Typical debris accumulation forms and formations in High Asia – A glacial-history-based concept of the origin of Postglacial debris accumulation landscapes in subtropical high mountains with selected examples from the Hindu Kush, the Karakoram and the Himalayas

Abstract

An abridged version of a geomorphological inventory and typology of Postglacial debris accumulations in High Asia is presented, with selected examples from the Hindu Kush, the Karakoram and the Himalayas. The debris accumulations were surveyed in the course of four research expeditions lasting a total of ten months in selected valley systems of High Asia (the eastern Hindu Kush, the northwestern Karakoram, the Nanga Parbat massif (Pakistan), the Ladakh and Zanskar ranges, the Nun Kun massif, the Kumaon and Garhwal Himalayas with the Kamet, Trisul and Nanda Devi massifs (India) and in the central Himalayas with the Kanjiroba, Annapurna, Manaslu and Makalu massifs (Nepal)). The study areas being widely scattered, a supraregional comparison of the debris accumulations proved possible. The debris accumulations are considered in centre-to-periphery sequences from the mountain interior to the mountain fringes, and in vertical sequences, i.e. altitudinal zones, taking into account their topographical relationship to adjoining elements of the landscape. Supraregional and climate-specific types of debris accumulation are distinguished and it is recognized that the debris accumulations of the Karakoram and the Himalayas resemble each other more closely with increasing elevation.