Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-mlc7c Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-10T16:49:55.125Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Quaternary Moraines vs Catastrophic Rock Avalanches in the Karakoram Himalaya, Northern Pakistan

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Kenneth Hewitt
Kenneth Hewitt*
Affiliation:
Cold Regions Research Centre and Department of Geography & Environmental Studies, Wilfrid Laurier University, Waterloo, Ontario, Canada, N2L 3C5
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

A history and conception of glacial events for the central Karakoram Himalaya, proposed some 80 years ago by Giotto Dainelli, are largely accepted today. However, certain deposits identified as terminal moraine complexes marking glacial episodes were actually emplaced by rock avalanches. In the Skardu and Shigar intermontane basins of Baltistan, at least 15 rock avalanche events were previously mapped as moraine or till. Criteria used for distinguishing these catastrophic landslide deposits emphasize homogeneous lithology of rubble and matrix, clast shape, facies characteristics, the large scale unity of emplacement, and morphological relations to valley topography. The deposits of three events, at Katzarah, Satpura, and the north end of Shigar Valley, have been reconstructed in detail. Thick supraglacial debris does not result in similar deposits. Extensive valley fills, river terraces, large sediment fans, and lacustrine sediments formerly attributed to late-glacial conditions are reinterpreted as postglacial events involving rock avalanches that interrupted fluvial development. Existing reconstructions of glaciations are left in doubt, especially late-glacial events in the central Karakoram, as are the roles assigned to Karakoram, main Indus Valley, and western Himalayan ice.

Keywords

Quaternary glaciationslandslidesrock avalanchesdiamictonssupraglacial debrisnatural damsKarakoram HimalayaUpper Indus BasinBaltistanGiotto DainelliEric NorinAlbert Heim
Type
Original Articles
Information
Quaternary Research , Volume 51 , Issue 3 , May 1999 , pp. 220 - 237
Copyright
University of Washington

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Bürgisser, H.M, Gansser, A, Pika, J, (1982). Late Glacial lake sediments of the Indus valley area, northwestern Himalayas. Eclogae geologische Helvetica 75, 51–63.Google Scholar
Cronin, V.S, (1989). Structural setting of the Skardu intermontane basin, Karakoram Himalaya, Pakistan. Tectonics of the Western Himalayas. p. 203–216.Google Scholar
Dainelli, G, (1914). Intorno alla Morfologia Himalayana. Appunti critici ed osservazioni preliminari. Rivista Geografica Italiana XXI, 189–203.Google Scholar
Dainelli, G, (1922). Studi sul Glaciale. Dainelli, G Relazione Scientifiche della Spedizione Italiana de Filippi, nell'Himalaia, Caracorum e Turchestan Cinese (1913–14). Serei II. Resultati geologici e geografici Zanichelli, Bologna.Google Scholar
Derbyshire, E, (1996). Quaternary glacial sediments, glaciation style, climate and uplift in the Karakoram and northwest Himalaya: Review and speculations. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 120, 147–157.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Derbyshire, E, Li, J.J, Perrott, F.A, Shuying, X, Waters, R.S, (1984). Quaternary glacial history of the Hunza Valley, Karakoram mountains, Pakistan. Miller, K.J The International Karakoram Project 456–495.Google Scholar
Derbyshire, E, Owen, L, (1997). Quaternary glacial history of the Karakoram Mountains and Northwest Himalayas: A review. Quaternary International 38/39, 85–102.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Drew, F, (1873). Alluvial and lacustrine deposits and glacial records of the Upper Indus Basin. Quarterly Journal Geological Society 29, 441–471.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Eisbacher, G. H., Clague, J. J., (1985). Destructive Mass Movements in High Mountains.Google Scholar
Evans, S.G, Hungr, O, Enegren, E.G, (1994). The Avalanche Lake rock avalanche, Mackenzie Mountains, Northwest Territories, Canada: Description, dating, and dynamics. Canadian Geotechnical Journal 31, 749–768.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fort, M, (1995). Himalayan glaciations: Myth and reality. Journal of the Nepal Geological Society. 11, 257–272.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Godwin-Austen, H.H, (1864). On the glaciers of the Muztagh Range. Proceedings of the Royal Geographical Society 34, 19–56.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hambrey, M.J, (1994). Glacial Environments. Univ. of British Columbia Press, Vancouver.Google Scholar
Haserodt, K, (1989). Zur pleistozänen und postglazialen Vergletscherung zwischen Hindukusch, Karakorum und Westhimalaya. Haserodt, K Hochgebirgsräume Nordpakistans im Hindukusch, Karakorum und Westhimalaya Institut für Geographie der Technischen Universität, Berlin.182–233.Google Scholar
Heim, A, (1932). Bergsturz und Menschenleben. Fretz and Wasmuth, Zürich.Google Scholar
Heuberger, H, Masch, L, Preuss, E, Schröcker, A, (1984). Quaternary landslides and rock fusion in Central Nepal and the Tyrolean Alps. Mountain Research and Development 4, 345–362.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hewitt, K, (1967). Ice-front deposition and the seasonal effect: A Himalayan example. Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers 42, 93–106.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hewitt, K., (1968). unpublished, Studies of the Geomorphology of the Mountain Regions of the Upper Indus Basin. University of London.Google Scholar
Hewitt, K, (1982). Natural dams and outburst floods of the Karakoram Himalaya. Glen, J Hydrological Aspects of Alpine and High Mountain Areas International Association of Hydrological Science, 259–269.Google Scholar
Hewitt, K, (1988). Catastrophic landslide deposits in the Karakoram Himalaya. Science 242, 64–67.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hewitt, K, (1998). Styles of rock avalanche depositional complex in very rugged terrain, Karakoram Himalaya, Pakistan. Evans, S.G Catastrophic Landslides: Processes, Events, Environments Geological Society of America, .Google Scholar
Hewitt, K, (1998). Recent glacier surges in the Karakoram Himalaya South Central Asia. American Geophysical Union .CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Krieger, M. H., (1977). Large Landslides, Composed of Megabreccia, Interbedded in Miocene Basin Deposits. Southeastern Arizona.Google Scholar
Laznicka, P, (1988). Developments in Economic Geology 25, .Google Scholar
Li, J.J, Derbyshire, E, Shuying, X, (1984). Glacial and paraglacial sediments of the Hunza Valley, North-West Karakoram, Pakistan: A preliminary analysis. Miller, K.J The International Karakoram Project 496–535.Google Scholar
Mattson, L.E, Gardner, J.S, (1989). Energy exchanges and ablation rates on the debris-covered Rakhiot Glacier, Pakistan. Zeitschrift fur Gletscherkunde und Glazialgeologie 25, 17–32.Google Scholar
Norin, E, (1925). Preliminary notes on the late Quaternary glaciation of the North-Western Himalaya. Geografiska Annaler 7, 165–194.Google Scholar
Oestreich, K, (1906). Die Täler des nordwestlichen Himalaya. Petermanns Mitteilungen. 155, 33.Google Scholar
Owen, L., (1988a). unpublished, Terraces, Uplift and Climate, the Karakoram Mountains, Northern Pakistan. Department of Geography, Univ. of Leicester, UK.Google Scholar
Owen, L, (1988). Wet-sediment deformation of Quaternary and recent sediments in the Skardu Basin, Karakoram mountains, Pakistan. Grott, D.G Glaciotectonics: Forms and Processes Balkema, Rotterdam.Google Scholar
Owen, L, (1991). Mass movement deposits in the Karakoram Mountains: Their sedimentary characteristics, recognition and role in Karakoram landform evolution. Zeitschrift für Geomorphologie N.F. 35, 401–424.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Owen, L.A, Derbyshire, E, (1993). Quaternary and Holocene intermontane basin sedimentation in the Karakoram Mountains. Shroder, J.F Jr. Himalaya to the Sea: Geology, Geomorphology and the Quaternary Routledge, New York.108–131.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Porter, S.C, Orombelli, G, (1980). Catastrophic rockfall of September 12, 1717, on the Italian flank of the Mont Blanc massif. Zeitschrift für Geomorphologie N.F. 24, 200–218.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Scott, C. H., (1992). Contemporary Sediment Transfer in Himalayan Glacial Systems: Implications for the Interpretation of the Quaternary record. Univ. of Leicester, UK.Google Scholar
Searle, M.P, (1991). Geology and Tectonics of the Karakoram Mountains. Wiley, New York.Google Scholar
Shroder, J.F Jr., Owen, L, Derbyshire, E, (1993). Quaternary glaciation of the Karakoram and Nanga Parbat Himalaya. Shroder, J.F Jr. Himalaya to the Sea: Geology, Geomorphology and the Quaternary Routledge, New York.132–158.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Shroder, J.F Jr., (1993). Himalaya to the Sea: Geology, Geomorphology and the Quaternary. Routledge, New York.Google Scholar
Voight, B, (1978). Rockslides and Avalanches. Elsevier, New York.Google Scholar
Whitehouse, I.E, (1983). Distribution of large rock avalanche deposits in the central Southern Alps. New Zealand Journal of Geology and Geophysics 26, 271–279.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Yarnold, J.C, Lombard, J.P, (1989). A facies model for large rock-avalanche deposits formed in dry climates. Colburn, I.P, Abbott, P.L, Minch, J Conglomerates in Basin Analysis: A Symposium Dedicated to A. O. Woodford 3–9.Google Scholar
Zanettin, B, (1964). Geology and Petrology of Haramosh-Mango Gusor Area. Italian Expeditions to the Karakorum (K2) and Hindu Kush, III, Geology–Petrology. Brill, Leiden.Google Scholar