Paleoglaciology of the Bayan Har Mountain area, eastern Tibetan Plateau

The glacial history of the Tibetan Plateau is a topic of considerable interest because of its significance for regional and global environmental reconstructions, and its interaction with variations in monsoon strength and plateau uplift. Published glacial reconstructions for the last glaciation range from a large ice sheet covering the entire Tibetan Plateau to extended valley glaciation forming discrete glaciated mountain blocks. Although current chronologies appear to underpin the restricted glaciation model, there appears to be enough regional variation to motivate further study, especially the glacial history predating the last glaciation. We therefore study the glacial history of a large upland section of the eastern Tibetan Plateau centered on the currently unglaciated Bayan Har Mountains (BHM), partly because chronological constraints are entirely absent, and partly because the area may once have been covered by an ice sheet of intermediate proportions. The BHM area, which houses the headwaters of the Huang He (Yellow River), contains a wide array of glacial deposits and morphologies. Moreover, it appears that superseding glaciations were ever limiting in extent and the area therefore presents optimal conditions to investigate glaciations over long time periods. We report from an on-going investigation into the extent and chronology of Quaternary glaciers in this region, manifested in glacial deposits and landforms (e.g., erratics, end moraines, tills and trough valleys). Previous studies have indicated the occurrence of two phases of mountain glaciation during the last glaciation (OIS 2-4), with mountain glaciers distributed around the highest summits, and two prior glaciations of ice sheet glaciation character (the penultimate glaciation, OIS 6, and the Huang He ice sheet, OIS 12). We mapped the glacial morphology of the area using satellite images and a DEM of 90 m resolution. Large-scale glacial landforms such as cirques, glacial troughs and U-shaped vall