Cosmogenic nuclide constraints on late Quaternary glacial chronology on the Dalijia Shan, northeastern Tibetan Plateau

Abstract

AbstractCosmogenic nuclide (CN) apparent exposure dating has become a widely used method for determining the age of glacial landforms on the Tibetan Plateau with > 1200 published ages. We present the first 10Be exposure ages from the Dalijia Shan, the most northeastern formerly glaciated mountain range on the Tibetan Plateau. The moraine groups identified from field and remote sensing imagery mapping record four glacial events at 37.07 ± 3.70 to 52.96 ± 4.70 ka (MIS 3), 20.17 ± 1.79 to 26.99 ± 2.47 ka (MIS 2), 16.92 ± 1.49 to 18.76 ± 1.88 ka (MIS 2), and 11.56 ± 1.03 to 11.89 ± 1.06 ka (Younger Dryas). These ages indicate that glaciation in the northeastern Tibetan Plateau is much younger than previously thought. In addition, this record is consistent with many other regions on the Tibetan Plateau, with a local last glacial maximum during MIS 3 asynchronous with Northern Hemisphere last glacial maximum during MIS 2. The Dalijia Shan might also include an event of Younger Dryas age, but this needs to be tested in future studies.