Paleoglaciation of the Tibetan Plateau and surrounding mountains based on exposure ages and ELA depression estimates

Abstract

The Tibetan Plateau holds an ample record of past glaciations, and there is an extensive set of glacial deposits dated by exposure dating. Here a compilation is presented of 10Be exposure ages from 485 glacial deposits with 1855 individual samples on the Tibetan Plateau, and ELA depression estimates for the glacial deposits based on a simple toe to headwall ratio approach. To recalculate the Tibetan Plateau exposure ages, 10Be production rates from 24 calibration sites across the world are compiled and recalibrated yielding an updated global reference 10Be production rate. The recalculated exposure ages from the Tibetan Plateau glacial deposits are then divided into three groups based on exposure age clustering, to discriminate good (well-clustered) from poor (scattered) deglaciation ages. A major part of the glacial deposits have exposure ages affected by prior or incomplete exposure, complicating exposure age interpretations. The well-clustered deglaciation ages are primarily from mountain ranges along the margins of the Tibetan Plateau with a main peak between 10 and 30 ka, indicating glacial advances during the global LGM. A large number of deglaciation ages older than 30 ka indicates maximum glaciation predating the LGM, but the exposure age scatter generally prohibits accurate definition of the glacial chronology. The ELA depression estimates scatter significantly, but the main part is remarkably low. Average ELA depressions of 337 ± 197 m for the LGM and 494 ± 280 m for the pre-LGM indicate restricted glacier expansion.