Swelling streams
A sediment-covered glacier in the northwest Himalayas in a region where a lot of sediment is produced and transported away in the rivers.
Photo: Bodo Bookhagen
– climate change causes more sediment in high-mountain rivers.
Many high-mountain rivers in Asia transport more sediment downstream compared to a few years ago. Changes in sediment levels have a particularly strong impact on agriculture, water quality, flood management, and hydropower generation. A study with participation of the University of Potsdam demonstrates the interacting roles of glaciers, vegetation, precipitation, and slope in mobilizing sediment and controlling the current sediment transport in rivers. In order to counteract climate change, the authors call for a systematic approach for the entire catchment area of rivers in the high mountains.
“The specific sediment yield in catchments with high glacial cover is on average an order of magnitude higher than glacier-free basins, and appears overall higher in Asia’s glacierized catchments than those reported for the European Alps, the Andes, or Norway,” says Bodo Bookhagen, professor for Geological Remote Sensing at the University of Potsdam. The fluvial suspended sediment threatens the water quality downstream and thus the aquatic ecosystems, the river infrastructure such as hydropower plants and bridges as well as agriculture and pastoralism.
Union of two rivers with high and low sediment content in India. (c) Bodo Bookhagen / Universität Potsdam
The team investigated 151 rivers around the Tibetan plateau and demonstrated that glaciers exert a first-order control on fluvial sediment yield, especially with high precipitation and in high glacier-cover basins. “Our work highlights the many competing factors in controlling the transported material in river catchments and shows that a more accurate prediction of the sediment volume should consider not only climate change, but also glacier dynamics and vegetation changes and their interactions with slope,” Bodo Bookhagen emphasizes. Vegetation influences sediment transport especially in the Eastern Tibetan Plateau and Tien Shan. Depending on climate zone, vegetation can either promote erosion of material or have a stabilizing effect on slopes. These findings call for a systematic basin-wide approach to climate change adaptation in high mountain regions.
Link to Publication: Dongfeng Li et al. The competing controls of glaciers, precipitation, and vegetation on high-mountain fluvial sediment yields. Sci.Adv.10, eads6196(2024). https://www.doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.ads6196
Image 1: Abrasion of hydropower plant turbines due to increased sediment transport. Example from Nepal. Photo: Bodo Bookhagen.
Image 2: A sediment-covered glacier in the northwest Himalayas in a region where a lot of sediment is produced and transported away in the rivers. Photo: Bodo Bookhagen.
Image 3: Union of two rivers with high and low sediment content in India. Photo: Bodo Bookhagen.
Contact:
Prof. Dr. Bodo Bookhagen, Institute of Geosciences
Phone: +49 331 977-5779
E-Mail: bodo.bookhagen@uni-potsdam.de
Media Information 03-12-2024 / Nr. 114
Dr. Stefanie Mikulla
Universität Potsdam
Referat Presse- und Öffentlichkeitsarbeit
Am Neuen Palais 10
14469 Potsdam
Tel.: +49 331 977-1474
Fax: +49 331 977-1130
E-Mail: presse@uni-potsdam.de
Internet: www.uni-potsdam.de/presse
Wissenschaftliche Ansprechpartner:
Prof. Dr. Bodo Bookhagen, Institute of Geosciences
Phone: +49 331 977-5779
E-Mail: bodo.bookhagen@uni-potsdam.de
Originalpublikation:
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