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Himalayan and Trans-Himalayan Glacier Fluctuations Since AD 1812 Paul Andrew Mayewski University of Maine, [email protected]

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Himalayan and Trans-Himalayan Glacier Fluctuations Since AD 1812 Paul Andrew Mayewski University of Maine, Paul.Mayewski@Maine.Edu The University of Maine DigitalCommons@UMaine Earth Science Faculty Scholarship Earth Sciences 1979 Himalayan and Trans-Himalayan Glacier Fluctuations Since AD 1812 Paul Andrew Mayewski University of Maine, [email protected] Peter A. Jeschke Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.library.umaine.edu/ers_facpub Part of the Geomorphology Commons, Glaciology Commons, and the Hydrology Commons Repository Citation Mayewski, Paul Andrew and Jeschke, Peter A., "Himalayan and Trans-Himalayan Glacier Fluctuations Since AD 1812" (1979). Earth Science Faculty Scholarship. 185. https://digitalcommons.library.umaine.edu/ers_facpub/185 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by DigitalCommons@UMaine. It has been accepted for inclusion in Earth Science Faculty Scholarship by an authorized administrator of DigitalCommons@UMaine. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Arctic and Alpine Research, Vol. 11, No. 3, 1979, pp. 267-287 HIMALAYAN AND TRANS-HIMALAYAN GLACIER FLUCTUATIONS SINCE AD 1812 PAUL A. MAYEWSKI AND PETER A. JESCHKE Department of Earth Sciences Universityof New Hampshire Durham, New Hampshire 03824 ABSTRACT Historical records of the fluctuations of gla- records by glacier type (longitudinal versus ciers in the Himalayas and Trans-Himalayas transverse) and regional setting (Himalayan date back to the early 19th century. Local versus Trans-Himalayan). In a gross regional and regional syntheses of 112 of these fluctua- sense Himalayan and Trans-Himalayan gla- tion records are presented in this study. The ciers have been in a general state of retreat local syntheses deal with fluctuations of gla- since AD 1850. Filtering of the fluctuation ciers in Kanchenjunga-Everest, Garwhal, records with respect to glacier type and re- Lahaul-Spiti, Kolahoi, Nanga Parbat, Kara- gional setting reveals that the period AD 1870 koram (north and south sides), Rakaposhi- to 1940 was characterized by alternations in Haramosh, Batura Mustagh, and Khunjerab- the dominancy of retreat, advance, and Ghujerab. Regional syntheses deal with the standstill regimes. composite record and the differentiation of INTRODUCTION The glaciers of high Asia comprise by area the Himalayas and the Trans-Himalayas (Fig- 50% of all glaciers outside of the polar re- ure 2) make these regions excellent sites for gions, and they contain approximately 33 the study of glacier fluctuations. times the areal cover of the glaciers in the Historical records of glacier fluctuations in European Alps (Wissman, 1959). The vast the Himalayas and Trans-Himalayas extend glacier coverage included in two of the largest back over 150 years. The earliest studies con- components of the high Asia glacier complex, cerned with the movement of glacier termini the Himalayas and the Trans-Himalayas (Fig- were made for Chong Kumdan Glacier in AD ure 1) is characterized by a regional firn limit 1812 (Izzet Ullah, 1842) and Milam Glacier that ranges in altitude from 5500-5600 m for (Hodgson, 1822). More modern references, Everest (Miiller, 1958), to 5200-5700 m for cited by glacier in the Appendix, provide data the Garwhal (Grinlinton, 1914), to 4500- on the fluctuation history of 112 glaciers. 4700 m for Nanga Parbat (Finsterwalder, Several papers summarize the fluctuation rec- 1937), to 5000-5200 m for the south side of ord of subgroups of this total; notable the Karakoram, and to 5500 m for the north amongst these are Mason (1930a), Visser and side of the Karakoram (Visser and Visser- Visser-Hooft (1938), Mercer (1963), and Hooft, 1938). Both the wide altitudinal range Tewari (1971). and the diverse orientations of the glaciers in Mason (1930a), using historical records, 0004-0851 /79/030267-21$03.15 ? 1979, Regents of the University of Colorado P. A. MAYEWSKIAND P. A. JESCHKE/ 267 to, 74? 78? 82- I * I ' I I Soviet n 38"' Sinkiong - -OPGRA I C S S O F'-S. E . ,/ 1 ~ 34~. 'F " Tibet i I i?h . Pakistan ' 26- 78-8- 74- i~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~' . ' ' .:-.'"..:'. ! ~ ~ . ..~1 . ' - ' ,,'jk ~I =5 10 -TOPOGRAPHICCROSS SECTIONS(SEE FIG.2) t./ 26'~~~~~~ FIGURE 1. Glacier locations. I-~~~~ -[TPGAHI ~ RS SETN ?S FI....::..-"'. 111=~~'""kil I~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 70?~~~~~~~~~~../... 8 "~~~FGR.Gairlctos I"= 100 km 70"' 74 78 82 268 / ARCTIC AND ALPINE RESEARCH -30 26- 86e 90 94* P. A. MAYEWSKIAND P. A. JESCHKE/ 269 km km 3 45 X 2' A4 All 400km 6o A 9 83 LEGEND E 2 AI-GLACIER LOCATION(SEE FIG.I FOR GLACIER NAME) 775 km 6 2' FIGURE2. Cross sections displaying the altitudinal range and orientation of selected glaciers. Only por- tions of the cross sections above 2 km in elevation are shown. notes, and photographs from his own and variations were categorized as secular (long- others' visits, documented the fluctuations of term), periodic (short-term), seasonal, and 34 glaciers in the Trans-Himalayas (Figure 1, accidental. F to J). Physical descriptions of all of these Visser and Visser-Hooft (1938, in Wash- glaciers are included in his paper. Mason burn, 1939) discussed fluctuations of 72 gla- divided the glaciers in this area into two ciers from the Trans-Himalayan region (Fig- types-longitudinal and transverse-on the ure 1, F to J). Most of their information is basis of their physical characteristics. Longi- drawn from Mason (1926), Mason (1930a), or tudinal glaciers flow generally in the wider their own observations during expeditions to east-west trending valleys of the range. These the Karakoram in the years AD 1922, 1925, glaciers are relatively long and have relatively 1929-1930, and 1935. Visser and Visser-Hooft gentle surface slopes compared to the trans- plotted glacier fluctuations as a function of verse glaciers. The transverse glaciers with time for 61 glaciers, 32 of which had pre- their shorter length and steeper surface slopes viously appeared in Mason (1930a). Their flow perpendicular to the longitudinal type study also suggested that in the period AD and therefore nearly perpendicular to the 1900 to 1910 most of the glaciers for which main axis of the range. Mason (1930a) sum- records were available were advancing, marized the fluctuation records of 21 of these whereas in the period AD 1910 to 1920 the glaciers and noted that several of the records majority were retreating. displayed recognizable variations. These Mercer (1963) discussed the fluctuations of 270 / ARCTIC AND ALPINE RESEARCH 50 glaciers: 43 from the Trans-Himalayas Tewari (1971) tabulated fluctuation data (Figure 1, F to J) and 7 from the Nanga Par- for 17 glaciers in the Himalayas and Trans- bat Massif (Figure 1, E). Thirty-one of these Himalayas and concluded that glaciers in the glaciers appeared in either Mason (1930a) or Himalayas, in general, were retreating while Visser and Visser-Hooft (1938). Mercer certain glaciers in the Trans-Himalayas dis- grouped them into three classes of advance: played unexplained cyclic fluctuations. steady, cyclic or repeated, and catastrophic. The Himalayan and Trans-Himalayan Steady advances affected primarily the longer fluctuations synthesized in this paper are pre- glaciers, especially from the early 19th cen- sented as a reevaluation of the existing litera- tury until approximately AD 1920, while the ture. Our work updates previous summaries cyclic or repeated advances affected primarily and introduces an additional 27 glaciers for a shorter glaciers. The catastrophic advances total of 112 records of glacier fluctuations. documented are believed primarily to have Additional pertinent information concerning been caused by earthquakes. each glacier appears in the Appendix. LOCAL SYNTHESES The Himalayan and Trans-Himalayan rec- contain several data points from which more ords of glacier fluctuation used in our study complex records can be interpreted, for (Figures 3-6) are arranged geographically ac- example Pindari Glacier in the Garwhal (Fig- cording to the groupings delineated on Fig- ure 3). However, even in these cases short- ure 1. The records are displayed graphically term advances or retreats may have been lost in a fashion similar to the formats used by because of the spacing of the recording Mason (1930a) and Visser and Visser-Hooft periods. Summaries of the fluctuation records (1938). Advances and retreats were deter- for each of the 10 geographic areas in Fig- mined from records of the movement of gla- ure 1 are presented below. cier termini. Due to a general absence and, in some cases, the unreliability of data con- KANCHENJUNGA-EVEREST cerning ice volume changes, such as down- Kanchenjunga-Everest glaciers (Figure 3) wasting and lateral spreading, the termini are commonly characterized by steep movements are used as the sole indication of gradients, such as the vertical drop from 8500 advance or retreat. However, where ice- to 4900 m over the 20-km length of Khumbu volume changes were interpretable, descrip- Glacier. No Everest-Kanchenjunga glaciers tions appear on the graphs. An example is extend below 4000 m. Terminal portions of Khumbu Glacier, in the Everest-Kanchen- many of the glaciers in this region are heavily junga area (Figure 4) whose snout remained laden with debris. The relative stability of the stationary from about AD 1930 to 1956 al- snout positions held by Khumbu Glacier though the glacier thinned approximately (Miller, 1965), Zemu Glacier (Bose et al., 70 m under a thick debris cover during this 1971), and Jungpu Glacier (Scientia, 1974), period (Miiller, 1958). despite their recent thinning, has been Summaries of the fluctuation records rely ascribed to the insulating effect of this debris upon differing numbers of observations cover. This insulating effect is apparent even (plotted on Figures 3-6 as data points). Wher- though each of these glaciers faces a different ever possible interpolation between data direction: Khumbu Glacier faces south, Zemu points was made based upon conclusions Glacier faces east, and Jungpu Glacier faces drawn from published material. Conjectural north. connections between data points were so labelled based upon published material or, in GARWHAL a limited number of cases, our own interpre- The Garwhal (Figure 3) contains some of tation of the data.
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