CGRG Bibliography of Canadian Geomorphology
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Author : Blown, I.; and Church, M.
Date : 1985.
Title : Catastrophic lake drainage within the Homathko River Basin, British Columbia
Publication : Canadian Geotechnical Journal
Issue : 22:
Page(s) : 551-563.
Abstract
Three examples of sudden lake drainage and some potentially dangerous situations, encountered in the Homathko River basin within the Coast Mountains of British Columbia, Canada are presented. Some simple reconnaissance methods used to assess potential hazard presented by a lake are evaluated. To understand the mechanism of failure and gain information about the probability of further catastrophic drainages, ground reconnaissance was necessary at each site. The three phenomena related to sudden lake drainage include: moraine breaching by solitary wave action following an icefall into a lake; failure of a glacier ice dam by flotation and melting to produce a glacier outburst flood or jokulhlaup; and debris torrent following a moraine breach. The possibility of a fourth phenomenon, moraine failure by piping, is discussed. A first attempt to develop practical hazard evaluation methods before the event, which relies on simple scale relations or index relations developed from experience of events elsewhere, is presented.
Bibliography of Canadian Geomorphology