New findings concerning the Pleistocene Glaciation of the Leh Basin,Ladakh(34°03'N/77°38'E)

Like for most parts of High Asia,researches concerning the Pleistocene landscape evolution of the Leh Basin(34°03' N/77°38' E) have also left contradictions.To push this topic,three up to now unexplored Ladakh Range tributaries of the Leh Basin(Stagmo-,Arzu-and Nang-Valley) have been investigated.U-shaped profiles,transfluence passes,moraine mantled and glacially rounded peaks and ridges,roches moutonnées,glacial flank polishings and ground moraines document the former glaciation of the study area.The ice fillings of these tributaries reached a minimum thickness up to 540 m.Even at the valley outlets and on the orographic right side of the Leh Basin,the glaciation was more than 350 m thick.Based on these empirically extracted results,theoretical snow line considerations lead to the conclusion that the whole Leh Basin was filled up by a former Indus-Valley glacier.An ice injection limited to the nourishment areas of the Ladakh Range valleys could not have caused the reconstructed ice cover(down to 3236 m a.s.l.),which is proved by extended ground moraine complexes.Only an Indus ice stream network(most likely during the LGP),nourished by inflowing glaciers of the Ladakh-and Stok Range,explains the widespread existence of the glacial sediments at the outlets of the investigated valleys.