Hostname: page-component-5c6d5d7d68-7tdvq Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-08-16T07:59:35.921Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Timing of glacier fluctuations and trigger mechanisms in eastern Qinghai–Tibetan Plateau during the late Quaternary

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

XianJiao Ou ,
ZhongPing Lai ,
ShangZhe Zhou  and
LanHua Zeng
XianJiao Ou
Affiliation:
School of Geography and Tourism, Jiaying University, Meizhou 514015, China State Key Laboratory of Cryospheric Sciences, Cold and Arid Regions Environment and Engineering Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Lanzhou 730000, China School of Geographical Science, South China Normal University, Guangzhou 510631, China
ZhongPing Lai*
Affiliation:
State Key Laboratory of Cryospheric Sciences, Cold and Arid Regions Environment and Engineering Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Lanzhou 730000, China CAS Key Laboratory of Salt Lake Resources and Chemistry, Qinghai Institute of Salt Lakes, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Xining 810008, China
ShangZhe Zhou
Affiliation:
School of Geographical Science, South China Normal University, Guangzhou 510631, China
LanHua Zeng
Affiliation:
School of Geography and Tourism, Jiaying University, Meizhou 514015, China
*
*Corresponding author at: CAS Key Laboratory of Salt Lake Resources and Chemistry, Qinghai Institute of Salt Lakes, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Xining 810008, China. E-mail address:zplai@isl.ac.cn (Z.P. Lai).
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

It is highly debated whether glacial advances on the Qinghai–Tibetan Plateau (QTP) occurred as a response to temperature cooling, or whether they were forced by an increase in moisture brought by the intensive Indian summer monsoon. We here report a case study investigating this issue. Multiple moraine series in the Yingpu Valley, Queer Shan ranges of the Hengduan Mountains, and eastern QTP, provide an excellent archive for examining the timing and trigger mechanism of glacier fluctuations. Twenty-seven optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) samples of glacial sediments were collected from this valley. The quartz OSL ages show that the moraine series of Y-1, I, M and O were formed during the Late Holocene, Late Glacial, the global Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) and Marine Oxygen Isotope Stage (MIS) 3 (likely mid-MIS-3). The youngest Y-2 moraines probably formed during the Little Ice Age (LIA). The oldest H moraines formed before MIS-3. We found that glacial advances during the late Quaternary at the Yingpu Valley responded to cold stages or cold events rather than episodes of enhanced summer monsoon and moisture. As a result, glaciers in the monsoonal Hengduan Mountains were mainly triggered by changes in temperature. Millennial time scale temperature oscillations might have caused the multiple glacial advances.

Keywords

OSL chronologyGlacier fluctuationsLate QuaternaryTrigger mechanismsEastern Qinghai–Tibetan Plateau
Type
Articles
Information
Quaternary Research , Volume 81 , Issue 3 , May 2014 , pp. 464 - 475
Copyright
University of Washington

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Benn, D.I., and Owen, L.A. The role of the Indian summer monsoon and the mid-latitude westerlies in Himalayan glaciation: review and speculative discussion. Journal of the Geological Society 155, (1998). 353–363.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bräuning, A. Tree-ring evidence of ‘Little Ice Age’glacier advances in southern Tibet. Holocene 16, (2006). 369–380.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Clemens, S., Prell, W., Murray, D., Shimmield, G., and Weedon, G. Forcing mechanisms of the Indian Ocean monsoon. Nature 353, (1991). 720–725.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Finkel, R.C., Owen, L.A., Barnard, P.L., and Caffee, M.W. Beryllium-10 dating of Mount Everest moraines indicates a strong monsoon influence and glacial synchroneity throughout the Himalaya. Geology 31, (2003). 561–564.Google Scholar
Gillespie, A., and Molnar, P. Asynchronous maximum advances of mountain and continental glaciers. Reviews of Geophysics 33, (1995). 311–364.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Grootes, P.M., Stuiver, M., White, J.W.C., Johnsen, S., and Jouzel, J. Comparison of oxygen isotope records from the GISP2 and GRIP Greenland ice cores. Nature 366, (1993). 552–554.Google Scholar
Herzschuh, U. Palaeo-moisture evolution in monsoonal Central Asia during the last 50,000 years. Quaternary Science Reviews 25, (2006). 163–178.Google Scholar
Heyman, J., Stroeven, A.P., Harbor, J.M., and Caffee, M.W. Too young or too old: evaluating cosmogenic exposure dating based on an analysis of compiled boulder exposure ages. Earth and Planetary Science Letters 302, (2011). 71–80.Google Scholar
Lai, Z.P. Testing the use of an OSL Standardised Growth Curve (SGC) for De determination on quartz from the Chinese Loess Plateau. Radiation Measurements 41, (2006). 9–16.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lai, Z.P., Bruckner, H., Zoller, L., and Fulling, A. Existence of a common growth curve for silt-sized quartz OSL of loess from different continents. Radiation Measurements 42, (2007). 1432–1440.Google Scholar
Lai, Z.P., Zoller, L., Fuchs, M., and Bruckner, H. Alpha efficiency determination for OSL of quartz extracted from Chinese loess. Radiation Measurements 43, (2008). 767–770.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lehmkuhl, F. Extent and spatial distribution of Pleistocene glaciations in eastern Tibet. Quaternary International 45–46, (1998). 123–134.Google Scholar
Lehmkuhl, F., and Owen, L.A. Late Quaternary glaciation of Tibet and the bordering mountains: a review. Boreas 34, (2005). 87–100.Google Scholar
Li, J.J. Glacial relics of monsoonal Asia in the last glaciation (in Chinese). Quaternary Research 12, (1992). 332–340.Google Scholar
Li, J.J., and Feng, Z.D. Quaternary glaciation relics in Hengduan Mountains (in Chinese). Li, J.J., Zhang, L.Y., and Feng, Z.D. Evolution of Mountain Glaciers and the Quaternary Glaciation. (1984). Journal of Lanzhou University (monograph), Lanzhou. 61–72.Google Scholar
Murray, A.S., and Wintle, A.G. Luminescence dating of quartz using an improved single-aliquot regenerative-dose protocol. Radiation Measurements 32, (2000). 57–73.Google Scholar
Ono, Y., Shulmeister, J., Lehmkuhl, F., Asahi, K., and Aoki, T. Timings and causes of glacial advances across the PEP-II transect (East-Asia to Antarctica) during the last glaciation cycle. Quaternary International 118, (2004). 55–68.Google Scholar
Ou, X.J., Xu, L.B., Lai, Z.P., Long, H., He, Z.L., Fan, Q.S., and Zhou, S.Z. Potential of quartz OSL dating on moraine deposits from eastern Tibetan Plateau using SAR protocol. Quaternary Geochronology 5, (2010). 257–262.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Owen, L.A. Latest Pleistocene and Holocene glacier fluctuations in the Himalaya and Tibet. Quaternary Science Reviews 28, (2009). 2150–2164.Google Scholar
Owen, L.A., Bailey, R.M., Rhodes, E.J., Mitchell, W.A., and Coxon, P. Style and timing of glaciation in the Lahul Himalaya, northern India: a framework for reconstructing late Quaternary palaeoclimatic change in the western Himalayas. Journal of Quaternary Science 12, (1997). 83–109.Google Scholar
Owen, L.A., Finkel, R.C., and Caffee, M.W. A note on the extent of glaciation throughout the Himalaya during the global Last Glacial Maximum. Quaternary Science Reviews 21, (2002). 147–157.Google Scholar
Owen, L.A., Kamp, U., Spencer, J.Q., and Haserodt, K. Timing and style of Late Quaternary glaciation in the eastern Hindu Kush, Chitral, northern Pakistan: a review and revision of the glacial chronology based on new optically stimulated luminescence dating. Quaternary International 97–98, (2002). 41–55.Google Scholar
Owen, L.A., Finkel, R.C., Haizhou, M., Spencer, J.Q., Derbyshire, E., Barnard, P.L., and Caffee, M.W. Timing and style of Late Quaternary glaciation in northeastern Tibet. Geological Society of America Bulletin 115, (2003). 1356–1364.Google Scholar
Owen, L.A., Finkel, R.C., Barnard, P.L., Ma, H.Z., Asahi, K., Caffee, M.W., and Derbyshire, E. Climatic and topographic controls on the style and timing of Late Quaternary glaciation throughout Tibet and the Himalaya defined by Be-10 cosmogenic radionuclide surface exposure dating. Quaternary Science Reviews 24, (2005). 1391–1411.Google Scholar
Owen, L.A., Caffee, M.W., Finkel, R.C., and Seong, Y.B. Quaternary glaciation of the Himalayan–Tibetan orogen. Journal of Quaternary Science 23, (2008). 513–531.Google Scholar
Phillips, W.M., Sloan, V.F., Shroder, J.F., Sharma, P., Clarke, M.L., and Rendell, H.M. Asynchronous glaciation at Nanga Parbat, northwestern Himalaya Mountains, Pakistan. Geology 28, (2000). 431–434.Google Scholar
Prell, W.L., and Kutzbach, J.E. Monsoon variability over the past 150,000 years. Journal of Geophysical Research 92, (1987). 8411–8425.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Richards, B.W.M. Luminescence dating of Quaternary sediments in the Himalaya and High Asia: a practical guide to its use and limitations for constraining the timing of glaciation. Quaternary International 65–66, (2000). 49–61.Google Scholar
Richards, B.W.M., Benn, D.I., Owen, L.A., Rhodes, E.J., and Spencer, J.Q. Timing of late Quaternary glaciations south of Mount Everest in the Khumbu Himal, Nepal. Geological Society of America Bulletin 112, (2000). 1621–1632.Google Scholar
Richards, B.W.M., Owen, L.A., and Rhodes, E.J. Timing of Late Quaternary glaciations in the Himalayas of northern Pakistan. Journal of Quaternary Science 15, (2000). 283–297.Google Scholar
Roberts, H., and Duller, G.A.T. Standardised growth curves for optical dating of sediment using multiple-grain aliquots. Radiation Measurements 38, (2004). 241–252.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rupper, S., and Koppes, M. Spatial patterns in Central Asian climate and equilibrium line altitudes. IOP Conference Series: Earth and Environmental Science 9, (2010). 012009 Google Scholar
Rupper, S., Roe, G., and Gillespie, A. Spatial patterns of Holocene glacier advance and retreat in Central Asia. Quaternary Research 72, (2009). 337–346.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schaefer, J.M., Oberholzer, P., Zhao, Z., Ivy-Ochs, S., Wieler, R., Baur, H., Kubik, P.W., and Schluchter, C. Cosmogenic beryllium-10 and neon-21 dating of late Pleistocene glaciations in Nyalam, monsoonal Himalayas. Quaternary Science Reviews 27, (2008). 295–311.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schafer, J.M., Tschudi, S., Zhao, Z.Z., Wu, X.H., Ivy-Ochs, S., Wieler, R., Baur, H., Kubik, P.W., and Schluchter, C. The limited influence of glaciations in Tibet on global climate over the past 170 000 yr. Earth and Planetary Science Letters 194, (2002). 287–297.Google Scholar
Seong, Y.B., Owen, L.A., Yi, C.L., and Finkel, R.C. Quaternary glaciation of Muztag Ata and Kongur Shan: evidence for glacier response to rapid climate changes throughout the Late Glacial and Holocene in westernmost Tibet. Geological Society of America Bulletin 121, (2009). 348–365.Google Scholar
Shi, Y.F. Quaternary Glaciations and Environmental Variations in China (in Chinese). (2006). Hebei Science and Technology Press, Shijiazhang.Google Scholar
Shi, Y.F., and Yao, T.D. MIS 3b (54~44 ka BP) cold period and glacial advance in middle and low latitudes. Journal of Glaciology and Geocryology 24, (2002). 1–9.Google Scholar
Strasky, S. Glacial Response to Global Climate Changes: Cosmogenic Nuclide Chronologies From High and Low Latitudes. (2008). ETH, Zurich.Google Scholar
Strasky, S., Graf, A.A., Zhao, Z.Z., Kubik, P.W., Baur, H., Schluchter, C., and Wieler, R. Late Glacial ice advances in southeast Tibet. Journal of Asian Earth Sciences 34, (2009). 458–465.Google Scholar
Thompson, L.G., Yao, T.D., Davis, M.E., Henderson, K.A., Mosley-Thompson, E., Lin, P.N., Beer, J., Synal, H.A., Cole-Dai, J., and Bolzan, J.F. Tropical climate instability: the last glacial cycle from a Qinghai–Tibetan ice core. Science 276, (1997). 1821–1825.Google Scholar
Tschudi, S., Schafer, J.M., Zhao, Z.Z., Wu, X.H., Ivy-Ochs, S., Kubik, P.W., and Schluchter, C. Glacial advances in Tibet during the Younger Dryas? Evidence from cosmogenic Be-10, Al-26, and Ne-21. Journal of Asian Earth Sciences 22, (2003). 301–306.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tsukamoto, S., Asahi, K., Watanabe, T., and Rink, W.J. Timing of past glaciations in Kanchenjunga Himal, Nepal by optically stimulated luminescence dating of tills. Quaternary International 97–98, (2002). 57–67.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wang, Y.J., Cheng, H., Edwards, R.L., An, Z.S., Wu, J.Y., Shen, C.C., and Dorale, J.A. A high-resolution absolute-dated late Pleistocene monsoon record from Hulu Cave, China. Science 294, (2001). 2345–2348.Google Scholar
Xu, L.B., and Zhou, S.Z. Quaternary glaciations recorded by glacial and fluvial landforms in the Shaluli Mountains, Southeastern Tibetan Plateau. Geomorphology 103, (2009). 268–275.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Xu, L.B., Ou, X.J., Lai, Z.P., Zhou, S.Z., Wang, J., and Fu, Y.C. Timing and style of Late Pleistocene glaciation in the Queer Shan, northern Hengduan Mountains in the eastern Tibetan Plateau. Journal of Quaternary Science 25, (2010). 957–966.Google Scholar
Yang, J.Q., Zhang, W., Cui, Z.J., Yi, C.L., Liu, K.X., Ju, Y.J., and Zhang, X.Y. Late Pleistocene glaciation of the Diancang and Gongwang Mountains, southeast margin of the Tibetan Plateau. Quaternary International 154, (2006). 52–62.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Yi, C.L., Jiao, K.Q., Liu, K.X., He, Y.Q., and Ye, Y.G. ESR dating of the sediments of the Last Glaciation at the source area of the Urumqi River, Tian Shan Mountains, China. Quaternary International 97–98, (2002). 141–146.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Yi, C.L., Liu, K.X., Cui, Z.J., Jiao, K.Q., Yao, T.D., and He, Y.Q. AMS radiocarbon dating of late Quaternary glacial landforms, source of the Urumqi River, Tien Shan — a pilot study of C-14 dating on inorganic carbon. Quaternary International 121, (2004). 99–107.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Yi, C.L., Chen, H.L., Yang, J.Q., Liu, B., Fu, P., Liu, K.X., and Li, S.J. Review of Holocene glacial chronologies based on radiocarbon dating in Tibet and its surrounding mountains. Journal of Quaternary Science 23, (2008). 533–543.Google Scholar
Zhang, M., Cheng, H., Yuan, D., Lin, Y., Qin, J., Wang, H., Feng, Y., Tu, L., and Zhang, H. High resolution climate records from two stalagmites in Qixin cave, South Guizhou, and Heinrich events during the last glacial period. Episodes 27, (2004). 1–7.Google Scholar
Zhang, W., Cui, Z.J., Feng, J.L., Yi, C.L., and Yang, J.Q. Late Pleistocene glaciation of the Hulifang Massif of Gongwang mountains in Yunnan Province. Journal of Geographical Sciences 15, (2005). 448–458.Google Scholar
Zhang, B., Ou, X.J., and Lai, Z.P. OSL ages revealing the glacier retreat in the Dangzi valley in the eastern Tibetan Plateau during the Last Glacial Maximum. Quaternary Geochronology 10, (2012). 244–249.Google Scholar
Zhao, J.D., Zhou, S.Z., He, Y.Q., Ye, Y.G., and Liu, S.Y. ESR dating of glacial tills and glaciations in the Urumqi River headwaters, Tianshan Mountains, China. Quaternary International 144, (2006). 61–67.Google Scholar
Zhao, J.D., Liu, S.Y., He, Y.Q., and Song, Y.G. Quaternary glacial chronology of the Ateaoyinake River Valley, Tianshan Mountains, China. Geomorphology 103, (2009). 276–284.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Zhao, J.D., Song, Y.G., King, J.W., Liu, S.Y., Wang, J., and Wu, M. Glacial geomorphology and glacial history of the Muzart River valley, Tianshan Range, China. Quaternary Science Reviews 29, (2010). 1453–1463.Google Scholar
Zheng, B.X., and Ma, Q.H. The glacier variation, climatic change and the river valley development in the Holocene on the Gongga Mountains (in Chinese). Acta Geographica Sincica 49, (1994). 500–508.Google Scholar
Zhou, S.Z., Chen, F.H., Pan, B.T., Cao, J.X., Li, J.J., and Derbyshire, E. Environmental change during the Holocene in western China on a millennial timescale. Holocene 1, (1991). 151–156.Google Scholar
Zhou, S.Z., Li, J.J., and Zhang, S.Q. Quaternary glaciation of the Bailang River Valley, Qilian Shan. Quaternary International 97–98, (2002). 103–110.Google Scholar
Zhou, S.Z., Wang, X.L., Wang, J., and Xu, L.B. A preliminary study on timing of the oldest Pleistocene glaciation in Qinghai–Tibetan Plateau. Quaternary International 154, (2006). 44–51.Google Scholar
Zhou, S.Z., Wang, J., Xu, L.B., Wang, X.L., Colgan, P.M., and Mickelson, D.M. Glacial advances in southeastern Tibet during late Quaternary and their implications for climatic changes. Quaternary International 218, (2010). 58–66.Google Scholar
Supplementary material: File

Ou et al. supplementary material

Figures S1-S3

Download Ou et al. supplementary material(File)
File 423.9 KB