Provenance and transport of sediment through a glaciated Himalayan valley in response to Holocene climate change
This Master's project was assigned to Magnus Pytterud who started the Master's program in Earth sciences, UiB, fall 2025. The Master's project is given by the research group Quarternary Geology and Paleoclimate group.
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Project description
Motivation:
Glaciation has strongly influenced the landscape of the Chandra Valley in the Himachal Pradesh in northwest India, and sediments in this region represent a detailed record of past climate change that is not found in adjacent valleys. Chandra Tal is one of the few mountain lakes in this region, and is located at an elevation of 4,300 m a.s.l.. The lake currently drains a 7 km2 deglaciated catchment from which initial analysis of glacial lake sediment cores indicate that records spanning the Holocene can be extracted from the lake. To the north and east of Chandra Tal, steep slopes rise to an altitude of 5,500 m a.s.l. with several types of active slope processes evident, including debris flows, avalanches, and rockfalls, enhanced historically by cirque glaciation in the upper fans. Alongside ongoing evaluation of the glacier histories that can be extracted from the lake cores, this project will investigate the provenance and transport of sediment to Chandra Tal from glaciers, hillslopes and fans surrounding the basin. In this tectonically active region, changes in sedimentation may be useful in identifying periods when the landscape was disturbed by major earthquakes or periods of intense hydroclimate. Lake sediment core analysis will be combined with mapping of the wider geomorphology of the Chandra catchment to identify the active and palaeo-surface processes that have shaped this landscape.
Research questions:
• How have the sources of sediment to Chandra Tal varied through the Holocene?
• What are the relative contributions of sediment to the catchment from different landscape domains (e.g., hillslopes,
fans, glaciers)?
• How has the glacial history of the Chandra Valley contributed to the extensive Holocene sedimentary sequences
found here, for example, in contrast to the adjacent Spiti Valley?
Proposed course plan during the master's degree (60 ECTS)
Høstsemester 2025:
GEOV230 Glacial geology and geomorphology (10 sp)
GEOV217 Geohazards (10 sp)
GEOV205 Geographical Information Systems: Theory and Practice (10 sp)
Vårsemester 2026:
GEOV329 Quaternary Geochronology (10 sp)
GEOV225 Quaternary geology and palaeoclimate field course (10 sp)
UNIS AG-325 Glaciology (10 sp)
Prerequisites
None
Eksterne data / External data
None
Felt- lab- og analysearbeid / Field-, lab- and analysis work
The project will require laboratory work for core analysis in EARTHLAB, and the use of scripted programming languages (MATLAB/Python) for data analysis and visualisation of results. Familiarity with these methods is useful but not essential, as training and ongoing support will be provided. The student may have the opportunity to take part in fieldwork in the Himalayan region to become familiar with glacial landscapes in this region.