Observing changes in the present and paleo-glacial extents of major glaciers in the Alaknanda Basin of Central Himalaya

Abstract

The erosional and depositional landforms modified by the glaciers can be used effectively to reconstruct the palaeo-glacial events along with dating techniques. In this study, a detailed reconstruction of the Satopanth Glacier (SPG), Bhagirath Kharak Glacier (BKG), and Bhagnyu Glacier (BG) in the Alaknanda Basin of Central Himalaya is carried out using glacier morphological features identified from a comprehensive dataset that includes historic toposheets (1882–1962), satellite images (1968–2020), and field observations (2019 & 2020). We also compute paleo, contemporary ice thickness, and glacier volumes using the Glacier Reconstructio (GlaRe) and the Himalayan Glacier Thickness Mapper (HIGTHIM) tools, respectively. Our results demonstrate that the region has witnessed three major glacial advances: Stage I (oldest), Stage II, and Stage III glaciations. The SPG, BKG, and BG were tributaries of a primary primitive glacier that existed during the Stage I glaciation that extended to the Mana village. The Stage I glacial moraines are at a distance of 8.4 ± 1.1 km, 7.8 ± 1 km, and 8.4 ± 1.1 km from the present-day snout of SPG, BKG, BG, while the Stage II moraines are 5.1 ± 0.71 km, 4.2 ± 0.58 km, and 5 ± 0.7 km away, and Stage III moraines are 1.9 ± 0.26 km, 1.3 ± 0.18 km, and 2.8 ± 0.39 km away, respectively. The area of the primitive glacier reduced (Stage I to the recent period) from 78 ± 4.6 km2 to 60 ± 3.6 km2 with a volume reduction from 4.7 ± 0.94 km3 to 3.5 ± 0.63 km3. Most importantly, the rate of recession of the glaciers in the Alaknanda Basin is more in the last 5 decades ∼(8.4 ± 1.1 m a−1 (SPG), 7.2 ± 1 m a−1 (BKG), 10 ± 1.4 m a−1 (BG)) than that reported over the last 12,000 years, which is ∼0.42 m a−1 (SPG), 0.35 m a−1 (BKG), 0.42 m a−1 (BG). The present study provides a detailed characterization of the long-term evolution of glaciers in the Alaknanda Basin for the first time.