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Dendrogeomorphic Potential of the Himalaya – Case Studies of Process Dating of Natural Hazards in Kullu Valley, Himachal Pradesh


Affiliations
1 Birbal Sahni Institute of Palaeosciences, 53 University Road, Lucknow 226 007, India
2 Climatic Change Impacts and Risks in the Anthropocene (C-C1A), Institute for Environmental Sciences, University of Geneva, 66 Bvd Carl-Vogt CH-1205 Geneva, Switzerland
 

Trees impacted by the forces of natural processes such as flash floods, snow avalanches, landslides, rockfalls or earthquakes, record these events and exhibit growth disturbances in their growth-ring series. As a consequence, these disturbances provide an excellent signal for the spatio-temporal reconstruction of past natural hazard activity and a means to date and document past disasters. In the context of the Indian Himalayas Climate Change Adaptation Programme (IHCAP; http://www.ihcap.in/), a field trip was carried out in May 2014 to define suitable sites for dendrogeomorphic research in Kullu valley, Himachal Pradesh. Several tree species and sites where recent and past process activity can be reconstructed were inventoried, namely flash floods in the Beas and Sainj rivers as well as snow avalanches in Solang valley. Through this exploratory analysis, we ascertain that tree-ring techniques have wide applicability in the analysis of natural hazards, not only in the Kullu region but also in other geographical contexts of the Himalayas.

Keywords

Dendrogeomorphology, Flash Flood, Himachal Pradesh, Snow Avalanche, Tree-Ring.
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  • Dendrogeomorphic Potential of the Himalaya – Case Studies of Process Dating of Natural Hazards in Kullu Valley, Himachal Pradesh

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Authors

Amalava Bhattacharyya
Birbal Sahni Institute of Palaeosciences, 53 University Road, Lucknow 226 007, India
Markus Stoffel
Climatic Change Impacts and Risks in the Anthropocene (C-C1A), Institute for Environmental Sciences, University of Geneva, 66 Bvd Carl-Vogt CH-1205 Geneva, Switzerland
Mayank Shekhar
Birbal Sahni Institute of Palaeosciences, 53 University Road, Lucknow 226 007, India
Juan Antonio Ballesteros Canovas
Climatic Change Impacts and Risks in the Anthropocene (C-C1A), Institute for Environmental Sciences, University of Geneva, 66 Bvd Carl-Vogt CH-1205 Geneva, Switzerland
Daniel Trappmann
Climatic Change Impacts and Risks in the Anthropocene (C-C1A), Institute for Environmental Sciences, University of Geneva, 66 Bvd Carl-Vogt CH-1205 Geneva, Switzerland

Abstract


Trees impacted by the forces of natural processes such as flash floods, snow avalanches, landslides, rockfalls or earthquakes, record these events and exhibit growth disturbances in their growth-ring series. As a consequence, these disturbances provide an excellent signal for the spatio-temporal reconstruction of past natural hazard activity and a means to date and document past disasters. In the context of the Indian Himalayas Climate Change Adaptation Programme (IHCAP; http://www.ihcap.in/), a field trip was carried out in May 2014 to define suitable sites for dendrogeomorphic research in Kullu valley, Himachal Pradesh. Several tree species and sites where recent and past process activity can be reconstructed were inventoried, namely flash floods in the Beas and Sainj rivers as well as snow avalanches in Solang valley. Through this exploratory analysis, we ascertain that tree-ring techniques have wide applicability in the analysis of natural hazards, not only in the Kullu region but also in other geographical contexts of the Himalayas.

Keywords


Dendrogeomorphology, Flash Flood, Himachal Pradesh, Snow Avalanche, Tree-Ring.

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DOI: https://doi.org/10.18520/cs%2Fv113%2Fi12%2F2317-2324