Himalayan glacier changed track 20,000 years ago: study

Scientists say it fused into an adjacent glacier in present-day Pittoragarh.

Nearly 20,000 years ago, a 5-km-long Himalayan glacier “abruptly” changed course and over time fused into an adjacent glacier in present day Pittoragarh, Uttarakhand. This is the first time, say scientists who have described the findings in a peer-reviewed journal this week, that such a turn in glacier’s course has been recorded in the Himalayas. Change in climate along with tectonic movement probably caused this to happen.

Based on remote sensing and an old survey map, the study, which appears in the Journal of Geosciences, assessed that the glacier had been affected by active fault and climate change.

The glacier, which does not have a name and lies in an extremely inaccessible region, was large enough that it formed its own “valley” and the accumulated debris that accompanies the formation of glaciers probably caused it to turn from a north-eastern direction to a south-eastern course, said Manish Mehta of the Wadia Institute of Himalayan Geology (WIHG), a Department of Science and Technology institute, who is among the authors of the study.