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Pleistocene Climatic Changes and Landscape Evolution in the Kashmir Basin, India: Paleopedologic and Chronostratigraphic Studies

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Arnt Bronger ,
Rajendra K. Pant  and
Ashok K. Singhvi
Arnt Bronger
Affiliation:
Geographical Institute, University of Kiel, D-2300 Kiel, Federal Republic of Germany
Rajendra K. Pant
Affiliation:
Physical Research Laboratory, Ahmedabad-380 009, India
Ashok K. Singhvi
Affiliation:
Physical Research Laboratory, Ahmedabad-380 009, India
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Abstract

The Kashmir Basin is filled with Pliocene-Pleistocene fluvio-lacustrine sediments. On the flank of the Pir Panjal these sediments, called “Lower Karewas”, are covered with loess deposits up to 25 m thick that contain numerous middle and late Pleistocene paleosols, mostly polygenetic pedocomplexes, which were classified by micromorphological studies. Thermoluminescence dates provide a chronostratigraphy of the late Pleistocene loess-paleosol sequences. On the Himalayan flank, the “Upper Karewas” are covered only with late Pleistocene loess-paleosol sequences. Their base is the last interglacial soil, developed ca. 110,000 ± 10,000 yr B.P. This soil is genetically comparable to the modern soil and, therefore, is thought to have developed under a deciduous forest in a “xeric” soil moisture regime. The loesses of last glacial age on both flanks of the basin contain three humus-rich Ah, mostly Aht, horizons, indicating three warm and mostly humid climatic episodes between ca. 80,000 and 50,000 yr B.P. The middle Pleistocene loesses contain at least four Bwt, or thick Bt, horizons developed during four interglacial periods, having climates similar to the present. Large parts of the Karewa Lake must have lasted until the end of the penultimate glacial age.

Type
Research Article
Information
Quaternary Research , Volume 27 , Issue 2 , March 1987 , pp. 167 - 181
Copyright
University of Washington

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