Journal of Geographical Sciences >
Definition and classification system of glacial lake for inventory and hazards study
Author: Yao Xiaojun (1980-), PhD and Associate Professor, specialized in the research of GIS and cryospheric change. E-mail: xj_yao@nwnu.edu.cn
Received date: 2017-04-23
Accepted date: 2017-06-05
Online published: 2018-02-10
Supported by
National Natural Science Foundation of China, No.41261016, No.41561016
Opening Foundation Projection of State Key Laboratory of Cryosphere Sciences, CAS, No.SKLCS-OP-2016-10
Youth Scholar Scientific Capability Promoting Project of Northwest Normal University, No.NWNU-LKQN-14-4
Geological Survey Project of China Geological Survey, No.DD2016034206
Copyright
Glacial lakes are not only the important refresh water resources in alpine region, but also act as a trigger of many glacial hazards such as glacial lake outburst flood (GLOF) and debris flow. Therefore, glacial lakes play an important role on the cryosphere, climate change and alpine hazards. In this paper, the issues of glacial lake were systematically discussed, then from the view of glacial lake inventory and glacial lake hazards study, the glacial lake was defined as natural water mainly supplied by modern glacial meltwater or formed in glacier moraine’s depression. Furthermore, a complete classification system of glacial lake was proposed based on its formation mechanism, topographic feature and geographical position. Glacial lakes were classified as 6 classes and 8 subclasses, i.e., glacial erosion lake (including cirque lake, glacial valley lake and other glacial erosion lake), moraine-dammed lake (including end moraine-dammed lake, lateral moraine-dammed lake and moraine thaw lake), ice-blocked lake (including advancing glacier-blocked lake and other glacier-blocked lake), supraglacial lake, subglacial lake and other glacial lake. Meanwhile, some corresponding features exhibiting on remote sensing image and quantitative indices for identifying different glacial lake types were proposed in order to build a universal and operational classification system of glacial lake.
Key words: glacial lake; glacier; definition; classification; inventory; hazard
YAO Xiaojun , LIU Shiyin , HAN Lei , SUN Meiping , ZHAO Linlin . Definition and classification system of glacial lake for inventory and hazards study[J]. Journal of Geographical Sciences, 2018 , 28(2) : 193 -205 . DOI: 10.1007/s11442-018-1467-z
Table 1 The classification system of glacial lakes |
Class | Subclass | Description |
---|---|---|
Glacial erosion lake | Cirque lake | The lake in one cirque |
Glacial valley lake | The lake in U-shaped valley by glaciation | |
Other glacial erosion lake | The lake formed by glacier erosion but not belonged to other classes of glacial lake | |
Moraine-dammed lake | End moraine-dammed lake | The lake between the end moraine ridge and glacier terminus |
Lateral moraine-dammed lake | The lake beside the lateral moraine ridge | |
Moraine thaw lake | The lake on the moraine ridge | |
Ice-blocked lake | Advancing glacier-blocked lake | The lake blocked by advancing glacier |
Other glacier-blocked lake | The lake with the dam being glacier ice | |
Supraglacial lake | The lake on the surface of glacier | |
Subglacial lake | The lake within the glacier or over the glacier bed | |
Other glacial lake | The lake blocked by landslide, avalanche, debris flow, etc. |
Figure 1 Cirque lake |
Figure 2 Glacial valley lake |
Figure 3 End moraine-dammed lake |
Figure 4 Lateral moraine-dammed lake |
Figure 5 Moraine thaw lake (water body in blue-green color within the yellow-color polygon in (b) |
Figure 6 Ice-blocked lake over the Tibetan Plateau |
Figure 7 Supraglacial lake |
The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.
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