Pleistocene/Holocene climate change, re-establishment of fluvial drainage network and increase in relief in the Swiss Alps

ABSTRACT Data are presented about modern sediment discharge of the Swiss rivers and related to the size of catchments. The information reveals that the Central Alps have experienced denudation rates of ≈0.15 mm yr⁻¹ in the foreland, and ≈0.5 mm yr⁻¹ in the Alpine core. Mapping, however, indicates that modern erosion only affects 30–50% of the Alpine surface, and that fluvial and associated hillslope processes have focused erosion in 50–200-m-deep valleys. These valleys are incised into the glacial surface. If this limited spatial extent of erosion is considered, then effective erosion rates are significantly higher than average denudation rates. These effective rates equal or locally exceed modern rates of rock uplift. This implies that the modification of erosional processes related to the Pleistocene/Holocene climate change has resulted in an increase in the relief at a local scale. At a drainage basin scale, however, the relief appears not to change at present.     

Understanding Climatic Impacts, Vulnerabilities, and Adaptation in the United States: Building a Capacity for Assessment

Based on the experience of the U.S. National Assessment, we propose a program of research and analysis to advance capability for assessment of climate impacts, vulnerabilities, and adaptation options. We identify specific priorities for scientific research on the responses of ecological and socioeconomic systems to climate and other stresses; for improvement in the climatic inputs to impact assessments; and for further development of assessment methods to improve their practical utility to decision-makers. Finally, we propose a new institutional model for assessment, based principally on regional efforts that integrate observations, research, data, applications, and assessment on climate and linked environmental-change issues. The proposed program will require effective collaboration between scientists, resource managers, and other stakeholders, all of whose expertise is needed to define and prioritize key regional issues, characterize relevant uncertainties, and assess potential responses. While both scientifically and organizationally challenging, such an integrated program holds the best promise of advancing our capacity to manage resources and the economy adaptively under a changing climate.     

Correlation of seismic activity and fumarole temperature at the Mt. Merapi volcano (Indonesia) in 2000

In this paper we present densely sampled fumarole temperature data, recorded continuously at a high-temperature fumarole of Mt. Merapi volcano (Indonesia). These temperature time series are correlated with continuous records of rainfall and seismic waveform data collected at the Indonesian–German multi-parameter monitoring network. The correlation analysis of fumarole temperature and precipitation data shows a clear influence of tropical rain events on fumarole temperature. In addition, there is some evidence that rainfall may influence seismicity rates, indicating interaction of meteoric water with the volcanic system. Knowledge about such interactions is important, as lava dome instabilities caused by heavy-precipitation events may result in pyroclastic flows. Apart from the strong external influences on fumarole temperature and seismicity rate, which may conceal smaller signals caused by volcanic degassing processes, the analysis of fumarole temperature and seismic data indicates a statistically significant correlation between a certain type of seismic activity and an increase in fumarole temperature. This certain type of seismic activity consists of a seismic cluster of several high-frequency transients and an ultra-long-period signal (<0.002 Hz), which are best observed using a broadband seismometer deployed at a distance of 600 m from the active lava dome. The corresponding change in fumarole temperature starts a few minutes after the ultra-long-period signal and simultaneously with the high-frequency seismic cluster. The change in fumarole temperature, an increase of 5 °C on average, resembles a smoothed step. Fifty-four occurrences of simultaneous high-frequency seismic cluster, ultra-long period signal and increase of fumarole temperature have been identified in the data set from August 2000 to January 2001. The observed signals appear to correspond to degassing processes in the summit region of Mt. Merapi.     

Dynamics of an active rock glacier (Ötztal Alps, Austria)

The rock glacier Innere Ölgrube, located in a small side valley of the Kauner Valley (Ötztal Alps, Austria), consists of two separate, tongue-shaped rock glaciers lying next to each other. Investigations indicate that both rock glaciers contain a core of massive ice. During winter, the temperature at the base of the snow cover (BTS) is significantly lower at the active rock glacier than on permafrost-free ground adjacent to the rock glacier. Discharge is characterized by strong seasonal and diurnal variations, and is strongly controlled by the local weather conditions. Water temperature of the rock glacier springs remains constantly low, mostly below 1°C during the whole melt season. The morphology of the rock glaciers and the presence of meltwater lakes in their rooting zones as well as the high surface flow velocities of >1 m/yr point to a glacial origin. The northern rock glacier, which is bounded by lateral moraines, evolved from the debris-covered tongue of a small glacier of the Little Ice Age with its last highstand around A.D. 1850. Due to the global warming in the following decades, the upper parts of the steep and debris-free ice glacier melted, whereas the debris-covered glacier tongue transformed into an active rock glacier. Due to this evolution and due to the downslope movement, the northern rock glacier, although still active, at present is cut off from its ice and debris supply. The southern rock glacier has developed approximately during the same period from a debris-covered cirque glacier at the foot of the Wannetspitze massif.     

Effects of spatially structured vegetation patterns on hillslope erosion in a semiarid Mediterranean environment: a simulation study

A general trend of decreasing soil loss rates with increasing vegetation cover fraction is widely accepted. Field observations and experimental work, however, show that the form of the cover‐erosion function can vary considerably, in particular for low cover conditions that prevail on arid and semiarid hillslopes. In this paper the structured spatial distribution of the vegetation cover and associated soil attributes is proposed as one of the possible causes of variation in cover–erosion relationships, in particular in dryland environments where patchy vegetation covers are common. A simulation approach was used to test the hypothesis that hillslope discharge and soil loss could be affected by variation in the spatial correlation structure of coupled vegetation cover and soil patterns alone. The Limburg Soil Erosion Model (LISEM) was parameterized and verified for a small catchment with discontinuous vegetation cover at Rambla Honda, SE Spain. Using the same parameter sets LISEM was subsequently used to simulate water and sediment fluxes on 1 ha hypothetical hillslopes with simulated spatial distributions of vegetation and soil parameters. Storms of constant rainfall intensity in the range of 30–70 mm h^?1 and 10–30 min duration were applied. To quantify the effect of the spatial correlation structure of the vegetation and soil patterns, predicted discharge and soil loss rates from hillslopes with spatially structured distributions of vegetation and soil parameters were compared with those from hillslopes with spatially uniform distributions. The results showed that the spatial organization of bare and vegetated surfaces alone can have a substantial impact on predicted storm discharge and erosion. In general, water and sediment yields from hillslopes with spatially structured distributions of vegetation and soil parameters were greater than from identical hillslopes with spatially uniform distributions. Within a storm the effect of spatially structured vegetation and soil patterns was observed to be highly dynamic, and to depend on rainfall intensity and slope gradient. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A size classification for debris flows

A 10-fold classification for debris flow size is proposed based on total volume, peak discharge and area inundated by debris. Size classes can be used for regional overview studies where detailed site investigations are either unnecessary, too costly or where the highest hazard and risk creeks need to be identified for further study. They are also useful to compare the regional impact between affected areas and the effects of rainstorms, and they allow lay-people to obtain an understanding of debris flow magnitude and consequences. Finally, different size classes allow the estimation of travel times to points of interest based on empirically derived equations. It is proposed that agencies concerned with debris flows should establish a documentation of debris flow size according to this classification, which serves as a data base for hazard and risk planning.     

Eocene-Pliocene time scale and stratigraphy of the Upper Rhine Graben (URG) and the Swiss Molasse Basin (SMB)

We present a general stratigraphic synthesis for the Upper Rhine Graben (URG) and the Swiss Molasse Basin (SMB) from Eocene to Pliocene times. The stratigraphic data were compiled both from literature and from research carried out by the authors during the past 6 years ; an index of the stratigraphically most important localitites is provided. We distinguish 14 geographical areas from the Helvetic domain in the South to the Hanau Basin in the North. For each geographical area, we give a synthesis of the biostratigraphy, lithofacies, and chronostratigraphic ranges. The relationships between this stratigraphic record and the global sea-level changes are generally disturbed by the geodynamic (e.g., subsidence) evolution of the basins. However, global sea-level changes probably affected the dynamic of transgression–regression in the URG (e.g., Middle Pechelbronn Beds and Serie Grise corresponding with sea-level rise between Ru1/Ru2 and Ru2/Ru3 sequences, respectively) as well as in the Molasse basin (regression of the UMM corresponding with the sea-level drop at the Ch1 sequence). The URGENT-project (Upper Rhine Graben evolution and neotectonics) provided an unique opportunity to carry out and present this synthesis. Discussions with scientists addressing sedimentology, tectonics, geophysics and geochemistry permitted the comparison of the sedimentary history and stratigraphy of the basin with processes controlling its geodynamic evolution. Data presented here back up the palaeogeographic reconstructions presented in a companion paper by the same authors (see Berger et al. in Int J Earth Sci 2005).