Present Glaciers and Their Dynamics in the Arid Parts of the Altai Mountains

Ganyushkin, Dmitry; Chistyakov, К. V.; Volkov, I. V.; Bantcev, Dmitry V.; Kunaeva, Elena; Terekhov, Anton

doi:10.3390/geosciences7040117

Cited by 20 publications

(22 citation statements)

References 40 publications

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“…Proceeding from this, it is possible to assume the time of glacier response to changes in summer temperatures is in the range of 9-15 years. This assumption is supported by the mass balance calculations that have been done for the glaciers Argamgi-2 and Argamgi-3 [73]. The second important climatic characteristic relevant to glaciers is the annual amount of precipitation.…”

Section: Glacial Recession After the Lia Maximummentioning

confidence: 82%

“…A relatively high area of the glaciers given in the RGI 5.0/GLIMS database [74,75] for the Russian portion of the massif is a good example of overestimation of glacial area due to misinterpretation of perennial snow patches. In our previous article [73] we gave an example of differences between our results of delineation of the glaciers of the northern slope of Tavan Bogd and the results from the RGI 5.0/GLIMS database [74,75]. 5.…”

Section: Recent Glacier Extent Of Tavan Bogd and Comparison Between Dmentioning

confidence: 97%

“…The periods of rapid retreat happened around 1968 and after 2009, while slow retreat took place in the 1990s. The recent fast degradation of the glaciers has been attributed to a delayed response to the period of rapid increase of temperature in the 1990s [73]. a Paleo reconstructions and aerial images analysis, b aerial and satellite images analysis, c satellite images analysis, d analysis of satellite images and in situ observations of other authors [38], e analysis of satellite images and in situ observations, f in situ observations.…”

Section: Glacial Recession After the Lia Maximummentioning

confidence: 99%

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Present Glaciers of Tavan Bogd Massif in the Altai Mountains, Central Asia, and Their Changes since the Little Ice Age

et al. 2018

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The Tavan Bogd mountains (of which, the main peak, Khuiten Uul, reaches 4374 m a.s.l.) are situated in the central part of the Altai mountain system, in the territories of Russia, Mongolia and China. The massif is the largest glacierized area of Altai. The purposes of this study were to provide a full description of the scale and structure of the modern glacierized area of the Tavan Bogd massif, to reconstruct the glaciers of the Little Ice Age (LIA), to estimate the extent of the glaciers in 1968, and to determine the main glacial trends, and their causes, from the peak of the LIA. This work was based on the results of long-term field studies and analysis of satellite and aerial data. At the peak of the LIA, Tavan Bogd glaciation comprised 243 glaciers with a total area of 353.4 km2. From interpretation of Corona images, by 1968 the number of glaciers had decreased to 236, with a total area of 242 km2. In 2010, there were 225 glaciers with a total area of 201 km2. Thus, since the peak of the LIA, the glacierized area of the Tavan Bogd mountains decreased by 43%, which is somewhat less than for neighboring glacial centers (i.e., Ikh-Turgen, Tsambagarav, Tsengel-Khairkhan and Mongun-Taiga mountains). The probable causes are higher altitude and the predominance of larger glaciers resistant to warming. Accordingly, the smallest decline in Tavan Bogd occurred in the basins of the Tsagan-Gol (31.7%) and Sangadyr (36.4%) rivers where the largest glaciers are located. In contrast, on the lower periphery of the massif, where small glaciers predominate, the relative reduction was large (74–79%). In terms of general retreat trends, large valley glaciers retreated faster in 1968–1977 and after 2010. During the 1990s, the retreat was slow. After 2010, glacial retreat was rapid. The retreat of glaciers in the last 50–60 years was caused by a trend decrease in precipitation until the mid-1970s, and a sharp warming in the 1990s and early 2000s.

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Section: Glacial Recession After the Lia Maximummentioning

confidence: 82%

Section: Recent Glacier Extent Of Tavan Bogd and Comparison Between Dmentioning

confidence: 97%

Section: Glacial Recession After the Lia Maximummentioning

confidence: 99%

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Present Glaciers of Tavan Bogd Massif in the Altai Mountains, Central Asia, and Their Changes since the Little Ice Age

et al. 2018

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“…This leads to the regional bio-geographic transformations, aridification of the mountain steppes, altitudinal treeline migration and a mountain biotopes' restructuring (Chlachula 2005). Increased summer temperature as well as MAT causes a progressing glacier ablation and ice retreat, and generates insular permafrost thaw on the uplands Narozhnyy and Nikitin 2003;Surazakov et al 2007;Shangedanova et al 2010;Narozhnyy and Zemtsov 2011;Ganyushkin et al 2017). This trend has a marked impact to the present-day Altai's ecosystems as well as the geo-environmental contexts of archaeological sites.…”

Section: Present Climatementioning

confidence: 99%

Environmental context and adaptations of prehistoric and early historical occupation in the Southern Altai (SW Siberia–East Kazakhstan)

Chlachula

2018

Archaeol Anthropol Sci

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The Altai Mountains are well-known for their unique archaeological records, with rich, chronologically sequenced Palaeolithic, Neolithic and the Bronze Age (late fourth-early first millennium BC) sites and, in particular, the Iron Age Scytho-Siberian and early historical monuments represented by burial sites, ritual structures, and rock-art. The Altai prehistoric archaeological localities are distributed across a broad range of topographic and ecological settings, encompassing altitudinal zones from 800 m asl in the lower reaches of glacial river valleys up to 2500/3000 m asl on the high mountain plateaus. The partial spatial overlap of these (often multi-component) geoarchaeological loci over time suggests that similar adaptive strategies were employed by countless generations of hunter and later nomadic communities-their actions constrained by the locally specific forms of (palaeo-)relief and the associated ecosystems. The dynamics of the initial occupation of the boreal and alpine Altai landscapes and subsequent processes of (re-)colonisation during the Final Pleistocene-Holocene transition are directly linked to transformations in the regional hydrological systems after the LGM. The principal settings for early pastoral settlements were the xerothermic grasslands that formed on the flat glacio-lacustrine terraces which rise above the modern fluvial floodplains-the remains of ice-dammed wastage lake basins drained at the end of the Pleistocene (15,000-13,000 year BP). Marked climatic changes, evidenced by regional variations in temperature and humidity across the territory, are well attested in the geological, biotic and archaeological records. The initial Sub-Boreal aridification correlated with the beginnings of the Altai Bronze Age traditions continued until the early Iron Age-causing an expansion of parkland-steppe in the main valleys and a forest retreat in the foothills. Mountain steppes constituted the most essential food-procurement habitat for the Holocene prehistoric and historical settlements of Southern Altai. The current degradation of insular alpine permafrost poses an imminent threat to preservation of the region's most precious archaeological monuments-the frozen burial mounds of the Pazyryk culture (sixth-third century BC) belonging to the UNESCO World cultural heritage.

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“…In our previous article [67] we gave an example of differences between our results of delineation of the glaciers of the northern slope of Tavan Bogd and the results from the RGI 5.0 / GLIMS database [73,74].…”

Section: Lia Reconstructionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Present Glaciers of Tavan Bogd Mountain Massif and Their Changes Since the LIA

Ganyushkin¹,

Chistyakov²,

Volkov³

et al. 2018

Preprint

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The study is based on the results of long-term field studies, satellite and aerial data analysis. In the maximum of the Little Ice Age (LIA) 243 glaciers with a total area of 353.4 km2 were reconstructed. By the results of interpretation of Corona images by 1968 the number of glaciers increased (236), the total area reduced to 242 km2. In 2010 glaciation was represented by 237 glaciers with a total area of 201 km2. Thus, from the maximum of the LIA, the glaciation of the Tavan-Bogd mountains decreased by 43%, which is somewhat less than the neighboring glacial centers (Ikh-Turgen, Tsambagarav, Tsengel-Khayrkhan and Mongun-Taiga mountains). The probable cause is the predominance of larger glaciers relatively resistant to warming and higher altitudes. The effect of glacier size on their stability is supported by differences in the relative shrinkage of glaciers in different parts of the Tavan-Bogdo-Ola massif: the smallest decline occurred in the basins of the Tsagan-Gol (31.7%) and Sangadir (36.4%) rivers where the largest glaciers are located. On the contrary, on the lower periphery of the massif, where small glaciers predominate, the relative reduction was large (74-79%). On the background of the general retreat trend large valleys glaciers retreated faster in 1968-1977 and after 2010. In 1990-s the retreat was slow. After 2010 the glacial retreat was extremely fast. The retreat of glaciers in the last 50-60 years was caused by a trend towards a decrease in the amount of precipitation until the mid-1970s and a sharp warming in the 1990s and early 2000s.

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Present Glaciers and Their Dynamics in the Arid Parts of the Altai Mountains

Cited by 20 publications

References 40 publications

Present Glaciers of Tavan Bogd Massif in the Altai Mountains, Central Asia, and Their Changes since the Little Ice Age

Present Glaciers of Tavan Bogd Massif in the Altai Mountains, Central Asia, and Their Changes since the Little Ice Age

Environmental context and adaptations of prehistoric and early historical occupation in the Southern Altai (SW Siberia–East Kazakhstan)

Present Glaciers of Tavan Bogd Mountain Massif and Their Changes Since the LIA

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