The first luminescence dating of Tibetan glacier basal sediment

Abstract

Dating ice cores drilled in the high mountain glaciers is difficult because seasonal variations cannot be traced at depth due to rapid thinning of the ice layers. Here we provide the first luminescence dating of the basal sediment of the Chongce ice cap in the north-western Tibetan Plateau. Assuming the sediment is of similar (or older) age as the surrounding ice, the luminescence dating of 42 ± 4 ka provides an upper constraint for the age of the bottom ice at the drilling site. This result is more than 1 order of magnitude younger than the previously suggested age of the basal ice of the nearby Guliya ice cap (∼ 40 km in distance).