Abstract The Great Unconformity has been recognized for more than a century, but only recently have its origins become subject of debate. Hypotheses suggest global Snowball Earth glaciations and tectonic processes associated with the supercontinent Rodinia as drivers widespread kilometer-scale erosion in late Neoproterozoic. We present new integrated zircon apatite (U-Th)/He fission-track therm...

A detailed understanding of microbial ecology in different supraglacial habitats is important due to the unprecedented speed of glacier retreat. Differences in bacterial diversity and community structure between glacial snow and glacial soil on the Chongce Ice Cap were assessed using 454 pyrosequencing. Based on rarefaction curves, Chao1, ACE, and Shannon indices, we found that bacterial divers...

Relationships between cataclysmic flood-generated landforms and flood hydraulics were investigated along Box Canyon, an 11 km long bedrock gorge of the lower Big Lost River. Geomorphic mapping along Box Canyon indicates that a cataclysmic flood completely inundated the gorge, resulting in large-scale erosional and depositional features on the adjacent basalt upland. Step-backwater hydraulic mod...

Abstract Mountainous topography reflects an interplay between tectonic uplift, crustal strength, and climate-conditioned erosion cycles. During glaciations, glacial increases bedrock relief, whereas during interglacials relief is lowered by rockwall erosion. Here, we show that paraglacial, frost cracking permafrost processes jointly drive postglacial in our research area. Field observations mod...

The November 1996 jökulhlaup that burst from the Vatnajökull ice cap onto Skeiðarársandur was the highest-magnitude flood ever measured on the largest active glacial outwash plain (sandur). Centimeter-scale elevation transects, measured from repeat-pass airborne laser altimetry missions flown in 1996 (pre-flood), 1997, and 2001, show that sediment deposition exceeded erosion across the central ...

Abstract. The retreat of glaciers since the Last Glacial Maximum in European Alps has left an imprint on topography through various erosional processes. However, few methods are currently capable resolving these mechanisms Late to Holocene timescales. Quantifying relative contributions mountain erosion, during different climate cycles, is useful for understanding long-term landscape evolution a...

Equilibrium-line altitudes (ELAs) of former glaciers in the Zardkuh Mountain of the Zagros Mountain Range were reconstructed from glacial-geologic data on former ice limits by using various methods. In the study area various types of glacial landforms such as outwash fans, moraines and well developed glacial cirques are observed. The results suggest that ELA were depressed 1433 m below to prese...