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The impact of glaciers on mountain erosion

Nature Reviews Earth & Environment volume 2, pages 422–435 (2021)Cite this article

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Abstract

Glaciers and ice sheets erode mountains and produce vast quantities of sediments that are delivered to rivers and oceans, impacting global sediment and biogeochemical balances. Therefore, understanding how the production of sediments by glacial erosion has evolved in the past, and will evolve in a changing climate, is increasingly important. In this Review, we examine the processes that control the magnitude and timing of glacial erosion of mountains, and how models can be used to reconstruct processes during the development of mountains. Field observations reveal the important role of sliding on the erosion rate, which provide an empirical basis to explain the glacial buzzsaw and the impact of late Cenozoic cooling on erosion rates. Glacial erosion is also expected to evolve in the context of anthropogenic climate warming, as both glacier sliding and the input of meltwater related to thinning and retreat of ice will change, with large effects on downstream ecosystems and global biogeochemical cycles. Thus, the mechanics and impacts of glaciers on sediment production warrant more research, especially in regions experiencing rapid warming. Above all, there is a need for better monitoring of how erosion rates changed over the last decades and will evolve in the future.

Key points

  • Glacial erosion is primarily a result of glacial bedrock erosion through abrasion and plucking, and their interaction with subglacial hydrology.

  • Observations suggest a simple relationship between sliding and glacial erosion, which can be used to make predictions about glacial erosion in mountainous environments.

  • Models can be used to estimate the impact of climate on mountain development, and including the impact of Quaternary glaciations on the erosion rates and the glacial buzzsaw hypothesis.

  • The cryosphere and, in turn, glacial erosion are being altered. Therefore, the mechanics and impacts of glaciers on sediment production deserve more attention in regions experiencing rapid warming.

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Fig. 1: Glacial erosion processes.
Fig. 2: Existing constraints on the erosion rule.
Fig. 3: Longitudinal view of subglacial sediment transport process.
Fig. 4: Global distribution of peak elevation and equilibrium line altitude.
Fig. 5: Estimated glacial erosion rates in response to glacier retreat using ice flow model outputs.

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Acknowledgements

We thank G. Jouvet for providing his simulations for the Aletschgletscher, Switzerland, and J. Cuzzone for providing assistance with the Greenland Ice Sheet projections. We also thank the four anonymous reviewers for their constructive feedback.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Earth Surface Dynamics, University of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland

    Frédéric Herman, Fien De Doncker, Ian Delaney & Günther Prasicek

  2. Interdisciplinary Center for Mountain Research, University of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland

    Günther Prasicek

  3. Department of Geography, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada

    Michèle Koppes

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Glossary

Ice sheets

Masses of ice that cover continental areas and are greater than 50,000 km2.

Outlet glaciers

Glaciers that follow valleys and originate from major ice sheets and ice caps.

Suspended sediment load

The part of the total sediment load that is maintained in suspension by turbulence in flowing water without contact with the stream bed.

Cosmogenic radionuclide dating

Estimating the time since rocks were exposed to cosmic rays by measuring the concentration of cosmogenic radionuclides that accumulate in rocks at the Earth surface.

Thermochronometry

A dating method to measure the apparent ages of rocks at the Earth surface and to interpret the exhumation rate in terms of the time taken for the rock to travel from a given closure temperature to the surface.

Bedrock erosion

Detachment of material from the glacier bed by abrasion or plucking.

Abrasion

The mechanical breakdown of rock surfaces caused by stress and motion at the contact point between a clast embedded in a glacier and the underlying bedrock.

Quarrying

The fracture of underlying rock due to glacial action and the entrainment of rock fragments that have been isolated by pre-existing bedrock cracks; also referred to as plucking.

Sediment transport

The transport by water of detached material or sediment on top, within and below the glacier.

Equilibrium line altitude

The elevation on a glacier where the accumulation and ablation of ice are in balance over a given time period (typically, one year).

Hypsometry

Hypsometry is the measurement of land elevation relative to mean sea level.

Alpine glaciers

Glaciers that form on the slopes of mountains; their ice dynamics are controlled by local slope variations.

Tidewater glaciers

Valley glaciers that terminate in the ocean and lose some of their mass by calving.

Bed load

The part of the total load that is transported along the bed.

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Herman, F., De Doncker, F., Delaney, I. et al. The impact of glaciers on mountain erosion. Nat Rev Earth Environ 2, 422–435 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1038/s43017-021-00165-9

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