The largest in the tropics, the ice shield of Cuelcaya (Quelccaya), located in Peru, demonstrates the rate of temperature changes on our planet.
A photo from open sources
Cuzco, Peru. © Enrique Castro-Mendivil | Reuters
Radioisotope dating of “exposed” during the melting of the remains plants covered by a glacier thousands of years ago in the process formations allow scientists to learn a lot about the past and present state of the ice field.
Lonnie G. Thompson of the University Ohio (USA) and colleagues who have studied ice for decades Quelcaya shield, radioisotope dating allowed with unusually high, for this area of science, accuracy to record fluctuations in the largest glacier in the tropics.
A few years ago, this group of scientists already reported the discovery of plants whose age is in the melting zone of the glacier amounted to approximately 4700 years. For several years of observation, the ice sheet melted another 300 meters in depth, exposing the remains of plants, whose age is already 6300 years.
The simplest conclusion from these facts is obvious, says the doctor. Thompson – the ice that has accumulated over 1600 years has melted for 25.
Peru Plants
