Brief
Tibetan Glacier Ice May Hold Climate Record Over 128,000 Years
Analysis of Guliya ice cores suggests the glacier survived the last ice age, offering a rare long‑term climate archive.
By Felo News Desk · Published
Scientists analyzing ice cores from the Guliya Plateau on the Tibetan Plateau say the deepest layers may be more than 128,000 years old, extending well beyond the Holocene epoch, according to scitechdaily.com.
What happened
The research team compared cores drilled in 1992 and again in 2015. Both sets showed matching patterns in oxygen‑isotope ratios and chemical signatures, indicating that the ice preserved a consistent climate signal over the 23‑year interval. Radioactive isotopes of beryllium and chlorine were used to date the ice, with the presence of markers from the Leschamp Geomagnetic Excursion – an event dated to about 41,000 years ago – helping to anchor the chronology.
What the reports add
According to the article, the new dating suggests that at least part of the Guliya ice survived the last glacial period, contradicting earlier estimates that the plateau’s ice was limited to the Holocene, which began roughly 12,000 years ago. The study claims the glacier now holds the oldest mountain‑ice record outside the polar regions. The researchers also note that reproducibility of the record – identical signals in cores taken decades apart – strengthens confidence that the ice reflects genuine past climate conditions rather than sampling artifacts.
What was said
"If we only had Holocene‑era ice in Tibet, that would mean that the big ice sheets from the last ice age didn’t persist through the early Holocene," said Lonnie Thompson, lead author, professor of earth sciences at The Ohio State University’s Byrd Polar Research Center, as quoted by scitechdaily.com. He added, "Reproducibility of the records within a given ice cap is extremely important. If you get an identical record a quarter of a century later, it can tell you a lot about the behavior of the ice over time."
How it came about
The Guliya ice cap has been the focus of multiple drilling campaigns since the early 1990s. Earlier studies raised doubts about whether any ice older than the Holocene existed there. By applying newer isotopic dating techniques to the 1992 and 2015 cores, the current team was able to push the age estimate back into the last glacial period, providing a longer climate archive for a region that is highly sensitive to temperature and precipitation changes.
Key facts
- Ice cores from Guliya Plateau may be over 128,000 years old (scitechdaily.com)
- Cores drilled in 1992 and 2015 show matching oxygen‑isotope patterns (scitechdaily.com)
- Radioactive beryllium and chlorine isotopes were used to date the ice (scitechdaily.com)
- The Leschamp Geomagnetic Excursion (~41,000 years ago) appears in the ice record (scitechdaily.com)
- Lonnie Thompson is lead author and senior research scientist at Ohio State University (scitechdaily.com)
Sources
- [1] scitechdaily.com — originally reported as “Scientists Find a Mountain Glacier That Survived the Last Ice Age”
