CGRG Bibliography of Canadian Geomorphology
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Author : Crouse, B.; MacLellan, B.; Pickard, F.; Skitch, A.; and Laroque, C.P.
Date : 2009.
Title : Bathymetric analysis of sedimentation rates and volumetric change in proglacial Sunwapta Lake, Columbia Icefield, Alberta.
Publication : 51st Annual Meeting of the Western Division, Canadian Association of Geographers. March 5-7, 2009. Vancouver Island University, Nanaimo, British Columbia.
Issue :
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Abstract
Sunwapta Lake is a small proglacial lake that was formed at the forefront of the Athabasca Glacier in ca. 1939. It is fed by meltwater streams from the Athabasca Glacier and drains into the Sunwapta River system. Bathymetric surveys in 1959 and 1974 and a triangulated depth survey in 2000 provide a historical record of change in the lake, showing that after the lake’s initial period of growth it has functioned as a natural sediment trap and has decreased in size and volume. A bathymetric analysis completed in 2008 updates this record of evolution. Over 250 depth measurements were collected using a differential GPS, and by using the program SURFERTM the lakebed was mapped in three dimensions and the volume calculated to be 237 000 m3. In 2000, it was predicted that at current rates the lake would be completely infilled by ca. 2007, but this is not the case – it was found that the lake volume has actually increased by 101 300 m3 since 2000. Explanations for this change involve a reduction in sedimentation rate caused by both the recession of the glacier and/or the alteration of inflow stream paths. These possible threshold changes will be discussed.
Bibliography of Canadian Geomorphology