Asynchronous glaciation at Nanga Parbat, northwestern Himalaya Mountains, Pakistan

We present a new glacial chronology demonstrating asynchroneity between adv ances of Himalayan glaciers and Northern Hemisphere ice-sheet volumes. Glac iers at Nanga Parbat expanded during the early to middle Holocene ca. 9.0-5 .5 ka. No major advances at Nanga Parbat during the last global glacial sta ge of marine oxygen isotope stage 2 (MIS-2) between 24 and 11 ka were ident ified. Preliminary evidence also indicates advances between ca. 60 and 30 k a. These periods of high ice volume coincide with warm, wet regional climat es dominated by a strong southwest Asian summer monsoon. The general lack o f deposits dating from MIS-2 suggests that Nanga Parbat was too arid to sup port expanded ice during this period of low monsoon intensity. Advances dur ing warm, wet periods are possible for the high-altitude summer accumulatio n glaciers typical of the Himalayas, and explain asynchronous behavior. How ever, the Holocene advances at Nanga Parbat appear to have been forced by a n abrupt drop in temperature ca. 8.4-8.0 ka and an increase in winter preci pitation ca. 7-5.5 ka. These results highlight the overall sensitivity of H imalayan glaciation to orbital forcing of monsoon intensity, and on millenn ial or shorter time scales, to changes in North Atlantic circulation.