Topic： The time-depth and paleoenvironmental impact of humans in Central High Asia: lessons from the high-valleys in northwest Bhutan and southern Tibet

Speaker：Dr. Michael MEYER, Institut of Geology & Palaeontology, University of Innsbruck, Austria

Time：9:00am  Nov. 19, 2010

Location：Room2321 IGSNRR

Presider：Prof. ZHOU Chenghu,  Deputy director of IGSNRR

Brief Introduction to the report

The High Himalaya and the adjacent Tibetan plateau rank among the most extreme environments on earth and are dominated by glacial and peri-glacial processes which helped shaping a spectacular landscape, difficult to access. Here we present geomorphologic, palaeoenvironmental and archaeo-botanical data which elucidate the Late Pleistocene and Holocene glacial history of the high, mountain-locked Himalayan valleys in northwest Bhutan and provide one of the earliest proofs of human activity yet known for the High Himalaya range and – by implication – for the adjacent southern Tibetan Plateau. Our work and paleoenvironmental data from Southern Tibet indicate that significant human impact on these sensitive high-altitude environments date back to at least the Mid Holocene (ca. 5000 years BP). These human-induced ecological changes might have been significant and are investigated in conjunction with natural climate and environmental (i.e. glacial and monsoonal) changes.