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Rapid Lake Level Fall in Pangong Tso (lake) in Ladakh, NW Himalaya: A Response of Late Holocene Aridity


Affiliations
1 Wadia Institute of Himalayan Geology, Dehradun 248 001, India
2 Birbal Sahni Institute of Palaeosciences, Lucknow 226 007, India
3 Department of Geology, Lucknow University, Lucknow 226 007, India
4 National Centre for Polar and Ocean Research, Goa 403 802, India
5 Department of Geology, HNB Garhwal University, Srinagar 249 161, India
 

Pangong Tso is a brackish water lake that lies along Pangong strand of the Karakoram strike–slip fault in arid Trans Himalayan region. The geomorphic mapping along the periphery of the lake suggested the presence of four palaeolake level strands located at 6, 4.8, 3.8 and 1.25 m above the present lake level. The gullied periphery expose relict deltaic sediments where sedimentological study enabled us to identify four deltaic lobes that make a classic Gilbert-type delta with well-developed top-set, fore-set and bottom-set. The top-set of the stratigraphically oldest delta lobe that corresponds to the highest lake level shows the presence of freshwater molluscs identified as Radix and a burnt sediment layer (hearth). The charcoal derived from this layer yielded 14C date as 1.7 ka BP and six luminescence ages from different delta lobes suggested that delta evolution and lake level fall of ~6 m took place between ~2–1 ka. Review of palaeoclimate record available from NW Himalaya and Pangong Tso suggests that late Holocene aridity might be responsible for this rapid lake level fall. Sclerochronological analysis carried out on 54 subsamples from three Radix specimens suggested that the modern type of seasonal conditions may have prevailed at ~1.7 ka BP.

Keywords

Ladakh Himalaya, Lake-Delta, Late Holocene Aridity, Pangong Tso, Sclerochronological Analysis.
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  • Rapid Lake Level Fall in Pangong Tso (lake) in Ladakh, NW Himalaya: A Response of Late Holocene Aridity

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Authors

Pradeep Srivastava
Wadia Institute of Himalayan Geology, Dehradun 248 001, India
Anil Kumar
Wadia Institute of Himalayan Geology, Dehradun 248 001, India
Randheer Singh
Birbal Sahni Institute of Palaeosciences, Lucknow 226 007, India
Oshin Deepak
Department of Geology, Lucknow University, Lucknow 226 007, India
Arjit M. Kumar
Department of Geology, Lucknow University, Lucknow 226 007, India
Yogesh Ray
National Centre for Polar and Ocean Research, Goa 403 802, India
R. Jayangondaperumal
Wadia Institute of Himalayan Geology, Dehradun 248 001, India
Binita Phartiyal
Birbal Sahni Institute of Palaeosciences, Lucknow 226 007, India
Poonam Chahal
Wadia Institute of Himalayan Geology, Dehradun 248 001, India
Pankaj Sharma
Wadia Institute of Himalayan Geology, Dehradun 248 001, India
Rupa Ghosh
Wadia Institute of Himalayan Geology, Dehradun 248 001, India
Naresh Kumar
Department of Geology, HNB Garhwal University, Srinagar 249 161, India
Rajesh Agnihotri
Birbal Sahni Institute of Palaeosciences, Lucknow 226 007, India

Abstract


Pangong Tso is a brackish water lake that lies along Pangong strand of the Karakoram strike–slip fault in arid Trans Himalayan region. The geomorphic mapping along the periphery of the lake suggested the presence of four palaeolake level strands located at 6, 4.8, 3.8 and 1.25 m above the present lake level. The gullied periphery expose relict deltaic sediments where sedimentological study enabled us to identify four deltaic lobes that make a classic Gilbert-type delta with well-developed top-set, fore-set and bottom-set. The top-set of the stratigraphically oldest delta lobe that corresponds to the highest lake level shows the presence of freshwater molluscs identified as Radix and a burnt sediment layer (hearth). The charcoal derived from this layer yielded 14C date as 1.7 ka BP and six luminescence ages from different delta lobes suggested that delta evolution and lake level fall of ~6 m took place between ~2–1 ka. Review of palaeoclimate record available from NW Himalaya and Pangong Tso suggests that late Holocene aridity might be responsible for this rapid lake level fall. Sclerochronological analysis carried out on 54 subsamples from three Radix specimens suggested that the modern type of seasonal conditions may have prevailed at ~1.7 ka BP.

Keywords


Ladakh Himalaya, Lake-Delta, Late Holocene Aridity, Pangong Tso, Sclerochronological Analysis.

References





DOI: https://doi.org/10.18520/cs%2Fv119%2Fi2%2F219-231