Late pleistocene and early Holocene glaciations in Taiwanese mountains

The high mountain range of Taiwan is unglaciated at present, but numerous glacial landforms and sediments in three mountain massifs, the Nanhuta Shan, the Hsueh Shan and the Yushan, support the concept of repeated glaciations of these areas during the Pleistocene and Early Holocene. Optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) data derived from glacial and glacier-related sediments suggests a glaciation about 8.9 +/- 0.5ka called the Nanhuta glacier advance, which could be correlated either to the Younger Dryas or the global 8.2 ka cooling event (Alley et al., 1997. Holocene climatic instability: a prominent, widespread event 8200 yr ago. Geology 25(6), 483-486). Absolute data from pre-Holocene sediments are still rare, although glacial evidence (valley shape, erratic boulders, glacial trimlines and sediments) indicates a larger extent of valley glaciers during the Pleistocene. (c) 2005 Published by Elsevier Ltd.