The timing and style of Late Quaternary glaciation in the La Ji Mountains, NE Tibet: evidence for restricted glaciation during the latter part of the Last Glacial

Moraine successions along the northern margins of the La Ji Mountains at the northeastern edge of the Tibetan plateau were mapped and dated using cosmogenic radionuclides (CRN). The glacial geologic evidence and the CRN dating show that glaciers existed in this marginal region of Tibet during the latter part of the global Last Glacial Maximum and during the Lateglacial. These data suggest that temperatures were low enough and/or monsoon precipitation was sufficiently high to support one or more limited glacial advances between similar to20 and 10 ka. Nevertheless glaciation was limited to glaciers of < 10 km in length and the estimated ELA depression was similar to800 m. These results confirm studies throughout other regions of Tibet and the Himalaya that show that glaciation was restricted during the latter part of the Last Glacial.