OSL dating of glacier extent during the Last Glacial and the Kanas Lake basin formation in Kanas River valley, Altai Mountains, China

The Kanas River originates on the southern slope of Youyi Peak, the largest center of modern glaciers in Altai Mountains, China. Three sets of moraines and associated glacial sediments are well preserved near the Kanas Lake outlet, recording a complex history and landscape evolution during the Last Glacial. Dating the moraines allows the temporal and spatial glacier shift and climate during the Last Glacial to be determined, and then constrains when and how the Kanas Lake basin was formed. Dating of the glacial tills was undertaken by utilizing the optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) method. Results date four samples from the three sets of moraines to 28.0, 34.4, 38.1, and 49.9 ka and one sample from outwash sediment to 6.8 ka. The Kanas Lake basin is a downfaulted basin and was eroded by glacier before 28.0 ka, and the glacial moraines blocked the glacier-melt water after the glacier retreat, which made the present-day Kanas Lake eventually form at least before 6.8 ka BP. In Altai Mountains, the glacier advance was more extensive in Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 3 than MIS 2, probably because the mid-latitude westerlies shifted northward and/or intensified during the MIS 3, resulting in a more positive glacier mass balance. Nevertheless, the Siberian High dominated the Altai Mountains in MIS 2, resulting in a relative decrease in precipitation.     

东亚季风影响区末次冰期冰川作用的控制性因素

东亚季风气候控制下的山地与岛屿冰期历史、冰川规模及其分布规律对深入探讨中国第四纪冰川的发生机制以及全球变化具有重要的科学意义。最新的绝对年代结果显示,中国东部及东亚沿海岛屿山地(包括中国台湾岛,日本本州岛、北海道,朝鲜盖马高原,俄罗斯远东山地等)的冰期启动与消亡时间存在显著差异,但均严格控制在末次冰期范围之内,相当于深海氧同位素阶段(MIS)4至2,冰川的发育规模在末次冰期早中期(MIS3/4)大于末次冰盛期(MIS2)。对研究区各山地和岛屿末次冰期冰川发育的基本特点进行比较后,明确了影响东亚季风影响区冰川作用的主要控制性因素有：气候因素、构造因素、纬度因素和海陆位置等,它们控制着末次冰期冰川的发生、分布与期次。在此控制性因素影响下,东亚低海拔山地不会出现比末次冰期更早的冰川作用。     

东亚沿海山地末次冰期冰川与环境

对东亚沿海山地末次冰期冰川发育的气候条件、构造背景、冰进时序、发育规模等研究表明,台湾山地保存着3期冰川作用遗迹,冰川的最大前进规模发生在MIS3b阶段,其规模大于MIS2阶段;日本山地冰期系列齐全,包含了末次冰期的早(MIS4)、中(MIS3)、晚(MIS2)3个阶段的冰进,其规模是MIS4/3阶段大于MIS2阶段;而长白山存在2期冰川作用的遗迹,即末次冰盛期(MIS2)和晚冰期.在相似的冬雨(雪)型季风影响区,冰川发育的时序与规模也有一定不同,反映出在大气候背景下的区域性差异,在东亚季风影响范围内,末次冰期的环流变化在各地也很不一致.最新推算的现代理论雪线自北(日本)向南(台湾)依次递增,范围是2750～4245 m,除日本北部的高纬地区雪线降低值400 m之外,末次冰盛期(LGM)的雪线降低值在800～1300 m之间,平均值1000 m左右.东亚沿海山地冰川发育与新构造运动密切相关,更新世山体的快速抬升为冰川发育的内因,如台湾山地在末次冰期的MIS3b阶段,山体的抬升量约为250 m,对山体的高度和雪线变化有很大影响.     

天山阿特奥依纳克河流域冰川沉积序列

阿特奥依纳克河位于我国天山的最西段,最大现代冰川作用中心托木尔峰的南麓。在第四纪冰期与间冰期的气候旋回中,该处留下了形态较为完整的6套冰川沉积。应用ESR测年技术 (辅以OSL测年技术) 对冰碛物及其相应的冰水沉积物进行了定年,测得6套冰碛年龄分别为7.3±0.8ka BP (OSL,冰水沙);12.3±1.2ka BP (OSL) 与15~29ka BP;46~54ka BP;56~65ka BP;155.8±15.6ka BP与234.8±23.5ka BP;453.0±45.3ka BP,测年结果表明它们分别形成于新冰期、海洋同位素阶段(MIS)2、3b、4、6、12。第三套冰碛测年结果表明该处MIS3b冰进规模较大,其规模基本上与末次盛冰期 (MIS2) 的规模相当。此处最老冰碛测年结果与我国中段天山乌鲁木齐河源高望峰冰碛的测年结果 (459.7±46ka BP与477.1ka BP) 遥相呼应,老冰碛的年龄显示我国天山西段与中段至少于MIS12进入了冰冻圈,开始发育冰川。     

中国第四纪冰川作用与深海氧同位素阶段的对比和厘定

随着冰期(阶)与间冰期(阶)旋回的不断细化,第四纪冰期系列与深海氧同位素阶段(MIS)对比之间所反映的问题开始逐步显现。通过中国第四纪冰期与MIS阶段对比,结合分析气候旋回与构造运动对地貌演化的控制作用,研究表明:①冰期(阶)或者间冰期(阶)发生的时段应尽可能对应于MIS的偶数或奇数阶段,有助于MIS框架下新的冰期(阶)的发现;②中更新世以来,中国第四纪冰期-间冰期旋回可能受控于100 ka轨道偏心率变化的气候大背景,昆仑冰期-倒数第二次冰期的冰川规模总体上与全球冰量变化一致。然而,末次冰期早、中期的冰川规模却与MIS所记录的全球冰量变化不尽一致,强烈显示气候与构造环境对冰川作用的影响;③目前在中国第四纪冰期划分方案中,存在着冰期系列由时间和地点双重命名的现象,建议用大理冰期、古乡冰期分别代替末次冰期和倒数第二次冰期。     

Mountain-derived versus shelf-based glaciations on the western Taymyr Peninsula, Siberia

The early Russian researchers working in central Siberia seem to have preferred scenarios in which glaciations, in accordance with the classical glaciological concept, originated in the mountains. However, during the last 30 years or so the interest in the glacial history of the region has concentrated on ice sheets spreading from the Kara Sea shelf. There, they could have originated from ice caps formed on areas that, for eustatic reasons, became dry land during global glacial maximum periods, or from grounded ice shelves. Such ice sheets have been shown to repeatedly inundate much of the Taymyr Peninsula from the north-west. However, work on westernmost Taymyr has now also documented glaciations coming from inland. On at least two occasions, with the latest one dated to the Saale glaciation (marine isotope stage 6 [MIS 6]), warm-based, bedrock-sculpturing glaciers originating in the Byrranga Mountains, and in the hills west of the range, expanded westwards, and at least once did such glaciers, after moving 50–60 km or more over the present land areas, cross today's Kara Sea coastline. The last major glaciation affecting south-western Taymyr did, however, come from the Kara Sea shelf. According to optically stimulated luminescence dates, this was during the Early or Middle Weichselian (MIS 5 or 4), and was most probably not later than 70 Kya. South-western Taymyr was not extensively glaciated during the last global glacial maximum ca. 20 Kya, although local cold-based ice caps may have existed.     

新疆阿尔泰山东段冰碛物光释光测年研究

冰川是塑造地表形态最积极的外营力之一,对冰川地貌的年代学研究是重建古冰川发展史的关键,也是研究气候变化的重要途径。冰碛物是冰川作用的直接产物,代表过去发生的冰川事件,对冰碛物进行准确测年能够为重建古冰川的进退、理解区域古气候变化提供年代学支撑。本文在新疆阿尔泰山东段采集了8个冰碛物样品以进行光释光测年,利用单片再生剂量法对90~125 μm的石英颗粒进行等效剂量的测定。通过等效剂量值频率分布特征及De（t）坪区图分析得出大部分冰碛物的光释光信号晒退不彻底,所以利用一阶动力学公式对持续激发的光释光信号晒退曲线（CW-OSL）进行多组分拟合拆分,得到快速、中速、慢速3种组分,依据分离出的快速组分确定等效剂量值。研究结果显示,距今32 ka以来阿尔泰山东段区域在MIS3阶段、MIS2阶段、8.2 ka左右、全新世大暖期及新冰期等5个时段有冰川发育,冰川发育与气候变化密切相关。     

The onset of Pleistocene glaciation in the Barents Sea: implications for glacial isostatic adjustment

In this paper the effect of a delayed onset of glaciation in the Barents Sea on glacial isostatic adjustment is investigated. The model calculations solve the sea-level equation governing the total mass redistributions associated with the last glaciation cycle on a spherically symmetric, linear, Maxwell viscoelastic earth for two different scenarios for the growth phase of the Barents Sea ice sheet. In the first ice model a linear growing history is used for the Barents Sea ice sheet, which closely relates its development to the build-up of other major Late Pleistocene ice sheets. In the second ice model the accumulation of the Barents Sea ice sheet is restricted to the last 6 ka prior to the last glacial maximum.
The calculations predict relative sea levels, present-day radial velocities, and gravity anomalies for the area formerly covered by the Weichselian ice sheet. The results show that observed relative sea levels in the Barents Sea are appropriate for distinguishing between the different glaciation histories. In particular, present-day observables such as the free-air gravity anomaly over the Barents Sea, and the present-day radial velocities are sensitive to changes in the glaciation history on this scale.
A palaeobathymetry derived from relative sea-level predictions before the last glacial maximum based on the second ice model essentially agrees with a palaeobathymetry derived by Lambeck (1995). The additional emerged areas provide centres for the build-up of an ice sheet and thus support the theory of Hald, Danielsen & Lorentzen (1990) and Mangerud et al. (1992) that the Barents Sea was an essentially marine environment shortly before the last glacial maximum.     

Geomorphology of the Sub-Antarctic Australian Territory of Heard Island-McDonald Island

The geomorphology of Heard Island-McDonald Island is primarily the product of close interplay between volcanism, glaciation, and vigorous marine processes in a stormy sub-Antarctic environment. The dominant landform is the strato-volcano Big Ben (2745m), which is the highest mountain on Australian territory outside Antarctica. Other volcanic landforms include scoria cones, domes, open vertical volcanic conduits, lava flows and lava tubes. Volcanic activity is ongoing from the summit of Big Ben, and from Samarang Hill on McDonald Island. Early, but unproven, glacial sediments may exist within the Late Miocene - Early Pliocene Drygalski Formation, which forms a 300m high plateau along the northern coast of Heard Island. Growth of the present glaciers, some of which reach sea level, has been a response to progressive growth of the volcanoes. A variety of erosional and depositional glacial landforms is present, including major lateral moraines and extensive hummocky moraines. Vigorous longshore drift and an abundant sediment supply have produced a large spit at the downdrift end of the island, and formed bars from reworked glacigenic sediment that now impound proglacial estuarine lagoons, some of which have grown rapidly over recent decades as tidewater glaciers have retreated. Integrated study of the volcanic, glacial and coastal sequences offers the possibility of constructing a well-dated record of climate change. Research into the geomorphology, surficial sediments, and contemporary geomorphological processes, including glaciofluvial sediment flux, is also important as an aid to environmental management on land, and to management of the adjacent marine environment.     

青藏高原可可西里地区现代冰川发育特征

经野外考察和室内分析计算，青藏可可西里地区发育现代冰川４３７条，覆盖面积达１５５２．３９ｋｍ＾２，冰储量为１６２．８３４９ｋｍ＾３，成为本区众多河湖泊水体的重要补给源泉。     

他念他翁山中段第四纪冰川沉积物时空分布特征与环境

他念他翁山中段位于横断山脉西部,保留着良好的第四纪冰川遗迹,论文以该地区第四纪冰川沉积物为主要研究对象,通过光释光(Object-source lighting, OSL)测年、粒度、磁化率、矿物及化学元素分析等方法,探讨研究区第四纪冰川沉积物在不同时期的沉积学、矿物学、环境磁学以及元素地球化学特征,结合相关环境指标分析该区的环境特点。研究表明：① 冰川沉积物总体沉积特征是大小混杂、无层理、无分选、风化程度由倒数第二次冰期到新冰期依次减弱。② 研究区冰川沉积物细粒部分在粒度频率曲线上主要呈现双峰或多峰,反映出沉积物的物质来源复杂、形成动力多样。冰碛物的平均粒径在空间上表现出距冰川作用源头越远粒径越小的规律,主要是受冰川作用强度和风化时间长短的影响。③ 冰川沉积物的磁化率值为8.72×10^-8~298.00×10^-8 m³·kg^-1,其中冰水沉积物磁化率的平均值(178.51×10^-8 m³·kg^-1)和波动幅度(17.43×10^-8~298.00×10^-8 m³·kg^-1)要大于冰碛物(平均值19.82×10^-8 m³·kg^-1,波动幅度8.72×10^-8~42.95×10^-8 m³·kg^-1),反映出磁铁矿集中分布的粒级与冰水沉积物组成的粒级相似。④ 地球化学和矿物学指标反映青古隆地区古气候的总体特征为寒冷干燥,其中在末次冰盛期时气候最为干旱,末次冰期中冰阶时气候较为干旱、降水量相对于末次冰盛期有所增加,倒数第二次冰期降水量相对于末次冰盛期和末次冰期中冰阶较多,但气温较低。     

The dynamics of contemporary glaciers in the mountains of the south of East Siberia

An analysis is made of the glaciation status of the mountains in the south of East Siberia to reveal a number of characteristics of changes in glacier systems. It is determined that the mountain systems are all experiencing a deglaciation caused by global climatic changes, while the rates of degradation have increased considerably since the late 1980s. It is established that over the last several decades the rate of thawing of glaciers has decelerated according to data for the key sites in the Kodar, Baikal’skii, Barguzin. Munku-Sardyk and Eastern-Sayan mountain ranges, which is associated with a decrease in mean annual air temperatures in 2009, 2010, 2012 and 2013 after the maximum values in 1990, 1994, 1995, 1997, 2002 and 2007. The changes recorded in the amount of solid atmospheric precipitation do not produce any definite trends in all of the mountain systems analyzed. It is determined that, given a relatively small snow accumulation, the glaciers are fed by snow avalanches and persist due to accumulation of large reserves of cold throughout long and cold winters which impede an intense ablation and promote the sustenance of glaciation. It is pointed out that the thawing of glaciers (especially cirque glaciers) involves a decrease in their thickness, whereas their area changes little.     

The morphological characteristics of glacial deposits during the Last Glaciation, taking the Parlung Zangbo River Basin as an example

Moraine morphology is a valuable indicator of climate change. The glacial deposits of ten valleys were selected in the Parlung Zangbo River Basin, southeastern Tibetan Plateau, to study the glacial characteristics of the Last Glaciation and the climate change processes as revealed by these moraines. Investigation revealed that a huge moraine ridge was formed by ancient glacier in the Marine Isotope Stage 2 （MIS2）, and this main moraine ridge indicates the longest sustained and stable climate. There are at least two smaller moraine ridges that are external extensions of or located at the bottom of the main moraine ridge, indicating that the climate of the glacial stage before MIS2 was severer but the duration was relatively shorter. This distribution may reflect the climate of MIS4 or MIS3b. The glacial valleys show multi-channel, small-scale moraine ridges between the contemporary glacial tongue and the main moraine ridge. Some of these multi-channel mo- raine ridges might be recessional moraine, indicating the significant glacial advance during the Younger Dryas or the Heinrich event. The moraine ridges of the Neoglaciation and the Little Ice Age are near the ends of the contemporary glaciers. Using high-precision system dating, we can fairly well reconstruct the pattern of climate change by studying the shape, extent, and scale characteristics of glacial deposits in southeastern Tibet. This is valuable research to understand the relationship between regional and global climate change.     

The changing Patagonian landscape: Erosion and westward sediment transfer paths in northern Patagonia during the Middle and Late Pleistocene

Pleistocene glaciations have promoted important landscape transformations as a result of high rates of erosion and rapid sediment evacuation to adjacent marine basins. In the Patagonian Andes the role of the Patagonian Ice Sheet on landscape evolution, in particular the spatial patterns of glacial erosion and its influence on sediment fluxes, is poorly documented. Here, we investigate the Middle and Late Pleistocene sedimentary record of the continental slope from Ocean Drilling Program (ODP) Site 861, offshore Patagonia (46°S), to evaluate the link between glaciations, mountain range erosion and continental margin strata formation. Petrographic analysis of the sand-size fraction (0.063–2 mm) and ɛNd and ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr measurements in the silt-size fraction (10–63 µm) indicate that glacial erosion over the last 350,000 years has focused within the Patagonian Batholith, with a minor influence of a proximal source to the drilling site, the Chonos Metamorphic Complex. This shows that erosion has focused in the core of the northern Patagonian Andes, coinciding roughly with the location of the Liquiñe-Ofqui Fault Zone and the zone of concentrated precipitation during glaciations, suggesting a combined climatic and structural control on glacial erosion. Temporal variation in the provenance signal is contemporaneous with a marked change in the stratigraphy of ODP Site 861 that occurred after the glaciation of MIS 8 (~240 kyr ago). Before MIS 8, a restricted provenance signal and coarse lithofacies accumulated on the continental slope indicates spatially restricted erosion and efficient transfer of sediment towards the ocean. In contrast, very high provenance variability and finer continental slope lithofacies accumulation after MIS 8 suggest a disorganized expansion of the areas under erosion and a more distal influence of ice sediment discharge to this site. We argue that this change may have been related to a re-organization of the drainage patterns of the Patagonian Ice Sheet and flow of outlet glaciers to the continental margin during the last two glaciations.     

冰川下垫面对夏季云结构和云水含量的影响——以祁连山区疏勒南山为例

云水含量和云结构参量是天气预报、高山区水循环过程分析的基础.基于2012—2015年夏季CloudSat卫星遥感资料的2B-CLDCLASS、2B-GEOPROF和2B-GEOPROF-LIDAR,结合中国第二次冰川编目数据及气象资料,对祁连山地区疏勒南山冰川区与非冰川区云水含量和云类型特征进行分析.结果 表明:(1)...     

EVIDENCE FOR EXPANDED MIDDLE AND LATE PLEISTOCENE GLACIER EXTENT IN NORTHWEST NELSON,NEW ZEALAND

The extent of Late Quaternary glaciation in the northwest Nelson region of New Zealand has traditionally been regarded as minor, with small‐scale valley glaciation in confined upland reaches. New geomorphological evidence, including moraines, kame terraces, till‐mantled bedrock and outwash terraces, indicate that greatly expanded valley glaciers flowed into the lowland valley system at the mouths of the Cobb‐Takaka and Anatoki drainages. The timing for this ice advance into lowland valleys is constrained by lowland landform characteristics and a single cosmogenic exposure age, suggesting Late and Middle Pleistocene ice expansion, respectively. Evidence for expanded upland ice on the Mount Arthur Tableland and adjacent areas includes trimlines, boulder trains and roche moutonées. Two cosmogenic exposure ages on upland bedrock surfaces suggest that major ice expansion occurred during MIS 3 and/or 4, while previously published exposure dating from Cobb Valley suggests large MIS 2 ice expansion as well. The inferred, markedly expanded ice left little or no clear geomorphic imprint on the Cobb–Takaka Gorge, and required temperature depression of 4–6°C with near‐modern precipitation levels.     

Morphology, distribution and formation of relict marginal moraines in the Swedish mountains

Relict marginal moraines are commonly used landforms in palaeoglaciological reconstructions. In the Swedish mountains, a large number of relict marginal moraines of variable morphology and origin occur. In this study, we have mapped 234 relict marginal moraines distributed all along the Swedish mountains and classified them into four morphological classes: cirque‐and‐valley moraines, valley‐side moraines, complex moraines and cross‐valley moraines. Of these, 46 moraines have been reclassified or are here mapped for the first time. A vast majority of the relict moraines are shown to have formed during deglaciation of an ice‐sheet, rather than by local mountain glaciers as suggested in earlier studies. The relict marginal moraines generally indicate that deglaciation throughout the mountains was characterised by a retreating ice‐sheet, successively damming glacial lakes, and downwasting around mountains. The general lack of moraines indicating valley and cirque glaciers during deglaciation suggests that climatic conditions were unfavourable for local glaciation during the last phase of the Weichselian. This interpretation contrasts with some earlier studies that have reconstructed the formation of local glaciers in the higher parts of the Swedish mountains during deglaciation.     

Periglacial nivation cirques and local glaciations in the rock canyons of Söderåsen,Scania, Sweden. A discussion and new interpretation

Rapp, Anders: Periglacial nivation cirques and local glaciations in the rock canyons of Söderåsen, Scania, Sweden. A discussion and new interpretation. Geografisk Tidsskrift 82: 95–99, Copenhagen, October 15, 1982.

Present opinions about the genesis of the rock canyons OdensjOn, Skäralid and Klöva Hallar of Söderåsen, Sweden are reviewed, and a new theory is presented. It is proposed, that during periglacial tundra periods large amounts of drifting snow collected in valleys of north-south directions. Small glaciers were created, which caused local overdeepening and removal of loose material. These processes were active in tundra periods before and after the main Quaternary glaciations.

SUMMARY

Odensjön, Skäralid and Klöva Hallar are three valleys of canyon type, deeply cut (60–100 m) into the horst block of Söderåsen, of fractured Precambrian gneiss rock. It has been shown by other authors that the cold periods after the Weichselian deglaciation were characterized by permafrost and ice wedges on sandy plains in south Sweden. Strong winds caused widespread wind-polishing of stones and bedrock, predominantly from easterly and westerly directions. Based on this evidence, the author presents the theory that large deposits of wind-blown snow were trapped in the canyon valleys of Söderåsen, except for the valleys of east-west directions. The snow was metamorphosed to firn and local, small glaciers, which filled the valleys. The rims of the canyon valleys have in many cases well developed nivation hollows, either steep nivation funnels or gently sloping, semicircular nivation cirques. Odensjøn is a closed, semicircular rock basin, which has been much discussed by scientists earlier, and which seems to fit the theory of creation by nivation from mainly west, but also east, and a local cirque glacier flow northwards causing the overdeepening and removal of loose material. The three valleys mentioned were problably widened and deepened into a series of nivation basins in tundra periods before and after each major continental glaciation. The nivation hollows and the deep canyon valleys were not destroyed by glacial erosion during the Weichselian and earlier Quaternary major ice advances, because the valleys were filled with densely packed snow and ice from snow drifting before the main glacier front moved over them from NE directions. The theory will be further checked by a team of scientists from the Department of Physical Geography in Lund. A comparison is made with cirque forms in present-day mountain tundra conditions in the area of Kärkevagge in northern Lappland, investigated by the author during the 1950's and later.     

A 450-ka long record of glaciation in Northern Mongolia based on studies at Lake Khubsugul: high-resolution reflection seismic data and grain-size variations in cored sediments

We use high-resolution reflection seismic data and detailed grain-size analysis of a drill core (KDP-01) from Lake Khubsugul (northern Mongolia) to provide an improved reconstruction of the glacial history of the area for the last 450 ka. Grain-size analysis of suspended sediment load in modern rivers draining into the lake and of moraine material from the northern part of the catchment shows that the silt fraction is transported to the central part of the lake mainly by river suspension, whereas the clay fraction is mainly transported by glacial meltwater during deglaciation. The changes in of the clay/silt ratio in Lake Khubsugul sediments correlates well with the standard global paleoclimate records: low clay/silt ratios indicate warm climates, while a high clay/silt ratio reflects glacial erosion and cold climates. Pulses of clay input into the lake occur at the final stages of glacial periods (i.e., glacial maxima and subsequent onsets of deglaciation). The periodicity in glacial clay input in Lake Khubsugul is in tune with global periods of deglaciation, but there are differences in the intensity of the deglacial events for MIS-12 and MIS-2. These differences are attributed to specific conditions in regional distribution of moisture during glaciation, glacial ice volumes, and solar insolation intensity at the onset of deglaciation. Deglaciation of the Khubsugul glaciers occurred in response to an increase in summer solar insolation above a threshold value of 490 W/m². Two types of deglaciation can be distinguished: (1) slow melting during several tens of 1,000 years during weak increases in summer insolation, and (2) short and fast melting during several thousands of years in response to strong increases in summer insolation. The maximum ice volume in the area of Lake Khubsugul during the past 450 ka occurred during the period of 373–350 ka BP (MIS 11a-10) and was caused by high levels of moisture in the region, whereas the MIS-2 and MIS-12 glacial periods were characterized by minima in ice volume, due to the strong aridity in the region.