Tibetan Guliya ice may preserve a climate record more than 128,000 years old
Researchers say ice from the Guliya Plateau in northwestern Tibet may be more than 128,000 years old, extending a rare mountain climate archive deep into the last ice age. The finding matters because a more reliable timeline could help scientists reconstruct how glaciers and climate changed across the region; the team plans to analyse further samples.
Bottom line — Guliya may offer scientists a mountain ice record reaching beyond 128,000 years.
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In the study reported by SciTechDaily and Ohio State, researchers compared cores drilled in 1992 and 2015 and found similar oxygen-isotope patterns.
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The researchers used radioactive beryllium and chlorine to identify chemical traces of the Laschamp Geomagnetic Excursion, which occurred more than 41,000 years ago.
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Comparisons with oxygen-isotope records from Tibetan cave deposits helped the team estimate that Guliya’s oldest ice may exceed 128,000 years.
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Earlier work had suggested the ice record might end around the Mid-Holocene, which began nearly 12,000 years ago; the new study argues some ice is substantially older.
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Ohio State’s Byrd Polar and Climate Research Center says expeditions recovered a 308.6-metre core in 1992 and a 309.79-metre core in 2015.
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The study’s authors say Guliya is the only known mountain ice core outside the polar regions reaching beyond 100,000 years; ice cores from Peru’s Huascarán reach back more than 30,000 years.