Is there anyway of deleting the Tab on the iPad?

I suspect that you make reference to the “Shelf” - this being a new feature of the now revised iPadOS multitasking environment. 

iPadOS permits you to have multiple “instances” of the same App - each instance being self contained. The shelf, when triggered, shows a thumbnail of each running instance of an App. 

For example, if you have three running instances of Safari, each with its own set of open tabs, you will see three thumbnails corresponding to each running instance of Safari - plus a button to open a new instance of Safari. Simply tapping a thumbnail will switch directly to that running instance of Safari. Each App has its own corresponding shelf.

This article from Appleinsider has a useful explanation of this new feature along with many of the updates to multitasking:

https://appleinsider.com/articles/21/08/12/how-to-master-multitasking-on-ipad-and-ipad-pro-in-ipados-15

The iPad User Guide is also a rich source of frequently overlooked information. The Guide is available both online using a web browser (such as Safari), or as an Apple Books download:

iPad User Guide - Apple Support

https://books.apple.com/book/id1567104892

You should note that the shelf is an integral component of the multitasking User Interface. It cannot be disabled.

Instead of wanting to delete it, why not learn how to use it? You may find that it is beneficial and helps your workflow. In past versions of iOS I wanted to delete something but in the end I found out that it was helpful.

I agree with the author regarding the lack of capability for deleting tabs. My use of the Ipad has degraded. My ipad performance is seriously affected during my day as the increase in retained tabs slows performance. Before this change I could delete tabs to improve performance.

harryfromshoreview wrote:

I agree with the author regarding the lack of capability for deleting tabs. My use of the Ipad has degraded. My ipad performance is seriously affected during my day as the increase in retained tabs slows performance. Before this change I could delete tabs to improve performance.

Any tab within Safari can be closed. The OP was is instead encountering unexpected icons - depicting additional instances of Safari in the multitasking shelf.

Additional instances of any App are similarly easy to manage, or close, having reviewed the appropriate section of the iPad User Guide and/or dedicated support pages.