Late Quaternary glacial history of the Altyn Tagh Range, northern Tibetan Plateau

• Published in: Palaeogeography, palaeoclimatology, palaeoecology Vol. 577; p. 110561
• Main Authors: Dong, Guocheng, Yi, Chaolu, Zhou, Weijian, Xu, Xiangke, Fu, Yunchong
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier B.V 01-09-2021
• Subjects: Cosmogenic dating; Last glacial; Mid-latitude westerlies; Moraine chronology; Paleoclimate; Paleoclimate; Moraine chronology; Mid-latitude westerlies; Last glacial; Cosmogenic dating
• ISSN: 0031-0182; 1872-616X
• DOI: 10.1016/j.palaeo.2021.110561

Quantifying the timing and extent of late Quaternary glaciations across the Tibetan Plateau (TP) is critical to understanding regional and global climate changes. Despite significant advancements in our knowledge of glacial histories of the TP over the past several decades, chronological constraints are still lacking for the high glaciated mountain ranges on the northern TP, including the Altyn Tagh Range. In this study, we provide thirty-two new 10Be exposure-ages to construct a late Quaternary glacial history of the Altyn Tagh Range at the Altyn “Pass” and Akato Tagh. The dating results from Altyn “Pass” indicate that glacier might have fully melted out of this area after Marine Isotope Stage 3 (MIS 3). The tentatively-defined minimum moraine ages north of Akato Tagh show that four glacial culminations possibly occurred during MIS 5, MIS 4, MIS 3 or 2, and the late Holocene. These dating results, together with the compiled exposure-ages from Sulamu Tagh, imply that the last glacial glacier fluctuations along the Altyn Tagh Range were likely driven by several factors: North Atlantic climate oscillations, northern hemispheric high-latitude summer solar insolation, atmospheric CO2 concentrations, and geometry of glacier catchment. The progressive reduction in glacier extent during the last glacial is likely associated with available precipitation, controlled by the mid-latitude westerlies.
•No glacial evidence post-dating MIS 3 has been found in the Altyn “Pass” area.•Glacial advance north of Akato Tagh progressively shrank since MIS 4.•The last glacial glacier advances mismatch with the NH ice sheets across the range.•Whether the LGM is synchronous or not across the Altyn Tagh Range remains equivocal.