Climatic and tectonic significance of Taboche Lake, Khumbu Region, Nepal

Abstract

SummaryThe Everest region is characterized by its alpine glacial environment. In an effort to understand environmental change and tectonic activity, our team cored Taboche Lake, situated at 4,712 m along the western margin of the Ngozumpa Glacier. This research catalogs past earthquakes using geological records of the lake core that are important for the assessment of future earthquake hazards in the region and provides information for tectonic risk of glacial lake floods. Core grain size characteristics and internal sedimentary structures from computed tomographic scan were coupled with radiocarbon dating of organic matter preserved in the core to reconstruct the environmental history of the area. The 58-cm-long core consists of laminated silty sands and sandy silts with particle diameters <2 mm. The core records a syn-sedimentary deformational structure, folded sediments, rhythmically alternating dark- and light-colored laminations, and turbidites, which indicate coeval climatic and tectonic variations over the past ∼1,600 years.