Description
Summary:National audience The Skeiðarársandur is a large glaciofluvial plain in the south of the Vatnajökull ice cap. In November 1996, a jökulhlaup triggered by a subglacial eruption and produced a catastrophic flood which incised the Skeiðarársandur. Those incised channels trap currently part of the wind transport (essentially the transport by saltation). Measures of the dominant orientations of the vegetation and petrographical analysis of the aeolian deposits provide us the opportunity to geographically delimit the blownout areas. Thus, with the ratio of (1) the loess deposit volume accumulated in the jökulhlaup channels since 1996 and (2) the blownout land surfaces, a minimum deflation rate for the east part of the Skeiðarársandur is calculated. According to our results, the Skeiðarársandur loses 0.05 to 0.1 mm in thickness due to aeolian transport by saltation each year.