US EPA

1287367 

Book/Book Chapter 

Lake Thulagi/Nepal; rapid landscape evolution in reaction to climatic change 

Delisle, G; Reynolds, JM; Hanisch, J; Pokhrel, AP; Pant, S 

2003 

Gebrueder Borntraeger 

Federal Republic of Germany (DEU) 

130 (2003) 

1-9 

The risk of a glacial lake outburst flood from Lake Thulagi/Nepal has been investigated during two field investigations in 1996 and 2000. The lake, developing in response to a rapid retreat and downwasting of Thulagi Glacier, is dammed by a ridge complex. Geophysical measurements demonstrated that the ridge complex. Geophysical measurements demonstrated that the ridge complex is underlain by a massive ice body. A small outflow from the lake crosscuts the ridge complex and melts its way into the massive ice with a current rate of at least 0.5 m yr (super -1) . The future evolution of this complex is now monitored by an automatic station, which registers such key parameters as climatic data and heat exchange processes in the soil and at the bottom of water bodies. The current geomorphology in the area is presumably the result of rapid glacial advances and retreats in the area during the last centuries in consequence of climatic changes. 

moraines; climate change; absolute age; soils; glaciation; Cenozoic; geophysical surveys; glacial environment; ice; surveys; monitoring; landform evolution; Nepal; Asia; alkaline earth metals; glaciers; geophysical profiles; beryllium; movement; isotopes; Indian Peninsula; Quaternary; fluvial environment; lakes; geologic hazards; Thulagi Glacier; deglaciation; metals; Lake Thulagi; glacial geology; glacial lakes; Be-10; floods; Himalayas; seismic profiles; seismic methods; radar methods; glaciofluvial environment; geophysical methods; geomorphology; radioactive isotopes; meltwater; landscapes; permafrost; glacial features; Holocene