Rates of Deposition on Lateral Moraine Embankments, Glacier De Tsidjiore Nouve, Valais, Switzerland

Abstract

In the last decade deposition on lateral moraine embankments of glacier de Tsidjiore Nouve has been re-activated on a large scale. An attempt has been made to reconstruct, from the dimensions of the embankments, average rates of debris accumulation on the moraines during the Neoglacial period. These are compared with rates of deposition over the period 1977–82, calculated from detailed changes in moraine profiles (surveyed by ground- and air-based photogrammetry) and measured rates of ice-margin ablation. At present total output of sediment, by marginal deposition and transport by melt-water streams, from glacier de Tsidjiore Nouve is in the order of 6400–9500m³/a; this suggests the possibility of a high average erosion rate within the glacier catchment of 1.55–2.29 mm/a.