Timing and extent of late Quaternary glaciations on Karlik Mountain, eastern Tianshan range, China

Abstract

Glacial landforms formed by multiple glaciations are well-preserved in the valleys around Karlik Mountain in the easternmost Tianshan range, Central Asia. These landforms are direct imprints of palaeoglaciers and represent important archives of past climatic and environmental conditions. Dating these landforms contributes to understanding the spatiotemporal variations of past glaciers and provides key information for reconstructing the palaeoclimate and palaeoenvironment in Central Asia. In this study, thirty-two boulder and bedrock samples were collected from two glaciated valleys on the southern slope of Karlik Mountain for terrestrial in situ cosmogenic nuclides (TCN) 10Be surface exposure dating. Based on the geomorphic relationships and dating results, the innermost MS1 moraine complex was deposited during the Little Ice Age (LIA); the MS2 moraine complex was formed during the Lateglacial; the MS3 moraine complex was deposited during the global Last Glacial Maximum (LGMG); the MS4 moraine complex, which is the largest moraine complex, is marine oxygen isotope stage (MIS) 4 in ages; and the MS5 moraine complex, which is only preserved at the interfluve ridges, has a similar age to MS4. The age of MS4 demonstrates that the largest local last glacial maximum (LGML) occurred during the early part of the last glacial cycle rather than during the LGMG. The MS4 and MS5 glacial complexes imply that a large ice cap with outlet valley glaciers developed on the whole of Karlik Mountain during MIS 4. These ages, combined with previous landform mapping and dating on the northern slope of the mountain, show that glacial advances since MIS 4 in this mountainous area were restricted to the valleys, rather than large ice cap scale, which is consistent with moraine records in the other valleys across the Tianshan range. The pattern and nearly synchronous timing of palaeoglacier fluctuations during the last glaciation in arid Central Asia imply that the main determinant for glacier fluctuations in this region has been changes in precipitation brought by the westerlies during periods of low temperature.