Late Pleistocene detrital sediment yield of the Jura glacier, France

Measures of present-day glacial erosion vary widely with the technique employed. This paper quantifies the glacial material trapped in a proglacial lake during the Wurm glacial period. The Combe d'Ain site was occupied by a meltwater lake where all the detrital material entering it from the Jura glacier accumulated, Sediment yield is computed from three factors: (1) the size of the sediment source area, (2) the length of time the system operated, and (3) the volume of sediment trapped. The sediment budget of the lake system suggests a detrital sediment yield of 4400 +/- 1700 metric tons per square kilometer and per calendar year. This represents a denudation rate of 1.6 +/- 0.6 mm per year, illustrating that mechanical erosion by the Jura glacier is more intensive than other processes of erosion. (C) 2001 University of Washington.