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Chapter 06
Climate and Study of Glaciers
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Glaciers are important geomorphic agents in shaping the landscape and are responsible for carving out some of the most spectacular geomorphic features, particularly in the Himalaya and Tibetan plateau. As the glacier ice moves it not only erodes the valley bottom, but also plucks the rocks from valley flanks. As a consequence, wide-shaped valleys are the common geomorphic expression of former grandeur of valley glaciers. Such features are quite spectacular all around the Kailash Mountain (Figure 3 a). One can observe at least four such valleys radiating outwards from the Kailash peak, suggesting existence of large valley glaciers in the past. One such relict glaciated valley oriented southeast is shown in Figure 3 b. Evidence of the existence of extensive glaciers around Mount Kailash comes from the preservation of glacial striations observed - 5700m (~200m above the valley floor) and the presence of 500 m long valley wide glacially polished exposed bedrock at 5500 m (Figure 3 c). These features suggest former extent of ice cover in the southern part of Mount Kailash. Glacial striations are formed by the moving ice on the rocky substratum. These are scratches and grooves formed parallel to the direction of glacier movement. Similarly, the glacially polished bedrock exposure represents former glacial substratum which is now vacated by the glacier.
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Fig. 2: Geomorphological map of the area around Mount Kailash. The study was conducted along the Serlung Chu valley (Inner Kora) marked red with a dotted ellipsoid.
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Fig.3: (a) Map of the study area showing the location (b) left flank of the U-shaped valley carved by former glaciers, a man (circled) in the middle for scale and () exposed glaciated bedrock (-500 m long); terminus of the existing glacier is seen to the left as well as glacier striations proximal to the ledge connecting Mount Kailash and Nandi peak.
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Geomorphic evidence of glaciations around Mount Kailash...
