Constraining bedrock erosion during extreme flood events: case study of Jökulsá á Fjöllum, Iceland

• Main Authors: Baynes, E., Atta, M., Dugmore, A., Kirstein, L.A., Niedermann, S., Lague, Dimitri
• Other Authors: School of Geosciences Edinburgh, University of Edinburgh, Géosciences Rennes (GR), Université de Rennes (UR)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Observatoire des Sciences de l'Univers de Rennes (OSUR), Université de Rennes (UR)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Université de Rennes 2 (UR2)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement (INRAE)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Université de Rennes 2 (UR2)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement (INRAE)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)
• Format: Conference Object
• Language: English
• Published: HAL CCSD 2013
• Subjects: [SDU.STU]Sciences of the Universe [physics]/Earth Sciences; Glacial Lake; Vatnajökull; Jökulsá á Fjöllum; Ásbyrgi; Jökulsárgljúfur; Dry Canyon; Iceland
• Online Access: https://insu.hal.science/insu-00950512

International audience Extreme flood events are characterised by very high discharges, potentially exceeding 10^6 m^3/s, over a short period of time. They can result from varied causes including landslide dam failure, glacial lake outbursts, subglacial volcanic eruptions and powerful typhoons. While these events are rare on a human timescale, they are common over geological time. During these events, the energy transferred to the land surface has the potential to significantly modify the shape of the landscape. Understanding and quantifying the impact of such events is thus crucial to understand the genesis and evolution of landscapes that bear the evidence of shaping by flowing fluids, in either terrestrial or extra-terrestrial contexts. This study aims to constrain the amounts, spatial distribution and processes of bedrock erosion during extreme flood events using three complementary approaches: topographic analysis, terrestrial cosmogenic nuclide (3He, 21Ne) dating and experimental analogue modelling. The Jökulsá á Fjöllum is a major river that flows north from the Vatnajökull icecap, Iceland. This river has experienced numerous outburst floods, termed 'jökulhlaups', of varying magnitude during the Holocene, the largest one reaching a modelled peak discharge of ~0.9 x 10^6 m^3/s. The route of Jökulsá á Fjöllum, particularly the Jökulsárgljúfur gorge system and Ásbyrgi, a large dry canyon (3 km long, ~0.5 km wide, up to 90 m deep), exhibits numerous topographic features that testify to the action of such extreme flood events. Detailed topographic survey of the gorge and landforms associated with the jökulhlaups, such as cataracts, mega-dunes and scablands, combined with the dating of abandoned strath terrace surfaces will allow quantification of the amount and spatial distribution of erosion during jökulhlaups and thus give some insight into the mechanisms of gorge formation and knickpoint migration. Different strath terrace surfaces within the Jökulsárgljúfur gorge correspond to the tops of different basalt ...