Constraints on ice-sheet thickness over Tibet during the last 40 000 years

The Late Quaternary glaciation of Tibet has received considerable attention in the last few decades due to its influence on the regional climate, especially the Asian summer monsoon. Recently, however, it has been argued that the Tibetan ice sheet also might have played an important role in initiating global-scale palaeoclimatic changes. Controversy, however, exists on the nature of Late Quaternary ice cover over Tibet due largely to the subjectivity in the interpretation of the sparse and complex geomorphological evidence. We have examined this problem in the light of δ ¹⁸O data (a temperature proxy) of ice cores-from the Dunde ice cap on the northern flank of Tibet. Considering only the gross features in the Dunde ice-core isotopic data, we have interpreted a temperature decrease of 4°–6°C and consequent lowering of equilibrium line altitude (ELA) in the range 700–850 m during the last glacial stage (LGS). This could have caused depression of the snow line below the mean altitutde of the Tibetan plateau, resulting in an areally extensive but marginally thick ice cover. However, if one also considers the possibility that precipitation on the Tibetan plateau during LGS may have been significantly lower than at present, the ELA depression would be much less than that estimated by considering the temperature effect alone.     

The pleistocene glaciation of Tibet and the onset of ice ages — An autocycle hypothesis

During seven expeditions new data were obtained on the maximum extent of glaciation in Tibet and the surrounding mountains. Evidence was found of moraines at altitudes as low as 980 m on the S flank of the Himalayas and 2300 m on the N slope of the Tibetan Plateau, in the Qilian Shan. On the N slopes of the Karakoram, Aghil and Kuen Lun moraines occur as far down as 1900 m. In S Tibet radiographic analyses of erratics document former ice thicknesses of at least 1200 m. Glacial polishing and knobs in the Himalayas, Karakoram etc. are proof of glaciers as thick as 1200–2000 m. On the basis of this evidence, a 1100–1600 m lower equilibrium line altitude (ELA) was reconstructed for the Ice Age, which would mean 2.4 million km² of ice covering almost all of Tibet, since the ELA was far below the average altitude of Tibet. On Mt. Everest and K2 radiation was measured up to 6650 m, yielding values of 1200–1300 W/m². Because of the subtropical latitude and the high altitude solar radiation in Tibet is 4 times greater than the energy intercepted between 60 and 70° N or S. With an area of 2.4 million km² and an albedo of 90% the Tibetan ice sheet caused the same heat loss to the earth as a 9.6 million km² sized ice sheet at 60–70° N. Because of its proximity to the present-day ELA, Tibet must have undergone large-scale glaciation earlier than other areas. Being subject to intensive radiation, the Tibetan ice must have performed an amplifying function during the onset of the Ice Age. At the maximum stage of the last ice age the cooling effect of the newly formed, about 26 million km² sized ice sheets of the higher latitudes was about 3 times that of the Tibetan ice. Nevertheless, without the initial impulse of the Tibetan ice such an extensive glaciation would never have occurred. The end of the Ice Age was triggered by the return to preglacial radiation conditions of the Nordic lowland ice. Whilst the rise of the ELA by several hundred metres can only have reduced the steep marginal outlet glaciers, it diminished the area of the lowland ice considerably.     

藏东南波堆藏布江流域古乡冰期冰川重建

"古乡冰期"是青藏高原第四纪冰川作用中最具代表性的冰期之一,指代的是倒数第二次冰期,其命名依据来源于藏东南波堆藏布江谷地、保存于古乡一带的终碛-侧碛垄,已有的宇宙成因核素10Be暴露测年结果显示其发生于海洋氧同位素阶段(MIS)6.然而,古乡冰期时波堆藏布江流域冰川作用范围、冰量及平衡线高度(ELA)等关键信息,仍有待...     

The past valley glacier network in the Himalayas and the Tibetan ice sheet during the last glacial period and its glacial-isostatic, eustatic and climatic consequences

Since 1973 new data were obtained on the maximum extent of glaciation in High Asia. Evidence for an ice sheet covering Tibet during the Last Glacial Period means a radical rethinking about glaciation in the Northern Hemisphere. The ice sheet's subtropical latitude, vast size (2.4 million km²) and high elevation (6000 m asl) are supposed to have resulted in a substantial, albedo-induced cooling of the Earth's atmosphere and the disruption of summer monsoon circulation. Moraines were found to reach down to 460 m asl on the southern flank of the Himalayas and to 2300 m asl on the northern slope of the Tibetan Plateau, in the Qilian Shan region. On the northern slopes of the Karakoram, Aghil and Kuen-Lun mountains, moraines occur as far down as 1900 m asl. In southern Tibet radiographic analyses of erratics suggest a former ice thickness of at least 1200 m. Glacial polish and roches moutonnées in the Himalayas and Karakoram suggest former glaciers as thick as 1200–2700 m. On the basis of this evidence, a 1100–1600 m lower equilibrium line (ELA) has been reconstructed, resulting in an ice sheet of 2.4 million km², covering almost all of Tibet. Radiometric ages, obtained by different methods, classify this glaciation as isotope stage 3–2 in age (Würmian = last glacial period). With the help of 13 climate measuring stations, radiation- and radiation balance measurements have been carried out between 3800 and 6650 m asl in Tibet. They indicate that the subtropical global radiation reaches its highest energies on the High Plateau, thus making Tibet today's most important heating surface of the atmosphere. At glacial times 70% of those energies were reflected into space by the snow and firn of the 2.4 million km² extended glacier area covering the upland. As a result, 32% of the entire global cooling during the ice ages, determined by the albedo, were brought about by this area — now the most significant cooling surface. The uplift of Tibet to a high altitude about 2.75 Ma ago, coincides with the commencement of the Quaternary Ice Ages. When the Plateau was lifted above the snowline (= ELA) and glaciated, this cooling effect gave rise to the global depression of the snowline and to the first Ice Age. The interglacial periods are explained by the glacial-isostatic lowering of Tibet by 650 m, having the effect that the initial Tibet ice – which had evoked the build-up of the much more extended lowland ices – could completely melt away in a period of positive radiation anomalies. The next ice age begins, when – because of the glacial-isostatic reverse uplift – the surface of the Plateau has again reached the snowline. This explains, why the orbital variations (Milankovic-theory) could only have a modifying effect on the Quaternary climate dynamic, but were not primarily time-giving: as long as Tibet does not glaciate automatically by rising above the snowline, the depression in temperature is not sufficient for initiating a worldwide ice age; if Tibet is glaciated, but not yet lowered isostatically, a warming-up by 4 °C might be able to cause an important loss in surface but no deglaciation, so that its cooling effect remains in a maximum intensity. Only a glaciation of the Plateau lowered by isostasy, can be removed through a sufficiently strong warming phase, so that interglacial climate conditions are prevailing until a renewed uplift of Tibet sets in up to the altitude of glaciation.An average ice thickness for all of Tibet of approximately 1000 m would imply that 2.2 million km³ of water were stored in the Tibetan ice sheet. This would correspond to a lowering in sea level of about 5.4 m.     

Late Pleistocene glaciations at Lake Donggi Cona,eastern Kunlun Shan (NE Tibet): early maxima and a diminishing trend of glaciation during the last glacial cycle

The Burhan Budai Shan in NE Tibet represents a key location for examining the variable influence of the mid‐latitude westerly and monsoonal circulations on late Quaternary glaciations in this sector of the Tibetan Plateau. Our study investigates the glacial history of mountains near Lake Donggi Cona (35°17′N, 98°33′E) using field mapping in combination with ¹⁰Be surface exposure dating and numerical reconstructions of former glacial equilibrium line altitudes (palaeo‐ELA). A set of 23 new exposure ages, collected from moraines in four glacial valleys, ranges from 45 to 190 ka, indicating ice expansion during the early and middle part of the last glacial cycle, and during the penultimate and possibly an earlier Mid‐Pleistocene glaciation. Ice advances reaching 12–15 km in length occurred at around 190–180 ka (≥MIS 6), between 140–100 ka (late MIS 6/MIS 5), and 90–65 ka (late MIS 5/early MIS 4), with a maximum ELA depression of 400–500 m below the estimated modern snowline. Exposure ages from the valley headwaters further indicate a small glaciation between c. 60–50 ka (late MIS 4/early MIS 3), which was essentially restricted to the cirque areas. Significantly, we find no evidence for any subsequent glaciation in the area during MIS 2 or the Holocene period. These results indicate a diminishing trend of glaciation in the region since at least MIS 4, and corroborate the case of a ‘missing LGM’ in the more interior parts of the northeastern Tibetan Plateau. The emerging pattern suggests that the most favourable conditions for glaciation during the Late Pleistocene correspond to periods of relatively moderate cooling combined with an intermediate or rising East Asian monsoon strength.     

Paleoglaciological reconstructions for the Tibetan Plateau during the last glacial cycle: evaluating numerical ice sheet simulations driven by GCM-ensembles

The Tibetan Plateau is a topographic feature of extraordinary dimension and has an important impact on regional and global climate. However, the glacial history of the Tibetan Plateau is more poorly constrained than that of most other formerly glaciated regions such as in North America and Eurasia. On the basis of some field evidence it has been hypothesized that the Tibetan Plateau was covered by an ice sheet during the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM). Abundant field- and chronological evidence for a predominance of local valley glaciation during the past 300,000 calendar years (that is, 300 ka), coupled to an absence of glacial landforms and sediments in extensive areas of the plateau, now refute this concept. This, furthermore, calls into question previous ice sheet modeling attempts which generally arrive at ice volumes considerably larger than allowed for by field evidence. Surprisingly, the robustness of such numerical ice sheet model results has not been widely queried, despite potentially important climate ramifications. We simulated the growth and decay of ice on the Tibetan Plateau during the last 125 ka in response to a large ensemble of climate forcings (90 members) derived from Global Circulation Models (GCMs), using a similar 3D thermomechanical ice sheet model as employed in previous studies. The numerical results include as extreme end members as an ice-free Tibetan Plateau and a plateau-scale ice sheet comparable, in volume, to the contemporary Greenland ice sheet. We further demonstrate that numerical simulations that acceptably conform to published reconstructions of Quaternary ice extent on the Tibetan Plateau cannot be achieved with the employed stand-alone ice sheet model when merely forced by paleoclimates derived from currently available GCMs. Progress is, however, expected if future investigations employ ice sheet models with higher resolution, bidirectional ice sheet-atmosphere feedbacks, improved treatment of the surface mass balance, and regional climate data and climate reconstructions.     

滇西北山地末次冰期冰川发育及其基本特征

对滇西北海拔4 000~4 500 m 山地的第四纪冰川发育和平衡线高度进行了研究. 结果表明: 古冰川发育主要依托海拔4 000~4 300 m的夷平面,早中期发育小型的冰帽以及流入四周谷地的山谷冰川,晚期主要发育规模较小的冰斗冰川. 冰川主要发育期为末次冰期,古冰川平衡线、山体最高峰以及夷平面的高度显示,冰川发育所依托的夷平面在末次冰期时超过古平衡线,二者差值为50~400 m,为冰川发生提供了良好的地形与地势条件. 冰川规模演化表明,滇西北地区多处山地MIS 3中期的冰川规模大于末次冰盛期（LGM）,可能与MIS 3中期较强南亚季风带来较丰富的降水有关. 古气候研究资料以及研究区的冰期系列表明,滇西北海拔4 000~4 500 m山地末次冰期的冰川作用是构造和气候相耦合的结果.     

冰川物质平衡线的估算方法

冰川物质平衡线高度(ELA)与气候变化, 特别是与气温和降水的变化关系密切, 是重建古气候和反映冰川积累和消融变化的重要代用指标.直接观测方法可以获得较为精准的ELA, 但不能大范围展开.因此, ELA的间接估算方法, 如赫斯法(Hess)、 积累区面积比率法(AAR)、 面积–高程平衡率法(AABR)、 末端至冰斗后壁比率法(THAR)、 终碛到最高峰高差比率法(TSAM)、 侧碛最大高度法(MELM)、 冰斗底部高程法(CF)、 冰川作用阈值法(GT)等, 得到了广泛的发展与应用.然而, 由于受到雪崩或风吹雪补给、 表碛覆盖、 冰川类型和形态等因素的影响, 单一使用某种方法易受到算法本身的限制, 误差较大, 需综合考虑各种算法的适用性和选取参数的差异, 以提高计算的精度, 同时也要考虑到后期构造抬升等的影响.     

Palaeoglaciation of Bayan Har Shan,northeastern Tibetan Plateau: glacial geology indicates maximum extents limited to ice cap and ice field scales

Key locations within an extensive area of the northeastern Tibetan Plateau, centred on Bayan Har Shan, have been mapped to distinguish glacial from non‐glacial deposits. Prior work suggests palaeo‐glaciers ranging from valley glaciers and local ice caps in the highest mountains to a regional or even plateau‐scale ice sheet. New field data show that glacial deposits are abundant in high mountain areas in association with large‐scale glacial landforms. In addition, glacial deposits are present in several locations outside areas with distinct glacial erosional landforms, indicating that the most extensive palaeo‐glaciers had little geomorphological impact on the landscape towards their margins. The glacial geological record does indicate extensive maximum glaciation, with local ice caps covering entire elevated mountain areas. However, absence of glacial traces in intervening lower‐lying plateau areas suggests that local ice caps did not merge to form a regional ice sheet on the northeastern Tibetan Plateau around Bayan Har Shan. No evidence exists for past ice sheet glaciation. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Palaeoclimatic reconstruction from Loch Lomond Readvance glaciers in the West Drumochter Hills,Scotland

Geomorphological mapping in the West Drumochter Hills provides evidence of a readvance of locally nourished glaciers during the Loch Lomond (Younger Dryas) Stade, in the form of an icefield 67.7 km² in area drained by outlet glaciers. The icefield limits accord broadly with those proposed by Sissons (1980) but all geomorphic, stratigraphic and sedimentological evidence conflicts with a recent proposal that the landforms in the area reflect southwestwards retreat of the last ice sheet. Up‐valley continuity of recessional moraines indicates that the ice remained active and close to climatic equilibrium during the earlier stages of glacier retreat, consistent with slow warming following the coldest part of the stade. The pattern of equilibrium line altitudes (ELAs) across the icefield is consistent with transfer of snow by westerly and southerly winds. The ELA of the reconstructed icefield as a whole is 622–629 m, although this figure is likely to be lower than the regional (climatic) ELA because the icefield probably received additional snow blown from adjacent plateau surfaces and slopes. Inclusion of potential snow‐blow areas in the ELA calculation yields a value of 648–656 m; the climatic ELA is therefore likely to have lain between 622 and 656 m. Mean June to August temperature at the ELA, based on chironomid assemblages at two sites, falls within the range 4.0 ± 0.7°C. Empirical relationships between temperature and precipitation at modern glacier ELAs indicate that mean annual precipitation (MAP) at the ELA was 1977 ± 464 mm, statistically indistinguishable from modern values. Comparison with precipitation values calculated for the Isle of Mull on the west coast suggest that the precipitation gradient across the Central Highlands of Scotland was steeper during the Loch Lomond Stade than at present, probably as the result of efficient scavenging of precipitation from westerly airflows by the West Highland Icefield. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

New Findings concerning the Ice Age (Last Glacial Maximum) Glacier Cover of the East-Pamir, of the Nanga Parbat up to the Central Himalaya and of Tibet, as well as the Age of the Tibetan Inland Ice

The results presented on the glacio-geomorphological reconstruction of a maximum Ice Age (LGM = Last Glacial Maximum) glaciation in High-Asia concern five test-areas in and around Tibet (Figure 1, Nos. 14, 6, 17, 2, 9, 18, 16). For the E-Pamir plateau and its mountains a covering ice cap is proved; a snow-line (ELA)-depression of 820–1250 m in relation to the present relief has been calculated. The Ice Age snow-line ran at 3750–3950 m asl. In the Nanga Parbat-massif a glacial (LGM) ice-stream network with a snow-line altitude (ELA) at c. 3400– 3600 m has been reconstructed. This corresponds to an ELA-depression of at least 1200 m. The lowest ice margin site of the connected 1800–1900 m-thick Indus glacier flowed down to c. 800 m asl. From N-Tibet the author introduces further observations of ground moraines and erratics from a high plateau area he had already investigated in 1981. They provide evidence of a complete inland ice sheet in Tibet. From the S edge of Tibet six large outlet glacier systems i.e. lowest High Glacial ice margin sites of the Himalaya ice-stream network are reconstructed. This is a continuation of the investigations in 1977, 1978, 1982, 1984, 1988 and 1989 between Kangchendzönga in the E and Nanda Devi in the W. In this place probably the lowest glacial glacier end of the Himalaya-S-slope was found at c. 460 m asl at the Dumre settlement, S of the Manaslu. C14-datings from the Tsangpo valley on the S edge of Central Tibet classify the reconstructed Tibetan ice as being from the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) between older than 48580 ± 4660–2930 and 9820 ± 350 YBP. From this empirical findings and inductive results on the Ice Age Tibetan glaciation are derived deductive conclusions on the interaction of the relief and the snow-line altitude with concern to the ice cover. Modelling by means of those snow-line depressions and estimations of the precipitation provide ideas about surface heights, ice thicknesses and flow behaviour of the ice sheet. The hypothesis of a global triggering of the ice age by the uplift of the subtropical Tibet up to above the snow-line motivates the investigations presented here.     

对青藏高原末次冰盛期降温值、平衡线下降值与模拟结果的讨论

1999年5期《第四纪研究》刊登的“青藏高原冰期环境与冰期全球降温”论文,内容丰富,提出了许多重大问题和新鲜讯息,发人深思。本文就部分内容进行讨论,认为根据新近若干冰期降温值较大的信息,就得出冰期降温幅度为过去认识的两倍的普遍性推断,还为时过早。青藏高原新近研究表明夏季降温值是较小的;冰川平衡线高度取决于以夏季温度为标志所提供的消融热量与全年降雪积累量的平衡,单纯就降温值,不能决定平衡线下降值;全球各地气候、地形差别很大,冰期变化也很悬殊,不存在全球均一的1000m左右平衡线下降值,干旱区的下降值多低于此数。青藏高原末次冰盛期(LGM)冰川堆积(终碛、侧碛)和侵蚀形态(冰斗、槽谷)一般保存良好、形态鲜明,较易识别,近年已获取测年资料,证明过去地貌法判别的LGM冰川规模,并以此决定的LGM平衡线位置基本恰当,当然也有误判者。     

Glacial rebound and sea-level change in the British Isles

Observations of sea levels around the coastline of the British Isles for the past 10,000–15,000 years exhibit a major regional variation and provide an important data base for testing models of glacial rebound as well as models of the Late Devensian ice sheet. A high-resolution rebound model has been developed which is consistent with both the spatial and temporal patterns of sea-level change and which demonstrates that the observations are the result of (i) the glacio-isostatic crustal rebound in response to the unloading of the ice sheet over Britain and, to a lesser degree, of the ice sheet over Fennoscandia, and (ii) the rise in sea-level from the melting Late Pleistocene ice sheets, including the response of the crust to the water loading (the hydro-isostatic effect). The agreement between model and observations is such that there is no need to invoke vertical crustal movements for Great Britain and Ireland of other than glacio-hydro-isostatic origin. The rebound contributions are important throughout the region and nowhere is it sufficiently small for the sea-level change to approximate the eustatic sea-level rise. The observational data distribution around the periphery as well as from sites near the centre of the former ice sheet is sufficient to permit constraints to be established on both earth model parameters specifying the mantle viscosity and lithospheric thickness and the extent and volume of the ice sheet at the time of the last glaciation. Preliminary solutions are presented which indicate an upper mantle viscosity of (3–5)10²⁰ Pas, a lithospheric thickness of about 100 km or less, and an ice model that was not confluent with the Scandinavian ice sheet during the last glaciation and whose maximum thickness over Scotland is unlikely to have exceeded about 1500 m.     

Numerical modelling provides evidence of a Baltic Ice Stream during the Younger Dryas

In an effort to analyse the complex Younger Dryas event in central Scandinavia a finite-element method solution of the continuity equation has been used to describe the glaciological processes involved. In order to make the model compatible with the geologic evidence, it is suggested that the ice sheet was drained by a 'Baltic Ice Stream'. The Ice Stream was steered by differences in basal conditions. We also conclude that the climatic event responsible for the Younger Dryas stillstand was probably short (< 500 years), and that different regions of the ice sheet responded in different ways. During a simulated termination it was shown that there was broad agreement about the marginal positions in Sweden and Finland if it was assumed that there was a general sliding zone for elevations below 100 m. with an enhanced sliding zone through the centre of the Baltic and the Gulf of Bothnia. A stillstand near the position of the Younger Dryas moraines is attained with a climatic equilibrium line altitude (ELA) depression of 600 m for a period of 500 years. Agreement of simulated behaviour with observed behaviour is less consistent for the more maritime areas of western Sweden and western Norway.     

Late Weichselian Glaciation of the Russian High Arctic

A numerical ice-sheet model was used to reconstruct the Late Weichselian glaciation of the Eurasian High Arctic, between Franz Josef Land and Severnaya Zemlya. An ice sheet was developed over the entire Eurasian High Arctic so that ice flow from the central Barents and Kara seas toward the northern Russian Arctic could be accounted for. An inverse approach to modeling was utilized, where ice-sheet results were forced to be compatible with geological information indicating ice-free conditions over the Taymyr Peninsula during the Late Weichselian. The model indicates complete glaciation of the Barents and Kara seas and predicts a “maximum-sized” ice sheet for the Late Weichselian Russian High Arctic. In this scenario, full-glacial conditions are characterized by a 1500-m-thick ice mass over the Barents Sea, from which ice flowed to the north and west within several bathymetric troughs as large ice streams. In contrast to this reconstruction, a “minimum” model of glaciation involves restricted glaciation in the Kara Sea, where the ice thickness is only 300 m in the south and which is free of ice in the north across Severnaya Zemlya. Our maximum reconstruction is compatible with geological information that indicates complete glaciation of the Barents Sea. However, geological data from Severnaya Zemlya suggest our minimum model is more relevant further east. This, in turn, implies a strong paleoclimatic gradient to colder and drier conditions eastward across the Eurasian Arctic during the Late Weichselian.     

Glaciers and climate in Pacific Far NE Russia during the Last Glacial Maximum

A combined geomorphological–physical model approach is used to generate three‐dimensional reconstructions of glaciers in Pacific Far NE Russia during the global Last glacial Maximum (gLGM). The horizontal dimensions of these ice masses are delineated by moraines, their surface elevations are estimated using an iterative flowline model and temporal constraints upon their margins are derived from published age estimates. The equilibrium line altitudes (ELAs) of these ice masses are estimated, and gLGM climate is reconstructed using a simple degree–day melt model. The results indicate that, during the gLGM, ice masses occupying the Pekulney, Kankaren and Sredinny mountains of Pacific Far NE Russia were of valley glacier and ice field type. These glaciers were between 7 and 80 km in length, and were considerably less extensive than during pre‐LGM phases of advance. gLGM ice masses in these regions had ELAs of between 575 ± 22 m and 1035 ± 41 m (above sea level) – corresponding to an ELA depression of 350–740 m, relative to present. Data indicate that, in the Pekulney Mountains, this ELA depression occurred because of a 6.4°C reduction in mean July temperature, and 200 mm a^?1 reduction in precipitation, relative to present. Thus reconstructions support a restricted view of gLGM glaciation in Pacific Far NE Russia and indicate that the region's aridity precluded the development of large continental ice sheets. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Late Quaternary glaciation of the northern Urals: a review and new observations

This is a synthesis of the glacial history of the northern Urals undertaken using published works and the results of geological surveys as well as recent geochronometric and remote sensing data. The conclusions differ from the classical model that considers the Urals as an important source of glacial ice and partly from the modern reconstructions. The principal supporting evidence for the conventional model – Uralian erratics found on the adjacent plains – is ambiguous because Uralian clasts were also delivered by a thick external ice sheet overriding the mountains during the Middle Pleistocene. Alternative evidence presented in this paper indicates that in the late Quaternary the Ural mountains produced only valley glaciers that partly coalesced in the western piedmont to form large piedmont lobes. The last maximum glaciation occurred in the Early Valdaian time at c. 70–90 ka when glacial ice from the Kara shelf invaded the lowlands and some montane valleys but an icecap over the mountains was not formed. The moraines of the alpine glaciation are preserved only beyond the limits of the Kara ice sheet and therefore cannot be younger than MIS 4. More limited glaciation during MIS 2 generated small alpine moraines around the cirques of the western Urals (Mangerud et al. 2008: Quaternary Science Reviews 27, 1047). The largest moraines of Transuralia were probably produced by the outlet glaciers of a Middle Pleistocene ice sheet that formed on the western plains and discharged across the Polar Urals. The resultant scheme of limited mountain glaciation is possibly also applicable as a model for older glacial cycles.     

On the reconstruction of pleistocene ice sheets: A review

Pleistocene ice sheets can be reconstructed through three separate approaches: (1) Evidence based on glacial geological studies, such as erratic trains, till composition, crossing striations and exposures of multiple tills/nonglacial sediments. (2) Reconstructions based on glaciological theory and observations. These can be either two- or three-dimensional models; they can be constrained by ‘known’ ice margins at specific times; or they can be ‘open-ended’ with the history of growth and retreat controlled by parameters resting entirely within the model. (3) Glacial isostatic rebound after deglaciation provides a measure of the distribution of mass (ice) across a region. A ‘best fit’ ice sheet model can be developed that closely approximates a series of relative sea level curves within an area of a former ice sheet; in addition, the model should also provide a reasonable sea level fit to relative sea level curves at sites well removed from glaciation.This paper reviews some of the results of a variety of ice sheet reconstructions and concentrates on the various attempts to reconstruct the ice sheets of the last (Wisconsin, Weischelian, Würm, Devensian) glaciation. Evidence from glacial geology suggests flow patterns at variance with simple, single-domed ice sheets over North America and Europe. In addition, reconstruction of ice sheets from glacial isostatic sea level data suggests that the ice sheets were significantly thinner than estimates based on 18 ka equilibrium ice sheets (cf. Denton and Hughes, 1981). The review indicates it is important to differentiate between ice divides, which control the directions of glacial flow, and areas of maximum ice thickness, which control the glacial isostatic rebound of the crust upon deglaciation. Recent studies from the Laurentide Ice Sheet region indicate that the center of mass was not over Hudson Bay; that a major ice divide lay east of Hudson Bay so that flow across the Hudson Bay and James Bay lowlands was from the northeast; that Hudson Bay was probably open to marine invasions two or three times during the Wisconsin Glaciation; and that the Laurentide Ice Sheet was thinner than an equilibrium reconstruction would suggest.     

Modelling ice-sheet sensitivity to late weichselian environments in the svalbard-barents sea region

Ice-proximal sedimentological features from the northwestern Barents Sea suggest that this region was covered by a grounded ice sheet during the Late Weichselian. However, there is debate as to whether these sediments were deposited by the ice sheet at its maximum or a retreating ice sheet that had covered the whole Barents Sea. To examine the likelihood of total glaciation of the Late Weichselian Barents Sea, a numerical ice-sheet model was run using a range of environmental conditions. Total glaciation of the Barents Sea, originating solely from Svalbard and the northwestern Barents Sea, was not predicted even under extreme environmental conditions. Therefore, if the Barents Sea was completely covered by a grounded Late Weichselian ice sheet, then a mechanism (not accounted for within the glaciological model) by which grounded ice could have formed rapidly within the central Barents Sea, may have been active during the last glaciation. Such mechanisms include (i) grounded ice migration from nearby ice sheets in Scandinavia and the central Barents Sea, (ii) the processes of sea-ice-induced ice-shelf thickening and (iii) isostatic uplift of the central Barents Sea floor.     

Reconstruction of an approximately complete Quaternary Tibetan inland glaciation between the Mt. Everest- and Cho Oyu Massifs and the Aksai Chin. A new glaciogeomorphological SE–NW diagonal profile through Tibet and its consequences for the glacial isostasy and Ice Age cycle

Studies were done on new geomorphological and quaternary-geological profiles through representative reliefs of Tibet from the Central Himalaya as far as the Kuenlun. Thus, further detailed investigations on the prehistoric glaciation could be carried out. Youngest historical to neoglacial ice margin positions could be recorded. Their mapping took place in a downward direction from the modern glacier margins. They confirm snow line (ELA) depressions from decametres up to ca. 100–250 m. At distances of several kilometres to many decakilometres (depending on the relief) from the modern glaciers, névé shields and perennial snow fields, end moraines and later just remnants of lateral moraines and kame complexes of the Late Glacial (ca. Stadia IV-II) have been localized in an increasing disrupted succession and samples have been taken. The recorded, inter- and extrapolated lowest ice margin positions allowed the reconstruction of accompanying depressions of the snow line which, due to the altitude of the Tibetan plateau plains, attained a maximum of 400–700 m. Accordingly, the early Late Glacial (Stadia I to II) and High Glacial glacier traces (Riss or pre-LGM and Würm or LGM = Stadia −I and/or 0) occurred over a horizontal distance of 1620 km across the plateau with an average height of 4700 m asl without showing the key forms of ice margin positions. From the profiles introduced here, running from Mt. Everest/Cho Oyu (Central Himalaya) in the SE via Gertse (Kaitse; Central Tibet) as far as the Lingzi Thang and Aksai Chin and from there into the Kuenlun, as well as from a parallel section of the Gurla Mandhata (central S Tibet) to the currently very arid Nako Tso, located centrally in the W, sediment samples have been analysed which provide evidence for a ground moraine genesis. Thus, the macroscopic field observations are confirmed. Only the relatively small basin of Shiquanha (Ali) – like the Indus valley chamber of Leh – may have been free of ice during the High Glacial (LGM). Forms of glacial horns, as well as roches moutonnées and large, several metres-high round-polished mountain ridges with slight debris covers, flank polishings, abraded mountain spurs at intermediate valley ridges and high-lying erratics document the widespread ice cover. Important ice thicknesses of at least 1300–1400 m have been recognized by means of transfluences. Especially by and in the Nako Tso (lake) the limnic undercutting of roches moutonnées provides evidence only of a postglacial filling into a primary glacial relief. The glacial ice cover (with the LGM at the end) testified here for a further area of Tibet, is the foundation of the relief-specific hypothesis on the development of the Ice Ages, based on the global radiation geometry: accordingly, the last great geological event, the early Pleistocene plate-tectonically induced uplift of Tibet above the snow line, has brought about a glaciation which, owing to its high albedo, reflected the subtropical radiation energy into space, so that it could not be exploited for the heating of the atmosphere. This may have triggered the Ice Ages. The repeated interglacial warming-up is to be reduced to the positive radiation anomalies by the variations of the parameters of the earth's orbit – which take place rhythmically – and the overlying glacio-isostatic lowering of Tibet and the other inland ice areas. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.