Divergent Evolution of Glaciation Across High‐Mountain Asia During the Last Four Glacial‐Interglacial Cycles

Abstract

AbstractGlaciers over High‐Mountain Asia (HMA) provide a critical window into past climate change and the linkage between high and low‐latitude glaciation, but how glaciers may have varied during past glacial‐interglacial cycles remains elusive. Here, we reconstruct the timing and extent of glaciations for the last 425 kyr over HMA, using a climate‐glaciation simulation constrained by observations and glacial geologic evidence. We illustrate that there were multiple alpine‐style glaciations comparable in extent to those during the last glacial maximum during the last four glacial‐interglacial cycles. The extent and timing of glaciations vary across HMA, especially between the westerly influenced northern and the monsoonal‐influenced southern HMA. The ∼23‐kyr periodicity dominates HMA glaciation due to the critical role of precession in regulating summer temperature and precipitation. Our results, in addition to helping to fill the incomplete glacial geologic record, provide a framework to test hypotheses linking orbital‐scale climate, glaciation, and landscape evolution over HMA.