Himalayan Glaciers

The book is a benchmark contribution on Himalayan glaciers, it is a veritable data base on the glaciers. The spatial distribution and statistics of Himalayan glaciers have been collected and collated, covering such diverse aspects as structural and geopolitical divisions of Himalayas, Himalayan ranges, important peaks, drainage system of the Himalayan rivers, drainage reversal in Ladakh and Tibet, and many other features having bearing on Himalayan glaciers and glaciation. The meteorological aspects such as source of moisture, annual precipitations altimetry of snowline and its fluctuation in different parts of Himalayas, relationship between precipitation and glacial motion, surging and rate of retreat of Himalayan glaciers have been documented and analysed. The erosive power of Himalayan glaciers, Himalayan cirques, their backwall height, cirque stairways, glacial valleys, their morphology and genesis have been studied in detail. The book has reviewed the classification of glaciers and assigned the Himalayan glaciers to hierarchal level in the Mason’s classification adopted by the authors in the text. The book records a well considered paleontological and tectonosedimentational evidences for dating the initiation of glaciation, and propose three phases of glacial advance in the Himalayas during the pleistocene. The book has documented the glaciers in their entire vertical profile from atmosphere to lithosphere and the intervening water resources and human activity associated with glacial climate in the Himalayas. The bibliography has exhaustive reference level and will be useful. The book will be of great help and interest to glaciologists, geologists, geographers, geomorphologists, planners, administrators, tourists and people interested in Himalayan environment, its climate and ecology. It is a contribution which has potential to remain a classic for the little understood but widely admired ice cover of the Himalayas. The book is a must for every library. Inventory of literature on Himalayas will be incomplete without ‘Himalayan Glaciers’.