Glacier Relics of the Last Glacial and Holocene Periods Discovered in the Middle‐low Mountains of Eastern China: Sedimentary Sequences and Environmental Evolution of Mengshan Mountain in Shandong Province since 80 ka

The goal of this research study is to describe academic issues which have been debated in the field of Chinese geosciences for a century. In 1922, Jonquei S. Lee(Li Siguang) discovered Quaternary glacial relics at Taihang Mountainin eastern China. In 1947, he published his research findings in the magazine Mount Lushan in Glacial Age. The research results had established three Ice Ages: Poyang(Gonzi), Dagu(Minde), and Lushan(Lisi). However, at that time, no Wurm glacial relics of the last Ice Age had been found in Lushan Mountain. Since then, the research team represented by Shi Yafeng, who is considered to be "the father of glaciers in China", questioned Jonquei S. Lee's research results and concluded that "Professor Jonquei S. Lee's Quaternary glacier research in Lushan Mountain having misread the debris flow". In 2005, the "middle-low mountains" in eastern China were finally defined as follows: "We clearly and unambiguously believe that there were no glacial activities in the middle-low mountainous areas of eastern China(east of 102° to 104°E; below 3,000 and 2,500 m) during the Quaternary Period". Currently, the long-standing academic debate appears to have come to a conclusion. As of 2015, the author and others began to investigate and study the Quaternary glacial relics in Mengshan Mountain(1,156 m above sea level), Shandong Province, one of the "middle-low mountains" of eastern China. The relics have been observed to posses the systematic features of glacial erosion, trough and valley striations, and moraine deposits. The applied dating method shave confirmed that there were not only glacial relics of the last Ice Age(Wurm), but also Holocene glacial relics in the Mengshan Mountain area. Therefore, in order to further establish the corresponding relationship between the glacier, loess, stream sediment series, and MIS in the Mengshan Mountain area, a large number of chronological studies have been carried out regarding the various types of sediments in the area, and 24 dating datahave been obtained using OSL, CRN, and 14 Cmethods.On this basis, the corresponding relationship between the sedimentary sequences and the MIS was established for the first time in eastern China, which in dicates the environmental changes which had occurred in eastern China since 80 ka. These discoveries s and chronological study results confirm the existence of the Last Ice Age, as well as Holocene glacial relics at Mengshan Mountain, there by confirming that Quaternary glaciation had occurred in the middle-low mountain areas of eastern China.     

Last glacial maximum climate inferences from cosmogenic dating and glacier modeling of the western Uinta ice field, Uinta Mountains, Utah

During the last glacial maximum (LGM), the western Uinta Mountains of northeastern Utah were occupied by the Western Uinta Ice Field. Cosmogenic ¹⁰Be surface-exposure ages from the terminal moraine in the North Fork Provo Valley and paired ²⁶Al and ¹⁰Be ages from striated bedrock at Bald Mountain Pass set limits on the timing of the local LGM. Moraine boulder ages suggest that ice reached its maximum extent by 17.4 ± 0.5 ka (± 2σ). ¹⁰Be and ²⁶Al measurements on striated bedrock from Bald Mountain Pass, situated near the former center of the ice field, yield a mean ²⁶Al/¹⁰Be ratio of 5.7 ± 0.8 and a mean exposure age of 14.0 ± 0.5 ka, which places a minimum-limiting age on when the ice field melted completely. We also applied a mass/energy-balance and ice-flow model to investigate the LGM climate of the western Uinta Mountains. Results suggest that temperatures were likely 5 to 7°C cooler than present and precipitation was 2 to 3.5 times greater than modern, and the western-most glaciers in the range generally received more precipitation when expanding to their maximum extent than glaciers farther east. This scenario is consistent with the hypothesis that precipitation in the western Uintas was enhanced by pluvial Lake Bonneville during the last glaciation.     

唐古拉山垭口地区的第四纪冰川测年新研究

在野外综合考察的基础上,对唐古拉山垭口地区末次冰期的冰碛漂砾(或有冰川擦痕的露头)进行了宇生核素10Be暴露年龄的测定,得到(16.1±1.7)ka BP、(31.9±3.4)ka BP、(41.4±4.3)kaBP和(66.8±4.3)ka BP 4个测年数据.结合前人对本地区研究和测年的资料,确定该区更新世经历了4次较大规模的冰川作用:中更新世晚期的倒数第二次冰期、晚更新世中晚期的末次冰期早冰阶、间冰阶和晚冰阶,依次与MIS6、MIS4、MIS3和MIS2阶段对应;全新世经历了2次小的冰进:新冰期和小冰期,它们的时代与青藏高原其它地区新冰期和小冰期的时代基本一致.末次盛冰期的冰川范围十分有限,并且MIS3阶段的冰进规模远远超过了末次盛冰期.早期考察中所命名的唐古拉冰期和巴斯错冰期的时代是中更新世晚期(MIS6)和末次冰期早冰阶(MIS4),扎加藏布冰期的冰碛可能是末次冰期的冰碛叠加在倒数第二次冰期的冰碛物之上,而又经过后期作用改造而形成的一套冰碛.在该区老的冰碛物上没有测定出MIS6阶段之前的年代数据,可能是由后期的破坏或采集的样品不够充分所致,因此对本区最早冰川作用的时代还有待于进一步深入研究.