 Particularly strong winds weathered and shaped the surrounding rocks from 10080,000 years ago.At its maximum extent, an Ice Age glacier filled most of the present valley, which increased its catchment about .At times, probably around 50 kya, 13 kya, and 11.6 kya, Lake Heihai overflowed the present elevation difference to join with the smaller lake to its west, increasing its catchment by another and leaving lacustrine sediments across of now-dry land.