Quaternary glaciation of Mount Everest |
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| Authors: | Lewis A Owen Ruth Robinson Douglas I Benn Robert C Finkel Nicole K Davis Chaolu Yi Jaakko Putkonen Dewen Li Andrew S Murray |
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| Institution: | 1. Department of Geology, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, OH 45221, USA;2. School of Geography and Geosciences, University of St. Andrews, St. Andrews, KY16 9AL, UK;3. Department of Geology, University Centre in Svalbard, N-9171 Longyearbyen, Norway;4. Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, University of California, Berkeley, CA 95064, USA;5. Centre Européen de Recherche et d''Enseignement des Géosciences de l''Environnement, 13545 Aix en Provence Cedex 4, France;6. Key Laboratory of Tibetan Plateau Environment Changes and Land Surface Processes, Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 10085, China;7. Department of Geology and Geological Engineering, 81 Cornell St., Stop 8358, University of North Dakota, Grand Forks, ND 58202-8358, USA;8. China Earthquake Disaster Prevention Center, Beijing 100029,China;9. Nordic Laboratory for Luminescence Dating, Department of Earth Sciences, University of Aarhus, Risø DTU, DK 4000 Roskilde, Denmark;1. Department of Geology, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, OH 45221, USA;2. Department of Physics, Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN 47907, USA;1. Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences, Purdue University, West Lafayette, USA;2. Department of Physics and Astronomy, and Purdue Rare Isotope Measurement Laboratory (PRIME Lab), Purdue University, West Lafayette, USA;3. Department of Physical Geography and Quaternary Geology, and Bolin Centre for Climate Research, Stockholm University, Stockholm, Sweden;4. German Research Centre for Geosciences, Potsdam, Germany;5. Department of Geological Sciences, California State University, Northridge, USA;6. Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, University of California, Davis, USA;7. Department of Earth Science, University of California, Santa Barbara, USA;8. Faculty of Geography, Lomonosov Moscow State University, Moscow, Russia;9. Department of Geography, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, USA;10. Central Asian Institute of Applied Geosciences, Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan;11. School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Wollongong, Wollongong, Australia;12. College of Urban and Environmental Sciences, Peking University, Beijing, China;1. Geology Department, Middlebury College, Middlebury, VT 05753, United States;2. Geography Department, University of California Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, CA 93106, United States;3. Department of Geological and Planetary Sciences, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91125, United States;4. Scottish Universities Environmental Research Center, Glasgow, Scotland, G12 8QQ, United Kingdom;1. Department of Geography, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN 37996, USA;2. College of Urban and Environmental Sciences, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China;3. Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN 47907, USA;4. Bolin Centre for Climate Research, Department of Physical Geography and Quaternary Geology, Stockholm University, S-106 91 Stockholm, Sweden;5. Department of Physics, Purdue Rare Isotope Measurement Laboratory, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN 47907, USA |
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| Abstract: | The Quaternary glacial history of the Rongbuk valley on the northern slopes of Mount Everest is examined using field mapping, geomorphic and sedimentological methods, and optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) and 10Be terrestrial cosmogenic nuclide (TCN) dating. Six major sets of moraines are present representing significant glacier advances or still-stands. These date to >330 ka (Tingri moraine), >41 ka (Dzakar moraine), 24–27 ka (Jilong moraine), 14–17 ka (Rongbuk moraine), 8–2 ka (Samdupo moraines) and ～1.6 ka (Xarlungnama moraine), and each is assigned to a distinct glacial stage named after the moraine. The Samdupo glacial stage is subdivided into Samdupo I (6.8–7.7 ka) and Samdupo II (～2.4 ka). Comparison with OSL and TCN defined ages on moraines on the southern slopes of Mount Everest in the Khumbu Himal show that glaciations across the Everest massif were broadly synchronous. However, unlike the Khumbu Himal, no early Holocene glacier advance is recognized in the Rongbuk valley. This suggests that the Khumbu Himal may have received increased monsoon precipitation in the early Holocene to help increase positive glacier mass balances, while the Rongbuk valley was too sheltered to receive monsoon moisture during this time and glaciers could not advance. Comparison of equilibrium-line altitude depressions for glacial stages across Mount Everest reveals asymmetric patterns of glacier retreat that likely reflects greater glacier sensitivity to climate change on the northern slopes, possibly due to precipitation starvation. |
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