Abstract
The trans-Himalayan region of NW India along with western part of Tibet, Karakoram,and Hindukush range is hosting thousands of glaciers ensuring perennial freshwater supply to the Indian subcontinent and supporting a large fraction of the global population. The peculiar physiography not only limits the entry of water enriched Indian Summer Monsoon winds to this region but also give passage to dry winds of barren desert of Taklamakan, the Aksai Chin,and western Tibet, making it a cold desert. The Quaternary glacial and interglacial phases govern the present geomorphological setup of the region, wherein the glacial process designed the basic framework, which subsequently modified by the fluvial-lacustrine-aeolian processes.Over the years, our understanding in drawing climatic inferences from the sedimentary archives has improved significantly. However, the discrepancy in chronological results among and within different dating techniques is posing a serious challenge. Since the region is experiencing cold desertic climate and being in the rain shadow zone of the Indian Summer Monsoon (ISM), earlier studies show that the major source of moisture received by the Mediterranean Sea.However, the recent isotopic study of the Indus river water along with other major tributaries and minor streams, it is concluded that ISM source is equally important supplier of the moisture in the Ladakh region of NW India.
Highlights
The trans-Himalayan region of NW India bears immense significance, primarily because it hosts thousands of glaciers, which ensures perennial fresh water supply to the Indian subcontinent and in turn supporting a large fraction of the global population
In our research endeavors in the Ladakh and Spiti regions of NW India, primarily dedicated to the Quaternary geomorphology and fluvio-lacustrine deposits, we have carried out extensive field reconnaissance surveys supported with laboratory-based dataset, and discussed the landscape evolution and paleoclimate of the region in our publications (Phartiyal et al, 2005, 2009a,b, 2005, 2013, 2015; Phartiyal and Sharma, 2009; Srivastava et al, 2013; Nag et al, 2016) and still continuing with it
The fluvial and lacustrine regime was dominating in the interglacial phase
Summary
The trans-Himalayan region of NW India bears immense significance, primarily because it hosts thousands of glaciers, which ensures perennial fresh water supply to the Indian subcontinent and in turn supporting a large fraction of the global population. The region seldom experiences unpredictable climatic conditions, e.g., in the year 2010 the Leh city and adjoining areas were devastated by the cloudburst wherein 210 mm precipitation occurred only in 3 h period causing a destructive flash flood (Juyal et al, 2010; Arya, 2011; Rasmussen and Houze, 2012) Such extreme events, in geological past, may have triggered the landslides responsible for damming the stream flow and thereby forming the lakes as suggested by several workers (Pant et al, 2005; Phartiyal et al, 2005, 2013). Based on this a combination of different dating techniques is to be applied for establishing the chronology, in regions like trans-Himalayan terrains of NW India and employing a single technique may mislead
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