An Assessment of the Erosion Potential of the Fluvial Thermal Process during Ice Breakups of the Lena River (Siberia)

• Published in: Permafrost and Periglacial Processes
• Main Authors: Costard, F., Gautier, E., Fedorov, A., Konstantinov, P., Dupeyrat, L.
• Other Authors: Géosciences Paris Sud (GEOPS), Université Paris-Sud - Paris 11 (UP11)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Laboratoire de géographie physique : Environnements Quaternaires et Actuels (LGP), Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne (UP1)-Université Paris-Est Créteil Val-de-Marne - Paris 12 (UPEC UP12)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Institut de recherche en astrophysique et planétologie (IRAP), Université Toulouse III - Paul Sabatier (UT3), Université de Toulouse (UT)-Université de Toulouse (UT)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Observatoire Midi-Pyrénées (OMP), Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD)-Université Toulouse III - Paul Sabatier (UT3), Université de Toulouse (UT)-Université de Toulouse (UT)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Centre National d'Études Spatiales Toulouse (CNES)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Météo-France-Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Centre National d'Études Spatiales Toulouse (CNES)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Météo-France-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Melnikov Permafrost Institut, Russian Academy of Sciences Moscow (RAS)
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: HAL CCSD 2014
• Subjects: [SDU.STU]Sciences of the Universe [physics]/Earth Sciences; lena river; Permafrost and Periglacial Processes; Yakutia; Siberia
• Online Access: https://hal.science/hal-01078016; https://doi.org/10.1002/ppp.1812

International audience Fluvial thermal erosion following ice breakups of the Lena River (Yakutia, Siberia) is a significant geomorphic process. During the initial stage of ice breakup, ice pushes up onto the river banks and produces large accumulations of ice and sediments that protect the islands' heads against the mechanical and thermal effects of the river's flow. This initial stage is relatively short and terminates only a few days after breakup begins. In the second phase of flooding, after the river ice has melted, the island heads become free of ice. Hence, when water levels are high, the floodwaters are in sustained contact with the frozen banks of the islands, causing efficient thermal and mechanical erosion of their banks. Such erosion may also occur later in summer, if there is a second discharge peak. Between 2009 and 2012, the retreat of the banks of the river islands displayed high interannual variation that is attributed to the variability of the duration and timing of the flood season. For a given island, the annual rate varied from 2m to 40m and the duration of active thermal erosion of the frozen islands varied from 6 days to 39 days. Copyright (C) 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.