Late Holocene canyon-carving floods in northern Iceland were smaller than previously reported
Catastrophic floods have formed deep bedrock canyons on Earth, but the relationship between peak discharge and bedrock erosion is not clearly understood. This hinders efforts to use geological evidence of these cataclysmic events to constrain their magnitude – a prerequisite for impact assessments....
Published in: | Communications Earth & Environment |
---|---|
Main Authors: | , , , , , , |
Format: | Article in Journal/Newspaper |
Language: | English |
Published: |
Nature Research
2021
|
Subjects: | |
Online Access: | https://hdl.handle.net/11250/2767719 https://doi.org/10.1038/s43247-021-00152-4 |
id |
ftunivbergen:oai:bora.uib.no:11250/2767719 |
---|---|
record_format |
openpolar |
spelling |
ftunivbergen:oai:bora.uib.no:11250/2767719 2023-05-15T16:47:08+02:00 Late Holocene canyon-carving floods in northern Iceland were smaller than previously reported Bilt, Willem Godert Maria van der Barr, Iestyn D. Berben, Sarah Miche Patricia hennekam, rick Lane, Timothy P. Adamson, Kathryn Bakke, Jostein 2021 application/pdf https://hdl.handle.net/11250/2767719 https://doi.org/10.1038/s43247-021-00152-4 eng eng Nature Research urn:issn:2662-4435 https://hdl.handle.net/11250/2767719 https://doi.org/10.1038/s43247-021-00152-4 cristin:1918696 Communications Earth & Environment. 2021, 2, 86. Navngivelse 4.0 Internasjonal http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/deed.no Copyright The Author(s) 2021 86 Communications Earth & Environment 2 Journal article Peer reviewed 2021 ftunivbergen https://doi.org/10.1038/s43247-021-00152-4 2023-03-14T17:42:02Z Catastrophic floods have formed deep bedrock canyons on Earth, but the relationship between peak discharge and bedrock erosion is not clearly understood. This hinders efforts to use geological evidence of these cataclysmic events to constrain their magnitude – a prerequisite for impact assessments. Here, we combine proxy evidence from slackwater sediments with topographic models and hydraulic simulations to constrain the Late Holocene flood history of the Jökulsá á Fjöllum river in northern Iceland. We date floods to 3.5, 1.5 and 1.35 thousand years ago and confirm that flow peaks during these events were at most a third of previous estimates. Nevertheless, exposure ages suggests that nearby knickpoints retreated by more than 2 km during these floods. These findings support a growing consensus that the extent of bedrock erosion is not necessarily controlled by discharge and that canyon-carving floods may be smaller than typically assumed. publishedVersion Article in Journal/Newspaper Iceland University of Bergen: Bergen Open Research Archive (BORA-UiB) Jökulsá á Fjöllum ENVELOPE(-16.707,-16.707,66.150,66.150) Communications Earth & Environment 2 1 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
University of Bergen: Bergen Open Research Archive (BORA-UiB) |
op_collection_id |
ftunivbergen |
language |
English |
description |
Catastrophic floods have formed deep bedrock canyons on Earth, but the relationship between peak discharge and bedrock erosion is not clearly understood. This hinders efforts to use geological evidence of these cataclysmic events to constrain their magnitude – a prerequisite for impact assessments. Here, we combine proxy evidence from slackwater sediments with topographic models and hydraulic simulations to constrain the Late Holocene flood history of the Jökulsá á Fjöllum river in northern Iceland. We date floods to 3.5, 1.5 and 1.35 thousand years ago and confirm that flow peaks during these events were at most a third of previous estimates. Nevertheless, exposure ages suggests that nearby knickpoints retreated by more than 2 km during these floods. These findings support a growing consensus that the extent of bedrock erosion is not necessarily controlled by discharge and that canyon-carving floods may be smaller than typically assumed. publishedVersion |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Bilt, Willem Godert Maria van der Barr, Iestyn D. Berben, Sarah Miche Patricia hennekam, rick Lane, Timothy P. Adamson, Kathryn Bakke, Jostein |
spellingShingle |
Bilt, Willem Godert Maria van der Barr, Iestyn D. Berben, Sarah Miche Patricia hennekam, rick Lane, Timothy P. Adamson, Kathryn Bakke, Jostein Late Holocene canyon-carving floods in northern Iceland were smaller than previously reported |
author_facet |
Bilt, Willem Godert Maria van der Barr, Iestyn D. Berben, Sarah Miche Patricia hennekam, rick Lane, Timothy P. Adamson, Kathryn Bakke, Jostein |
author_sort |
Bilt, Willem Godert Maria van der |
title |
Late Holocene canyon-carving floods in northern Iceland were smaller than previously reported |
title_short |
Late Holocene canyon-carving floods in northern Iceland were smaller than previously reported |
title_full |
Late Holocene canyon-carving floods in northern Iceland were smaller than previously reported |
title_fullStr |
Late Holocene canyon-carving floods in northern Iceland were smaller than previously reported |
title_full_unstemmed |
Late Holocene canyon-carving floods in northern Iceland were smaller than previously reported |
title_sort |
late holocene canyon-carving floods in northern iceland were smaller than previously reported |
publisher |
Nature Research |
publishDate |
2021 |
url |
https://hdl.handle.net/11250/2767719 https://doi.org/10.1038/s43247-021-00152-4 |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(-16.707,-16.707,66.150,66.150) |
geographic |
Jökulsá á Fjöllum |
geographic_facet |
Jökulsá á Fjöllum |
genre |
Iceland |
genre_facet |
Iceland |
op_source |
86 Communications Earth & Environment 2 |
op_relation |
urn:issn:2662-4435 https://hdl.handle.net/11250/2767719 https://doi.org/10.1038/s43247-021-00152-4 cristin:1918696 Communications Earth & Environment. 2021, 2, 86. |
op_rights |
Navngivelse 4.0 Internasjonal http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/deed.no Copyright The Author(s) 2021 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1038/s43247-021-00152-4 |
container_title |
Communications Earth & Environment |
container_volume |
2 |
container_issue |
1 |
_version_ |
1766037230746337280 |