Srinagar, May 20: The rapid retreat of the Thajwas Glacier near the tourist resort of Sonamarg is exposing a dramatic glacial landscape that experts say preserves evidence of Kashmir’s ancient ice history and could emerge as an important geo-heritage site in the Himalayas.
Hydro-geologist Riyaz Ahmad Mir of the National Institute of Hydrology said the glacier’s deglaciation has uncovered well-developed moraines, extensive outwash plains, and other depositional landforms that offer insights into the Kashmir’s glacial evolution, paleoclimate variability, and cryospheric history.
“Even as the Thajwas Glacier has experienced substantial retreat, this localised glacial shrinkage has not necessarily translated into uniformly negative impacts,” Mir said. “The process of deglaciation has prominently exposed a range of glacial geomorphic features that now provide valuable insights into the Kashmir’s glacial history and landscape evolution.”
Mir said the exposed terrain represents “an important natural archive” of past glaciation and environmental change in the Kashmir Himalayas.
“These features collectively represent an important natural archive of past glaciation and deglaciation history of the region,” he said.
The changing landscape has also altered the tourism profile of Kashmir, long known for its snowfields and alpine scenery.
“The deglaciated landscape, with its scenic terrain and accessible geomorphic features, has significantly enhanced the aesthetic and touristic appeal of the Thajwas Valley,” Mir said. “Today, the area serves as a major tourist destination, attracting visitors, filmmakers, and outdoor recreation activities. In this context, deglaciation in Kashmir can be viewed, to some extent, as a blessing in disguise.”
He said the region has strong potential to be developed as a geo-heritage site and stressed the need to regulate construction and infrastructure expansion in sensitive geomorphic zones.
“Future planning for the area should prioritize geo-heritage conservation and scientific value over unregulated development,” Mir said. “Infrastructure expansion and construction activities need to be carefully regulated or restricted within and around these sensitive geomorphic zones to preserve their integrity.”
Various studies have found that the Thajwas Glacier has lost nearly 95 percent of its ice spread since the last Ice Age.
One such study, published in Geoscience Frontiers by researchers from the University of Kashmir and the Inter-University Accelerator Centre, found that the glacier, which covered nearly 54 sq km during the global Last Glacial Maximum around 20,770 years ago, has now shrunk to about 2.76 sq km.
“Thajwas is now a relict of a glacier,” said Ghulam Jeelani, Head of the Department of Earth Sciences, University of Kashmir. “What we are seeing today are merely remnants of a much larger glacier system that once occupied entire Kashmir.”
Researchers reconstructed the glacier’s evolution over the last 20,000 years using cosmogenic radionuclide Beryllium-10 exposure dating and geomorphological mapping.
According to the study, the glacier’s ice volume declined from about 2.73 cubic km during the Ice Age to only 0.09 cubic km today.
Researchers also found that the glacier’s equilibrium line altitude – the elevation where annual snowfall equals melting -shifted upward by around 873 meters, from 3365 meters above sea level during the Ice Age to 4238 meters today, reflecting sustained warming in the Himalayan region.
The study estimated temperatures in the Thajwas Valley during the Last Glacial Maximum were about 5.7 degrees Celsius lower than present-day conditions, enabling the glacier to extend nearly 10 km farther down the valley than it does today.
“The reconstruction of paleo-glacial history is important for understanding how Himalayan glaciers respond to climatic shifts,” the researchers said in the study. “It also helps in assessing future risks linked to glacier retreat and water security.”
