Glacial geomorphology of the Dalijia Shan region, northeastern Tibetan Plateau

• Main Authors: Christine Kassab, Jie Wang, Jon Harbor
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: unknown
• Subjects: Ice cap
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/17445647.2012.754729

A glacial geomorphological map of the Dalijia Shan (Shan = mountain) region in the most northeastern part of the Tibetan Plateau is presented here. The map covers an area of approximately 10,730 km2 at a scale of 1:600,000. A combination of remote sensing imagery is used to identify glacial landforms within the study area including: Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM) digital elevation models (DEMs; 90 m), Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radar (ASTER) DEMs (30 m), Landsat 7 ETM+ satellite imagery, and Google Earth™ imagery. Two types of glacial landforms are identified and mapped: glacial valleys (including cirques in some cases) and marginal moraines. These landforms comprise approximately 1.3% of the study area, indicating more restricted past glaciation than in previously mapped areas in the central and eastern Tibetan Plateau. Glacial landforms are limited primarily to the mountainous region of the study area, largely around Dalijia Peak, lending support to a hypothesis of limited glacier and ice cap expansions in this region.