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Late Pleistocene sedimentary history of multiple glacially dammed lake episodes along the Yarlung-Tsangpo river, southeast Tibet

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Shao-Yi Huang ,
Yue-Gau Chen ,
George S. Burr ,
Manoj K. Jaiswal ,
Yunung Nina Lin ,
Gongming Yin ,
Jingwei Liu ,
Shujun Zhao  and
Zhongquan Cao
Shao-Yi Huang*
Affiliation:
Department of Geosciences, National Taiwan University, Taipei 106, Taiwan
Yue-Gau Chen
Affiliation:
Department of Geosciences, National Taiwan University, Taipei 106, Taiwan
George S. Burr
Affiliation:
Physics Department, University of Arizona, AZ 85721-0081, USA
Manoj K. Jaiswal
Affiliation:
Department of Geosciences, National Taiwan University, Taipei 106, Taiwan Department of Earth Sciences, Indian Institute of Science Education and Research—Kolkata, 741252, India
Yunung Nina Lin
Affiliation:
Department of Geosciences, National Taiwan University, Taipei 106, Taiwan Division of Geological and Planetary Sciences, California Institute of Technology, CA 91125, USA
Gongming Yin
Affiliation:
State Key Laboratory of Earthquake Dynamics, Institute of Geology, China Earthquake Administration, Beijing 100029, China
Jingwei Liu
Affiliation:
Institute of Crustal Dynamics, China Earthquake Administration, Beijing 100085, China
Shujun Zhao
Affiliation:
Institute of Geology and Geophysics, Chinese Academy of Science, Beijing 100029, China
Zhongquan Cao
Affiliation:
Seismological Bureau of Tibet Autonomous Region, Lhasa, China
*
*Corresponding author at: No. 1 Section 4, Roosevelt Road, Department of Geosciences, National Taiwan University, Taipei 106, Taiwan. E-mail address:shao.SYH@gmail.com (S.-Y. Huang).
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Abstract

We present a reconstructed lithologic column compiled from a series of lacustrine outcrops along a tributary of the Nyang River, a major tributary of the Yarlung-Tsangpo in southeast Tibet. The deposits were preserved between terraces at altitudes of 2950–3100 m asl. The stratigraphic record features at least two sets of coarsening-upward sequences depicting episodic aggradation and progradation of a glacially dammed lake related delta. Recognized facies changes illustrate the evolution cycles of depositional environments from pro-delta, delta front, to delta plain. Radiocarbon and optically stimulated luminescence dates reveal an aging-downward trend in stratigraphic order and provide an approximate timeline for the formation of glacially dammed lakes in late Pleistocene. This result reflects that the Zelunglung Glacier had progressively advanced to block the Yarlung-Tsangpo river and the dam materials had stepwise stacked up to an altitude of 3095 m asl during Marine Oxygen Isotope Stages 4 to 2.

Keywords

Glacier-dammed lakeYarlung-TsangpoZelunglung GlacierTibet
Type
Articles
Information
Quaternary Research , Volume 82 , Issue 2 , September 2014 , pp. 430 - 440
Copyright
University of Washington

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