Young Holocene (<5500 BP) glacial history of the catchment areas of the Cha Lungpa, the Khangsar Khola and the Kone Khola valleys (Inner Himalaya)

The study deals with younger glacial history (<5500 BP) of some remote high valleys in the Inner Himalaya. Field survey, geomorphological mapping, photo comparisons, equilibrium line altitude (ELA) lowerings, lichen findings as well as one radiocarbon date provide insights in the former behaviour of 25 subcontinental glaciers. Each glacier forefield is bordered by great lateral moraines, propably indicating the historical maximum glaciation (stage 1,<1700 yr. BP). Outside the forefield deposits occur moraine walls that were deposited during the neoglacial period (5500-2000 yr. BP). The last build up of the stage 1-moraines most likely took place during the Little Ice Age (LIA) maximum (AD 1600-1800). Between the stage 1-moraines and the present glacier snouts, three more glacier stages (2, 3 and 4) were mapped. Stages 2 and 3 could be correlated to cold and humid phases in the first half of the 19th century and in the beginning of the 20th century. Photographic material documents that the stage 4-moraines were deposited from ca. AD 1974 to 1980. The very similar moraine sequences in each glacier forefield, as well as the consistently documented glacier stage 4 around 1974 to 1980, support the hypothesis that the snouts of the comparably small (due to their low avalanche nourishment) and debris poor glaciers in the Inner Himalaya, respond relatively directly to climate signals.