Quantifying sediment transport processes in periglacial mountain environments at a catchment scale using geomorphic process units

Abstract

2009: Quantifying sediment transport processes in periglacial mountain environments at a catchment scale using geomorphic process units. Geogr. Ann ., 91 A (1): 1-9.ABSTRACT. The research record on the quantification of sediment transport processes in periglacial mountain environments in Scandinavia dates back to the 1950s. A wide range of measurements is available, especially from the Kärkevagge region of northern Sweden. Within this paper satellite image analysis and tools provided by geographic information systems (GIS) are exploited in order to extend and improve this research and to complement geophysical methods. The processes of interest include mass movements such as solifluction, slope wash, dirty avalanches and rock-and boulder falls. Geomorphic process units have been derived in order to allow quantification via GIS techniques at a catchment scale. Mass movement rates based on existing field measurements are employed in the budget calculations. In the Kärkevagge catchment, 80% of the area can be identified either as a source area for sediments or as a zone where sediments are deposited. The overall budget for the slopes beneath the rockwalls in the Kärkevagge is approximately 680 t a -1 whilst about 150 t a -1 are transported into the fluvial system.

Geomorphic coupling and sediment connectivity in an alpine catchment — Exploring sediment cascades using graph theory

“…If such a segmentation aims at an area-wide classification of land surface (rather than extracting a specific landform type), the task is especially difficult (Evans, 2012). Yet, automated and manual methods towards landscape segmentation based on morphology and remote sensing imagery exist (Dikau, 1989;Dragut and Eisank, 2011), some of them with direct links to sediment cascades (Schneevoigt et al, 2008), toposequences (Otto et al, 2009) or spatial interactions of geomorphic processes (GPUs, e.g., Schrott et al, 2006;Bartsch et al, 2009;Wichmann et al, 2009). For the channel network, Leviandier et al (2012) suggest and compare statistical procedures for separating homogeneous river reaches; however, the linkage of such reaches would still have to be assessed manually or by using models.…”

Transience in cascading paraglacial systems

“…Many studies have been concerned with the dynamics of geomorphological systems, including those that have focused on systems' properties in general, including threshold, feedback, equilibrium, and equifinality (e.g., Brunsden, ; Brunsden & Thornes, ; de Boer, ; Hoffmann, ; Knight & Harrison, ; Schumm, ; Schumm & Lichty, ), and those that have considered the dynamic behaviours of sediments and landforms of specific systems, including those of rivers and mountains (e.g., Bartsch, Gude, & Gurney, ; Beylich et al, ; Carrivick & Heckmann, ; Dadson & Church, ; Warburton, ; Warburton et al, ). Deglacierizing mountains are particularly vulnerable to rapid and dynamic land surface changes as a result of kinetic energy from high meltwater and sediment yields produced during glacier (and lesserly permafrost) melting, and these can be brought together using the term paraglacial (defined below).…”

Modelling sediment load in a glacial meltwater stream in western Norway

“…Conversely, if slope sediment is not available then subsequent rainstorms will only lead to small transport events taking place, or where sediment is moved very locally within rather than exiting from the catchment. These properties of mountain catchment sediment dynamics have been observed in the European Alps, Scandinavia and the Canadian Rockies (e.g., Beylich and Sandberg, 2005;Bartsch et al, 2009;Brardinoni et al, 2009;Schiefer et al, 2010).…”