Flood and Megaflood Processes and Deposits Recent and Ancient Examples

About this book

The aim of Flood and Megaflood Processes and Deposits is the understanding of large floods and their impact on the Earth's surface. The major objectives are: 1) to take a second look at what constitutes a megaflood that the principle of uniformitarianism is at some loss to explain and 2) to try to determine what could happen in such large floods by analyzing those that occur in front of glaciers, in alluvial-fans and in alluvial valleys.

The products of these floods are presented in terms of sedimentary deposits, erosional features and damage to human activities.

The volume bears out the concept that sedimentological analysis can be a powerful tool, not only for reconstructing processes that have acted on ancient landscapes, but also as a technique for risk assessment of certain troubled areas. Therefore, Flood and Megaflood Processes and Deposits is of interest not only to sedimentologists/gemorphlogists, but also to engineers, landuse planners and anyone interested in the interrelation between humans and the environment.

Contents

Preface

1. MEGAFLOODS
- High-energy megafloods: planetary settings and sedimentary dynamics (Victor. R. Baker)
- Late-Quaternary catastrophic flooding in the Altai Mountains of south-central Siberia: a synoptic overview and an introduction to flood deposit sedimentology (Paul A. Carling, Alistair D. Kirkbride , Sergei Parnachov, Pavel S. Borodavko and Glenn W. Berger)
- Great Holocene floods along Jökulsá á Fjöllum, north Iceland (Richard B. Waitt)

2. GLACIAL OUTWASH FLOODS
- November 1996 jökulhlaup on Skeidarársandur outwash plain, Iceland (Árni Snorrason, Páll Jónsson, Or Sigurðsson, Svanur Pálsson, Sigvaldi Árnason, Skúli Víkingsson and Ingibjörg Kaldal)
- The effects of glacier-outburst flood flow dynamics on ice-contact deposits: November 1996 jökulhlaup, Skeiðarársandur, Iceland (Andrew J. Russell and Óskar Knudsen)
- Formation of ice-block obstacle marks during the November 1996 glacier-outburst flood (jökulhlaup), Skeiðarársandur, southern Iceland (Helen Fay)
- A large-scale flood event in 1994 from the mid-Canterbury Plains, New Zealand, and implications for ancient fluvial deposits (Greg H. Browne)

3. ALLUVIAL-FAN FLOODS
- Alluvial-fan sedimentation from a glacial outburst flood, Lone Pine, California, and contrasts with meteorological flood deposits (Terence C. Blair)
- Alluvial fans in the Italian Alps: sedimentary facies and processes (Andrea Moscariello, L. Marchi , F. Maraga and G. Mortara)
- Analysis of terrestrial hyperconcentrated flows and their deposits (Marco Benvenuti and I. Peter Martini)
- Catastrophic debris-flow deposits from an inferred landslide-dam failure, Eocene Berga Formation, eastern Pyrenees, Spain (Eloi Saula, Emili Mató, E. and Cai Puigdefabregas)

4. ALLUVIAL VALLEY FLOODS
- Coarse-grained flood bars formed at the confluence of two subarctic rivers affected by hydroelectric dams, Ontario, Canada (Sara-Jane Mosher and I. Peter Martini)
- Comparison of the flood response of a braided and a meandering river, conditioned by anthropogenic and climatic changes (Guillermina Garzón and A. Alonso)
- Effects of land-use and precipitation changes on floodplain sedimentation in the 19th And 20th century (Geul River, the Netherlands) (Marleen. H. Stam)
- Use of remote sensing in monitoring river floods and their effects on the landscape (Lena Halounová)

5. SPECIAL CASES
- Sedimentary traces as indicator of temporary ice marginal channels in the Westphalian Bight, Germany (Juergen Herget)
- Outlet glaciers of the Pleistocene (LGM) south Tibetan ice sheet between Cho Oyu and Shisha Pangma as potential sources of former megafloods (Matthias Kuhle)

Index

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