Holocene versus modern catchment erosion rates at 300 MW Baspa II hydroelectric power plant (India, NW Himalaya)

Autor(en)
Erich Draganits, Susanne Gier, Christa Hofmann, Christoph Janda, Bodo Bookhagen, Bernhard Grasemann
Abstrakt

300MW Baspa II is India's largest private hydroelectric facility, located at the Baspa River which is an important left-hand tributary to the Sutlej River in the NW Himalaya (India). In this valley the Sangla palaeo-lake has been dammed around 8200yr BP behind a rock-avalanche dam and Baspa II is located exactly on top of this palaeo-lake. This special location represents a very rare possibility to evaluate the short-term, river load and hydrological parameters measured during the planning and operational stages of Baspa II with the long-term parameters gained from the palaeo-lake sediments from the catchment. Sedimentological and geomorphological investigations of the lacustrine sediments have been used to reconstruct environmental changes during >2500years of its existence. The Mid-Holocene erosion rates of the Baspa catchment estimated from the volume and duration of deposition of the exposed lake sediments are at 0.7-1.0mmyr

-1, almost identical with the modern erosion rates calculated from river gauge data from Baspa II. Several charcoal layers and charcoal pieces from the uppermost palaeo-lake levels around 5000calyr BP might be related to woodland clearance and they possibly represent one of the oldest evidences for human presence in the Baspa Valley during Neolithic time.

Organisation(en)
Institut für Geologie, Institut für Urgeschichte und Historische Archäologie, Institut für Paläontologie
Externe Organisation(en)
Geologische Bundesanstalt, University of California, Santa Barbara
Journal
Journal of Asian Earth Sciences
Band
90
Seiten
157-172
Anzahl der Seiten
16
ISSN
1367-9120
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jseaes.2014.04.016
Publikationsdatum
04-2014
Peer-reviewed
Ja
ÖFOS 2012
105117 Paläobotanik, 105101 Allgemeine Geologie, 601021 Urgeschichte, 105404 Geomorphologie
Schlagwörter
ASJC Scopus Sachgebiete
Earth-Surface Processes, Geology
Link zum Portal
https://ucrisportal.univie.ac.at/de/publications/681bc909-3ad3-4403-8ad6-b4bc0a38b978