger than glaciers at the extremities of the mountain system because of higher and more-extensive accumulation areas. Glacier equilibrium-line altitudes (ELAs) at the time of greatest advance were depressed 600 ± 100 m below present levels, whereas during a less-extensive late-glacial readvance (Alapah Mountain) ELA depression was about 300 ± 30 m. Radiocarbon dates indicate that Itkillik drift correlates with Late Wisconsin drift along the southern margin of the Laurentide Ice Sheet and with drift of Cordilleran glaciers in southern Alaska and the western conterminous United States deposited during the last glaciation. Itkillik I moraines represent the maximum ice advance under cold full-glacial conditions between about 24,000 and 17,000 14C y. a. Itkillik II sediments, probably deposited close to 14,000 y. a., are characterized by abundant outwash and ice-contact stratified drift implying a milder climate than that of the Itkillik I phase. Alapah Mountain moraines at the heads of valleys draining high-altitude (≥1800 m) source areas record a possible late Itkillik readvance that is not yet closely dated. Itkillik glaciers may have largely disappeared from Brooks Range valleys by the beginning of the Holocene.  相似文献   

17.
Atle Nesje 《GeoJournal》1992,27(4):383-391
The most common approaches used to calculate the equilibrium-line altitude (ELA) on former glaciers are: a) the maximum elevation of lateral moraines (MELM), b) the median elevation of glaciers (MEG), c) the toe-to-headwall altitude ratio (THAR), and d) the ratio of the accumulation area to the total area (AAR), of which the AAR method is considered to be the most accurate.A theoretical evaluation of the AAR approach, using changing slope angles and valley morphology on idealized glaciers at two different positions, shows that glaciers advancing into flat areas underestimate the ELA depression, while glaciers moving into areas of increasing slope angle, overestimate the ELA difference. Therefore, topographical and morphological effects on calculated ELA depressions on glaciers must be carefully evaluated.  相似文献   

18.
Geomorphological mapping of northern Arran provides evidence for two advances of locally nourished glaciers, the younger being attributable to the Loch Lomond Stade (LLS) of ca. 12.9–11.5 k yr BP, primarily through the mutually exclusive relationship between glacial limits and Lateglacial periglacial features. The age of the earlier advance is unknown. Inferred LLS glacier cover comprised two small icefields and eight small corrie or valley glaciers and totalled 11.1 km2. ELAs reconstructed using area–altitude balance ratio methods range from 268 m to 631 m for individual glaciers, with an area‐weighted mean ELA of 371 m. ELAs of individual glaciers are strongly related to snow‐contributing areas. The area‐weighted mean ELA is consistent with a north–south decline in LLS ELAs along the west coast of Great Britain. This decline has an average latitudinal gradient of 70 m 100 km?1, equivalent to a mean southwards ablation‐season temperature increase of ca. 0.42°C 100 km?1. Mean June–August temperatures at the regional climatic ELA, estimated from chironomid assemblages in SE Scotland, lay between 5.7 ± 0.1°C and 4.1 ± 0.2°C. Empirical relationships between temperature and precipitation at modern glacier ELAs indicate equivalent mean annual precipitation at the ELA lay between 2002 ± 490 mm and 2615 ± 449 mm. These figures suggest that stadial precipitation on Arran fell within a range between +8% and ?33% of present mean annual precipitation. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.  相似文献   

19.
Late Pleistocene glaciers around Darhad Basin advanced to near their maximum positions at least three times, twice during the Zyrianka glaciation (at ∼ 17-19 ka and ∼ 35-53 ka), and at least once earlier. The Zyrianka glaciers were smaller than their predecessors, but the equilibrium-line altitude (ELA) difference was < 75 m. End moraines of the Zyrianka glaciers were ∼ 1600 m asl; ELAs were 2100-2400 m asl. 14C and luminescence dating of lake sediments confirm the existence of paleolake highstands in Darhad Basin before ∼ 35 ka. Geologic evidence and 10Be cosmic-ray exposure dating of drift suggests that at ∼ 17-19 ka the basin was filled at least briefly by a glacier-dammed lake ∼ 140 m deep. However, lake sediments from that time have not yet been recognized in the region. A shallower paleolake briefly occupied the basin at ∼ 11 ka, but between ∼ 11 and 17 ka and after ∼ 10 ka the basin was probably largely dry. The timing of maximum glacier advances in Darhad appears to be approximately synchronous across northern Mongolia, but different from Siberia and western Central Asia, supporting the inference that paleoclimate in Central Asia differed among regions.  相似文献   

20.
This paper presents a revised glacial chronology for the Lahul Himalaya and provides the most detailed reconstruction of former glacier extents in the western Himalayas published to date. On the basis of detailed geomorphological mapping, morphostratigraphy, and absolute and relative dating, three glaciations and two glacial advances are constrained. The oldest glaciation (Chandra glacial stage) is represented by glacially eroded benches and drumlins (the first to be described from the Himalaya) at altitudes of >4300 m and indicates glaciation on a landscape of broad valleys that had minimal fluvial incision. The second glaciation (Batal glacial stage) is represented by highly weathered and disssected lateral moraines and drumlins representing two phases of glaciation within the Batal glacial stage (Batal I and Batal II). The Batal stage was an extensive valley glaciation interrupted by a readvance that produced superimposed bedforms. Optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) dating, indicates that glaciers probably started to retreat between 43400 ± 10300 and 36900 ± 8400 yr ago during the Batal stage. The Batal stage may be equivalent to marine Oxygen Isotope Stage 4 and early Oxygen Isotope Stage 3. The third glaciation (Kulti glacial stage), is represented by well-preserved moraines in the main tributary valleys that formed due to a less-extensive valley glaciation when ice advanced no more than 12 km from present ice margins. On the basis of an OSL age for deltaic sands and gravels that underlie tills of Kulti age, the Kulti glaciation is younger than 36900 ± 8400 yr ago. The development of peat bogs, having a basal age of 9160 ± 70 14C yr BP possibly represents a phase of climatic amelioration coincident with post-Kulti deglaciation. The Kulti glaciation, therefore, is probably equivalent to all or parts of late Oxygen Isotope Stage 3, Stage 2 and early Stage 1. Two minor advances (Sonapani I and II) are represented by small sharp-crested moraines within a few kilometres of glacier termini. On the basis of relative weathering, the Sonapani advance is possibly of early mid-Holocene age, whereas the Sonapani II advance is historical. The change in style and extent of glaciation is attributed to topographic controls produced by fluvial incision and by increasing aridity during the Quaternary. © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.  相似文献   

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