Abstract
The question of the number and extent of Pleistocene glaciations on the Qinghai-Xizang (Tibet) Plateau remains contentious. There has been considerable research activity in Tibet by Chinese scientists since the late 1950s and their principal findings, including data on glacial and periglacial geomorphology, sedimentology, tectonics, stratigraphy and lake history, have been used to reconstruct ice margins and palaeosnowlines. Three, and in places, four distinct glaciations have been recognised, the most extensive occurring in the later Middle Pleistocene. Valley and piedmont glacial systems, with some mountain ice caps and a small ice sheet on the upper reaches of the Huang He, have been recognised but there is no evidence of a single Tibetan ice sheet. As the Plateau and the Himalaya-Karakoram underwent accelerating uplift through the Quaternary, there occurred progressive desiccation in the interior as the influx of Indian Ocean moisture was constrained. Equilibrium line elevations in the last glacial maximum were 4000 m in the south, east and northeast Plateau margins, rising to 5500 m in the northwest interior. The heat island provided by the Plateau, the progressive reduction in precipitation most marked during the glacials, and the strong southeast to northwest precipitation gradients, produced a glacier distribution pattern dominated by the trans-Tibetan mountain ranges. Tectonics and periglacial (including aeolian) processes have played an equal role with glaciation in generating the Plateau's Quaternary sedimentary succession.
Published Version
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