Moraines preserved around Mount Xuebaoding (5588 m above sea level) on the eastern margin of the Tibetan Plateau, represent past glacial activity in this area. The chronology of these moraines was established using 10Be exposure dating. The dating results revealed multiple glacial events prior to the late glacial (>14.1±2.2 ka), the late glacial (15.6±1.6 to 11.2±3.0 ka), the early-middle Holocene (9.1±0.9 to 6.7±0.7 ka), and the Neoglacial periods (2.5±0.5 to 1.5±0.1 ka). These glacial stages are consistent with the recalculated ages from surrounding areas throughout the Indian and East Asian monsoon-influenced region on the eastern Tibetan Plateau. Comparing with other paleoclimate indexes, we suggest that the late glacial event was mainly driven by low temperature, the early–middle Holocene event by high precipitation, and the late Holocene/Neoglacial event by low temperature.

Late Pleistocene glaciation of the Australian mainland was restricted to a small area of the southeastern highlands. Geomorphic mapping of the area and exposure dating using the in situ produced cosmogenic isotope 10Be provides evidence for at least two distinct glaciations. The Early Kosciuszko glaciation consisted of a single glacier advance before 59,300 ± 5400 years ago (Snowy River Advance). The Late Kosciuszko glaciation comprised three glacier advances 32,000 ± 2500 (Headley Tarn Advance), 19,100 ± 1600 (Blue Lake Advance), and 16,800 ± 1400 years ago (Mt. Twynam Advance). The Early Kosciuszko glaciation was the most extensive and the Late Kosciuszko advances were progressively less extensive. These periods of glaciation in the highlands correspond to episodes of periglacial activity and peaks in lake levels and river discharge at lower elevations in southeastern Australia. Glacier advances on the Kosciuszko Massif correlate with advances in Tasmania, South America, and New Zealand and are broadly representative of hemispheric climate changes during the last glacial cycle.

Moraines southwest of Lake Yashilkul, Pamir, Tajikistan, were dated using 10Be exposure ages of boulder surfaces. We found evidence for (1) an extensive glaciation ∼60,000 yr ago; (2) a less extensive glacial advance, which deposited a characteristic hummocky moraine lobe with exposure ages ranging from ∼11,000 to 47,000 yr, probably deposited at or before 47,000 yr ago; and (3) lateral moraines with exposure ages of ∼40,000 yr, 27,000 yr and 19,000 yr, respectively. Increasing aridity in the Pamir is most likely responsible for the progressively limited extent of the glaciers during the Late Pleistocene.

The statistical distributions of cosmogenic nuclide measurements from moraine boulders contain previously unused information on moraine ages, and they help determine whether moraine degradation or inheritance is more important on individual moraines. Here, we present a method for extracting this information by fitting geomorphic process models to observed exposure ages from single moraines. We also apply this method to 94 10Be apparent exposure ages from 11 moraines reported in four published studies. Our models represent 10Be accumulation in boulders that are exhumed over time by slope processes (moraine degradation), and the delivery of boulders with preexisting 10Be inventories to moraines (inheritance). For now, we neglect boulder erosion and snow cover, which are likely second-order processes. Given a highly scattered data set, we establish which model yields the better fit to the data, and estimate the age of the moraine from the better model fit. The process represented by the better-fitting model is probably responsible for most of the scatter among the apparent ages. Our methods should help resolve controversies in exposure dating; we reexamine the conclusions from two published studies based on our model fits.