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Rates of rockwall slope erosion in the upper Bhagirathi catchment,Garhwal Himalaya |
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| Authors: | Elizabeth N Orr Lewis A Owen Sourav Saha Marc W Caffee |
| Institution: | 1. Department of Geology, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, OH, 45221 USA;2. Department of Geology, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, OH, 45221 USA
Department of Marine, Earth, and Atmospheric Sciences, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC, 27695 USA;3. Department of Physics, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN, 47907 USA Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN, 47907 USA |
| Abstract: | Rockwall slope erosion is defined for the upper Bhagirathi catchment using cosmogenic Beryllium-10 (10Be) concentrations in sediment from medial moraines on Gangotri glacier. Beryllium-10 concentrations range from 1.1 ± 0.2 to 2.7 ± 0.3 × 104 at/g SiO2, yielding rockwall slope erosion rates from 2.4 ± 0.4 to 6.9 ± 1.9 mm/a. Slope erosion rates are likely to have varied over space and time and responded to shifts in climate, geomorphic and/or tectonic regime throughout the late Quaternary. Geomorphic and sedimentological analyses confirm that the moraines are predominately composed of rockfall and avalanche debris mobilized from steep relief rockwall slopes via periglacial weathering processes. The glacial rockwall slope erosion affects sediment flux and storage of snow and ice at the catchment head on diurnal to millennial timescales, and more broadly influences catchment configuration and relief, glacier dynamics and microclimates. The slope erosion rates exceed the averaged catchment-wide and exhumation rates of Bhagirathi and the Garhwal region on geomorphic timescales (103?105 years), supporting the view that erosion at the headwaters can outpace the wider catchment. The 10Be concentrations of medial moraine sediment for the upper Bhagirathi catchment and the catchments of Chhota Shigri in Lahul, northern India and Baltoro glacier in Central Karakoram, Pakistan show a tentative relationship between 10Be concentration and precipitation. As such there is more rapid glacial rockwall slope erosion in the monsoon-influenced Lesser and Greater Himalaya compared to the semi-arid interior of the orogen. Rockwall slope erosion in the three study areas, and more broadly across the northwest Himalaya is likely governed by individual catchment dynamics that vary across space and time. © 2019 The Authors. Earth Surface Processes and Landforms Published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. |
| Keywords: | supraglacial processes sediment flux glacier climate cosmogenic isotopes |