Extending the paleoglaciological record of the southeastern Tibetan Plateau by combining geochronological and high-resolution remote sensing techniques
- 1Geomorphology & Glaciology, Department of Physical Geography, Stockholm University, SE-106 91 Stockholm, Sweden (arjen.stroeven@natgeo.su.se)
- 2Bolin Centre for Climate Research, Stockholm University, SE-106 91 Stockholm, Sweden
- 3Institut of Geological Sciences, University of Bern, 3012 Bern, Switzerland
- 4Department of Physics and Astronomy, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN 47907, USA
- 5Department of Earth, Atmosphere, and Planetary Sciences, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN 47907, USA
- 6Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research and Center for Excellence in Tibetan Plateau Earth Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100101, China
- 7Key Laboratory of Tibetan Environment Changes and Land Surface Processes, Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research, CAS, Beijing, 100101, China
- 8University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, China
- 9Climate Science & Quaternary Geology, Department of Physical Geography, Stockholm University, SE-106 91 Stockholm, Sweden
- 10Department of Geographical Sciences, University of Nottingham, Ningbo, 315100, China
- 11Department of Marine, Earth, and Atmospheric Sciences, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC 27695, USA
Paleoglaciological data is a crucial source of information towards insightful paleoclimate reconstructions by providing vital boundary conditions for regional and global climate models. In this context, the Third Pole Environment is considered a key region because it is highly sensitive to global climate change and its many glaciers constitute a diminishing but critical supply of freshwater to downstream communities in SE Asia. Despite its importance, extents of past glaciation on the Tibetan Plateau remain poorly documented or controversial largely because of the lack of well define glacial chronostratigraphies and reconstructions of former glacier extent. This study contributes to a better documentation of the extent and improved resolution of the timing of past glaciations on the southeastern margin of the Tibetan Plateau. We deploy a high-resolution TanDEM-X Digital Elevation Model (12 m resolution) to produce maps of glacial and proglacial fluvial landforms in unprecedented detail. Geomorphological and sedimentological field observations complement the mapping while cosmogenic nuclide exposure dating of quartz samples from boulders on end moraines detail the timing of local glacier expansion. Additionally, samples for optically stimulated luminescence dating were taken from extensive and distinct terraces located in pull-apart basins downstream of the end moraines to determine their formation time. We compare this new dataset with new and published electron spin resonance ages from terraces. Temporal coherence between the different chronometers strengthens the geochronological record while divergence highlights limitations in the applicability of the chronometers to glacial research or in our conceptual understanding of landscape changes in tectonic regions. Results highlight our current understanding of paleoglaciation, landscape development, and paleoclimate on the SE Tibetan Plateau.
How to cite: Stroeven, A. P., Schneider, R. A. A., Blomdin, R., Gribenski, N., Caffee, M. W., Yi, C., Xu, X., Zeng, X., Hättestrand, M., Fu, P., and Owen, L. A.: Extending the paleoglaciological record of the southeastern Tibetan Plateau by combining geochronological and high-resolution remote sensing techniques, EGU General Assembly 2020, Online, 4–8 May 2020, EGU2020-9829, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu2020-9829, 2020
