Glacial advances in Tibet during the Younger Dryas? Evidence from cosmogenic 10Be, 26Al, and 21Ne

Abstract

Was the abrupt climate cold reversal called the Younger Dryas (YD) a global climate excursion? This study presents the first evidence for YD glacial advances on the Tibetan Plateau, derived from 10Be, 26Al, and 21Ne exposure ages of two erratics with a weighted mean age of about 11,600 years bp from a moraine at the eastern margin of the Tibetan Plateau. This implies that the YD climate signal, commonly thought to be initiated by decreased North Atlantic Deep Water Formation and transferred by ocean circulation, was even recorded at the inner-continental, high-altitude site of Tibet, implying atmospheric transport and thus a global character for this abrupt climatic change.