Observations on the relationship between lake formation, permafrost activity and lithalsa development during the last 20 000 years in the Tso Kar basin, Ladakh, India

Abstract

A close relationship has existed between high mountain permafrost and lake history in the Tso Kar basin, Ladakh, India throughout the last 20 kyr BP. Analyses of sediment cores indicate phases of permafrost growth during low lake levels between >20–10 cal. kyr BP and after 5 cal. kyr BP. Palaeo‐shorelines and lake carbonate outcrops indicate a maximum lake size at ca. 8–5 cal. kyr BP when permafrost is believed to have been absent in the basin. Regression of the lake with accompanying salinisation since about 4 cal. kyr BP allowed permafrost aggradation. Permafrost mounds and thermokarst features are inferred to have continued to develop in the last 60 years. Sections in two 6–10 m high unvegetated mounds revealed thick ice lenses and reticulate cryostructures leading to their classification as lithalsas. Mound collapse is induced by surface erosion and slumping, while sediment reworking by wave action and other processes appears to prevent rampart formation. If lake levels continue to fall, further permafrost aggradation is expected in this high elevation enclosed basin. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Lithalsas in the Sentsa River Valley, Eastern Sayan Mountains, Southern Russia

“…In addition, the cryogenic structure of the lower part of the ice‐rich core of Lithalsa A is similar to that of the lithalsa described by Wünnemann et al . () on the shore of Tso Kar lake, Higher Himalaya, India, whose ice‐rich core consisted of lake mud overlain by light gray clay. Both lithalsas share the same pattern of a complex network of frozen sediment and pure ice.…”

Stalagmite Inferred High Resolution Climatic Changes through Pleistocene-Holocene Transition in Northwest Indian Himalaya

“…A period of ca. 13.0-12.0 ka BP, characterized by onset of strong carbonate precipitation and presence of abundant aquatic plants in the interiors of the Higher Indian Himalaya is recognized as the Allerød event in the interiors of the Higher Indian Himalaya [40] during which the lithalsas also indicate a bigger sized lake in the Tso Kar region of NW Himalaya [39].…”

“…Although various archive-proxy based palaeoclimatic researches through Pleistocene-Holocene transition are available from the Indian Himalaya [24][25][26][27][28][29][30][31][32][33][34][35][36][37][38] but the poorly dated profiles obstructs their being most ideal high resolution records except for the Tsokar and Tso Moriri multi-proxy high resolution studies [39][40][41] respectively. Further, precisely dated stalagmite based multi-decadal records are rare through the Late Pleistocene-Holocene transition [42] although δ 18 O precipitation variability during Middle to Late Holocene has been obtained through U/Th dated speleothems [21,22,43,44].…”

Isotopic and micromorphological studies of Late Quaternary loess–paleosol sequences of the Karewa Group: Inferences for palaeoclimate of Kashmir Valley

“…This uplifted mountain range has resulted in a change in precipitation and monsoonal climate within the Indian region (Ganjoo and Shaker, 2007) and is responsible for the strong latitudinal gradient of increasing aridity towards the central parts of the Himalaya and Tibetan Plateau (Wünnemann et al, 2008(Wünnemann et al, , 2010. However, upliftment of the Pir Panjal Range has played locally a major role in determining the climatic changes in the Kashmir Valley.…”