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Implications of Late Pleistocene Glaciation of the Tibetan Plateau for Present-Day Uplift Rates and Gravity Anomalies

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Georg Kaufmann  and
Kurt Lambeck
Georg Kaufmann
Affiliation:
Research School of Earth Sciences, Australian National University, Canberra, ACT, 0200, Australia
Kurt Lambeck
Affiliation:
Research School of Earth Sciences, Australian National University, Canberra, ACT, 0200, Australia
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Abstract

Minimal and maximal models of Late Pleistocene Glaciation on the Tibetan Plateau are considered. The large ice sheet models indicate that disintegration of the ice sheet could have contributed up to 7 mm/yr of present vertical uplift and 2 mm/yr of horizontal extension. The former value can account for more than 50% of the observed uplift in central Tibet. The peak free-air gravity anomaly arising from the deglaciation would be around −5.4 mGal. In contrast, the smaller ice sheet models do not contribute significantly to the signals of present uplift and gravity anomalies. Modern geodetic measurements therefore have the potential to constrain the Late Pleistocene glaciation of the Tibetan Plateau. Assuming a large ice sheet over the Tibetan Plateau, the disintegration can contribute up to 6 m of eustatic sea-level rise.

Keywords

glacial reboundgravity anomaliesisostasyPleistocene glaciationTibetuplift
Type
Research Article
Information
Quaternary Research , Volume 48 , Issue 3 , November 1997 , pp. 267 - 279
Copyright
University of Washington

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