Cirques of the Southeastern Tibetan Plateau and Their Links to Climatic and Non-Climatic Factors

Abstract

Cirque morphology is used to reflect the patterns of paleoclimate, paleoglaciation, and landscape evolution. Cirque study has been conducted in the Gangdise Mountains of the southern Tibetan Plateau (TP) and the central TP (dominated by a weak Indian summer monsoon (ISM) or a continental climate). This study focused on the cirques in the southeastern TP, which is dominated by a strong ISM, to analyse the controlling factors on cirque morphology. A total of 361 cirques were mapped in the Taniantaweng Range of the southeastern TP, and their metrics were calculated. The results showed that the cirque sizes increased with temperature and decreased with precipitation, which may be due to the development of valley-type glaciers and the effect of non-climatic factors. The cirques tended to face NE, implying that they prefer leeward slopes, and they were under the ‘morning–afternoon’ effect. With altitude, the tendency of the cirque aspect shifted from N to SE, and the cirque size decreased. The former may indicate the ability of the high altitude to support cirque development on climatically unfavourable slopes; the latter may be due to the development of valley-type glaciers or insufficient space for cirque development. The cirque size and shape did not show statistical differences between aspects. The cirques on soft bedrocks had larger heights than those on hard bedrocks, indicating that soft bedrocks promote subglacial erosion. A comparison with the results of the western, central, and eastern sectors of the Gangdise Mountains and the central TP reveals that the strength of the ISM did not necessarily increase the cirque density but limited the cirque size on a regional scale. The CFA did not show a reverse relationship with precipitation, but it showed a positive correlation with the cirque Zmean, which implies that the CFA was greatly affected by altitude, and its distribution does not always reflect paleoclimatic patterns.