Editing Sayan Mountains (section)

== The Ice Age Period ==
[[File:Sayan Mountains - Daily Rest (6232014997).jpg|thumb|Sayan Mountains in August|left]]
In this area that currently shows only small cirque glaciers, at glacial times glaciers have flowed down from the 3492 m high [[Munku Sardyk]] massif situated west of Lake Baikal and from the 12.100&nbsp;km<sup>2</sup> extended completely glaciated granite-gneiss plateau (2300 m asl) of the East-Sayan mountains as well as the east-connected 2600 – 3110 m-high summits in the Tunkinskaya Dolina valley, joining to a c. 30&nbsp;km-wide parent glacier. Its glacier tongue that flowed down to the east, to Lake Baikal, came to an end at 500 m asl (51°48’28.98"N/103°0’29.86"E). The Khamar Daban mountains were covered by a large-scale ice cap filling up the valley relief. 

From its valley heads, e.g. the upper Slujanka valley (51°32’N/103°37’E), but also through parallel valleys like the Snirsdaja valley, outlet glaciers flowed to the north to Lake Baikal. The Snirsdaja-valley-outlet glacier has calved, among other outlet glaciers, at c. 400 m asl into Lake Baikal (51°27’N/104°51’E). The glacial (Würm ice age = Last Glacial Period = MIS 2) glacier snowline (ELA) as altitude limit between glacier feeding area and ablation zone has run in these mountains between 1450 and 1250 m asl. This corresponds to a snowline depression of 1500 m against the current height of the snowline. Under the condition of a comparable precipitation ratio there might result from this a glacial depression of the average annual temperature of 7.5 to 9&nbsp;°C for the Last Ice Age against today.<ref>Grosswald, M. G.; Kuhle, M. (1994):''Impact of Glaciations on Lake Baikal.'' International Project on Paleolimnology and Late Cenozoic Climate No. 8. (Eds: Shoji Horie; Kazuhiro Toyoda (IPPCCE)) Universitätsverlag Wagner, Innsbruck, pp. 48–60.</ref><ref>Kuhle, M. (2004) : 'The High Glacial (Last Ice Age and LGM) glacier cover in High- and Central Asia. Accompanying text to the mapwork in hand with detailed references to the literature of the underlying empirical investigations'. Ehlers, J., Gibbard, P. L. (eds). ''Extent and Chronology of Glaciations, Vol. 3 (Latin America, Asia, Africa, Australia, Antarctica)''. Amsterdam, Elsevier B.V., pp. 175-199.</ref>