________________
Shri Ashtapad Maha Tirth - II
No. in
2a Calibrated range
Fig. 1 (year AD)
14C age (±aBP)
and other type of ages
1818, 1878, 1885
Southern Himalayan Mountains Khumbu Glacier (15 dates)
Nuptse Glacier (4 dates)
Lhotse Nup Glacier
(4 dates)
Lhotse Shar
Glacier (6 dates)
Gangapurna-N
Glacier (6 dates)
Latitude/ Longitude
27°57' 86°49'
17
27°56' 18 86°52'
27°55' 19
86°54'
27°54' 20
86°57'
28°38' 21 84°00'
Laboratory Description and significance for glacier advance
no.
HV
HV
HV
HV
HV
Lichen dates on three end moraines:minimum age
Humic acid and total organic content from superposed fossil soil in lateral moraine
238
Humic acid and total organic content from superposed fossil soil in lateral moraine
Humic acid and total organic content from superposed fossil soil in lateral moraine
Humic acid and total organic
content
from superposed fossil soil in lateral moraine
Humic acid and total organic content
from superposed fossil soil in lateral moraine
Sampling altitude (m)
4840
Reference
Li et al. (1986)
5000-5020 (Rothlislrerger and Geyh, 1985; Rotiitisberger, 1986) 5170-5200 (Rothlisberger and Geyh, 1985; Rothlisberger, 1986)
5050
(Rothlisberger and Geyh, 1985; Rothlisberger, 1986)
5150-5170 (Rothlisberger and
Geyh, 1985; Rothlisberger, 1986)
3500-4000 (Rothlisberger and
1985;
Geyh, Rothlisberger, 1986)
Note: LB Cold and Arid Regions Environmental and Engineering Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Sciences, China; GX - Krueger Enterprises Inc., Geochron Laboratories Division, in Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA; HR- Hiroshima University; I - Beta Inc. in USA. a. Due to the high number of individual dates, no individual 14C dates are provided for space reasons.
It is noteworthy that there is strong synchroneity between glacier variations in the monsoonal temperate glacier area and the southern Himalaya. The glacier advances during 380-600 AD. 870-1100 AD, 1400-1430 AD and 1550-1850 AD that were identified in the southern Himalaya are basically contemporaneous with those in the Gongga Shan, the eastern Himalaya, and the eastern Nyainqentanglha Range. However, possibly due to dating uncertainties, there seem to exist differences in the duration of glacier advances. As discussed above, the CRN dates suggest that the glacier advance at about 1000 AD also occurred in the central Himalaya. The synchronicity of these glacier advances over a large area points to a regional climate forcing by the SASM system. Besides the possibility of lacking fossil material for dating, this finding might emphasize the existence of local variations of forcing factors for glacier advances, such as topography or local climate. Another local phenomenon of the Khumbu Himal is a glacier advance around 1250 AD (Lami et al., 1998). However, we prefer to assign this glacier advance to the post-1400 LIA period because the 14C date was derived from humic acids of a fossil soil that only gives a latest date of soil formation and thus a minimum date for the glacier advance. In central Asia, the glaciers of the Tien Shan and Altai Mountains advanced several times during the 17-19th centuries as indicated by lichenometry (Wang, 1991; Solotnina, 1996; Solomina and Alverson, 2004), while glacier advances in the Pamir Alay occurred in the 16-19th centuries. Two earlier glacier advances before 3215 and 1545 cal. years BP were dated by the 11C ages of wood samples and lichen dates (Narama, 2002). These data are basically consistent with the glacier fluctuations on the southeastern Tibetan Plateau.
Late Holocene monsoonal temperate glacier Fluctuations...
