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Late Quaternary glaciation of the Tianshan, Central Asia, using cosmogenic 10Be surface exposure dating

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Ping Kong*
Affiliation:
Key Laboratory of the Earth's Deep Interior, Institute of Geology and Geophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, P.O. Box 9825, Beijing 100029, China Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100085, China
David Fink
Affiliation:
Institute for Environmental Research, Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation, Menai, NSW 2234, Australia
Chunguang Na
Affiliation:
Key Laboratory of the Earth's Deep Interior, Institute of Geology and Geophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, P.O. Box 9825, Beijing 100029, China
Feixin Huang
Affiliation:
Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100085, China
*
Corresponding author. Key Laboratory of the Earth's Deep Interior, Institute of Geology and Geophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, P.O. Box 9825, Beijing 100029, China. Fax: +86 10 62010846.

E-mail address:pingkong@mail.igcas.ac.cn(P. Kong).

Abstract

Glacial deposits are present at the head of the Ürümqi River valley, Tianshan, Central Asia. 10Be surface exposure ages of 15 boulders from three sites along a 12 km valley transect range from 9 to 21 ka suggesting emplacement by glacial retreat and advance commencing at the global last glacial maximum (LGM) and most likely abating in the early Holocene. Although the age spread for a given locality is not small, perhaps indicating post-depositional reworking, maximum ages per site are either coeval with or are post-LGM and inconsistent with previous pre-LGM electron spin resonance ages.

Type
Short Paper
Copyright
University of Washington

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