Kongur Mountain is the largest center of modern glaciation on the Pamir Plateau.During the glacial-interglacial cycles of the Quaternary,Kongur Mountain was extensively and repeatedly glaciated,and the glacial landforms from multiple glaciations are well-preserved in valleys,in basins,and on the piedmonts.Dating samples have been collected according to the distribution and weathering of the glacial tills,the relationship among the glacial deposits,and the loess or soil developed on the moraines. Electron spin resonance(ESR) dating of the samples was done using the germanium(Ge) centers in the glacial quartz grains,which are sensitive to both sunlight and grinding.The ages of the glacial deposits can be divided into four clusters,i.e.,13.1±0.8-27.0±2.2,36.4±3.3-48.7±5.7,65.6±6.8-86.6±8.9,and 105.6±9.4-178.3±17.8 ka.Six glacial advances in this region have been confirmed,which are equivalent in age to the Little Ice Age(LIA) ,Neoglaciation,marine oxygen isotope stages(MIS) 2,mid-MIS3,MIS4,and MIS6.The largest local last glacial maximum(LGML) occurred during MIS4 rather than the global Last Glacial Maximum(LGMG) of MIS2,and a glacial advance that occurred during mid-MIS3 was also larger than the LGMG.Furthermore,deeply weathered tills below 3500 m a.s.l.on the western slope of Kongur Mountain,when compared with the ages of the oldest glaciation of the Muztag Ata region,likely occurred prior to the penultimate glacial cycle.The glacial landforms prior to the penultimate glacial cycle on the northern slope are not well-preserved due to erosion after deposition. Several glacial deposits are only speculated to be distributed at higher elevations on the southwest side of the Gaizi Checkpoint. The extensive hummocky moraines on the western slope were formed by multiple glacial advances,and the latest glacial advance corresponded to mid-MIS3.
WANG JieZHOU ShangZheZHAO JingDongZHENG JingXiongGUO XiangZhong
The European Alps is the birthplace of glaciology and in particular Quaternary glaciology and for over one hundred years has been a model region for studying mountain glaciations. In this paper, we review the achievements from this region, which will benefit glaciological studies of the Tibetan Plateau, China. According to new evidences of glaciofluvial de- posits discovered in valleys and forelands of the Alps, researchers have progressed from an original four Pleistocene gla- ciations to seven glaciations： Biber, Donua, Gtinz, Haslach, Mindel, Riss and WOrm. The earliest one Biber possibly oc- curred between the Pliocene and Pleistocene, but the chronology before Riss is still in doubt. Recent years, Riss and Wtirm glaciations have been supported by a large numbers of cosmogenic exposure dating. In particular, cosmogenic nuclide exposure dating has been carried out for different moraine boulders in numerous valleys, which reveals a series of climatic change events, and they are comparable to post-glacial age records of northern Europe. The advancement of glaciological studies in the Alps is important in promoting glaciological research in the Tibetan Plateau.
