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A Late Quaternary catastrophic flood in the Lahul Himalayas
Author(s) -
COXON PETER,
OWEN LEWIS A.,
MITCHELL WISHART A.
Publication year - 1996
Publication title -
journal of quaternary science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.142
H-Index - 94
eISSN - 1099-1417
pISSN - 0267-8179
DOI - 10.1002/(sici)1099-1417(199611/12)11:6<495::aid-jqs268>3.0.co;2-m
Subject(s) - glacial period , flood myth , quaternary , landform , geology , physical geography , pleistocene , glacial lake , last glacial maximum , geomorphology , hydrology (agriculture) , archaeology , paleontology , geography , geotechnical engineering
Abstract Impressive flood deposits are described resulting from a catastrophic lake outburst in the Upper Chandra valley in the Lahul Himalaya, northern India. Reconstructions of the former glacial lake, Glacial Lake Batal, and the discharges were undertaken using landforms and sediment data. The glacial dam burst released 1.496 km 3 of water in 0.72 days, with peak discharges of between 21000 and 27000 m 3 s −1 at Batal. Dating by OSL suggests the flood occurred ca. 36.9 ± 8.4 to 43.4 ± 10.3 ka ago. This cataclysmic flood was responsible for major resedimentation and landscape modification within the Chandra valley.