Cosmogenic Nuclide Dating of Glacial Advances in the Himalaya of Western Garhwal and Southern Himachal Pradesh, India (78°E, 31°N)

Recent glacial chronologies from the Himalaya suggest that glaciers are sensitive to changes in the strength of the Indian Summer Monsoon, which is sourced by moisture from the Bay of Bengal. However, a large fraction of the annual snowfall in the orogen may be supplied by the northern hemisphere westerlies (Western Disturbances) during winter. In particular, areas in northern India west of 78° longitude receive less than 60% of their annual precipitation during summer. Our study area lies within the transition zone from a summer to a winter precipitation maximum in northern India in the greater Sutlej River area. The sampling sites for cosmogenic nuclide dating of terminal moraine systems span the northwest-southeast oriented orographic rainfall barrier and exhibit a strong gradient in summer monsoon rainfall. We have collected samples for surface exposure dating of large erratic boulders from well-preserved moraines in three different valleys that are located within a distance of 100-150 km to each other. The main focus of our study lies on a detailed glacial chronology for the strongly monsoon-influenced upper Tons valley in western Garhwal, where at least three glacial stages can be distinguished. Preliminary results indicate that all three moraine systems are of Holocene age. The lowermost moraines occur at an elevation of approx. 2.5 km and at a distance of 18-20 km from the present-day glacier terminus. Holocene moraines at such low elevations have rarely been reported from the Himalaya and we suspect this to be a result of the high proportion of winter snowfall in this part of the mountain range. The much drier Pin and Thangi valleys are located in southern Himachal Pradesh, about 150 km to the north and 100km to the northwest, respectively. The oldest identifiable moraines in the Thangi valley occur at a shorter distance from the present-day glacier terminus, as compared to the Tons and Pin valley. Nevertheless, preliminary early Holocene ages for these moraines suggest that increased monsoon strength during this time resulted in sustained higher precipitation even behind the orographic barrier, where present-day rainfall is below 100 mm per year. Our new ages will augment knowledge of past glaciations in the western Himalaya, a climatic transition zone, where the interplay of Indian Summer Monsoon and Western Disturbances appears to result in more pronounced glacier advances as compared to the central Himalaya. We suggest that this climatic regime supports significant glacial erosion in the high elevations of the western Himalaya.