Late Pleistocene and Holocene Moraines in the Sagarmatha (Everest) Region, Khumbu Himal

Abstract

Detailed field mapping of moraines in the Sagarmatha (Everest) region of the Nepal Himalayas indicates that there are four stages of glacial advance. The Lobuche stage moraines are fresh and sparsely covered with vegetation, which contact the dirty terminus of glaciers. The Thuklha stage moraines which are covered with soil and vegetation are located just outside of the Lobuche stage moraines. Both the Periche and the Thyangboche stage moraines which show well weathered and vegetation-covered surfaces lie at the valley far down the glaciers. Comparison with Europe and North America suggests that the Lobuche and the Thuklha stages correspond to Neoglacial redavances which culminated a few hundred and also several thousand years ago. The Periche and Thyangboche stages may be of the Late Glacial and the Last Glacial Maximum. The existence of older landforms, considered to be related to glaciers, suggests that the Khumbu region was also glaciated before the Last Inter-Glacial.