IIIF Color HighRes
National Institute of Informatics - Digital Silk Road Project
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| IIIF Color HighRes |
| Scientific Results of a Journey in Central Asia, 1899-1902 : vol.4 |
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Citation Information
1'
et
166 WESTWARDS TO LADAK.
~
pi
10
good, not only for the slopes which we are now considering, but for all others in that same region. The accompanying coloured plate (Pl. 26) will give an idea, half in perspective, half schematic, of the view which we obtained from the highest point that we reached of the opposite slopes around the outlet of the valley. Owing to the deep shadows the beach-lines which fell within them came out with extraordinary sharpness like black cornices, horizontal and as straight as if drawn with a ruler. On that part of the slope which lies nearest to the lake we counted eight beach-lines, though the three lowest are quite short. On the southern section of the same versant we observed seven, forming the immediate continuation of the preceding; though the same individual beach-line may be differently developed in different parts of its circuit, owing to the nature of the ground and other local circumstances. Below the lowest of the seven lines the slope is everywhere streaked with a number of similar lines, though much more faintly indicated; seen from a distance they bear a certain resemblance to the characteristic sheep-tracks often seen on the grass-grown slopes in the vicinity of the nomad encampments.
Of all the beach-lines which I have mentioned, the highest is the most strongly developed ; it runs like a black protracted line all along the face of the mountains, right away to the hard rocky buttress in the S. 83° E. Below it come two smaller lines; but the fourth from the top is especially big, though not so dark as the highest one, the reason being that the slope there is not so steep, so that it lies partly in the shade. It is the highest line of all that corresponds to the 85th station in our levelling, and consequently it is situated 133 m. above the existing level of the lake. Nor is there anything surprising in the varying degrees of energy with which the different beach-lines are indicated; more surprising is the successional order which distinguishes them in this respect. One would have expected that the highest lines, in consequence of their greater age, would have been more seriously attacked by wind and weather, and consequently would be less conspicuous than those below them. But instead of that we find, that it is the highest which is the most strongly developed. Since now this line runs about half-way up the slope, one would expect to find above it at all events faint indications of yet older beach-lines. But the beach-line in question divides the slope into two sharply differentiated sections. It is only the slope below it that is scored with beach-lines. These circumstances point unmistakably to the conclusion, that the highest line must mark the level at which the lake was maintained constant and unchanged for a long period of time. At that period the Lakor-tso covered an incomparably greater area than it does now, and it belonged, I dare say, at any rate in part, to the same category of lakes as the Tschargut-tso and the Naktsong-tso, that is to say, it had rocky and picturesque shores, rocky peninsulas and islands, and of course a very much greater depth than is probably to be found to-day in any single Tibetan lake, unless we except perhaps the Tengri-nor; though I doubt very much whether even that is deeper, seeing that it lies in a relatively flat basin. Thus during the last few days we had been marching over an old lake-bottom, and the latitudinal valleys that we there made acquaintance with were formerly deeply penetrating bays of the lake. In the valley in which Camp CVIII was situated the strand rampart was at a considerable distance from the shore. There was there no beach-line corresponding to that which I have
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