Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Dating Past Events on Fans and Cones – An Introduction

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
Dating Torrential Processes on Fans and Cones

Part of the book series: Advances in Global Change Research ((AGLO,volume 47))

Abstract

Alluvial fans and debris cones are fan- or cone-shaped sedimentary structures that are formed where a stream or torrent flattens, slows, and spreads. Moreover cones are also formed by scree deposits, rock avalanches, slope-type debris flows, mudflows, lahars, landslides, sheet floods and other forms of rapid mass movements. Alluvial fans and debris cones are typically located in mountain fronts and develop at the base of headwater basins. The apex of the depositional environment is usually located within a canyon or ravine mouth that serves as the outlet for a mountain drainage system or at the juncture of steeper hillslope tributaries with the main stream in a flatter plain (e.g. valley floor). Fans and cones can be seen as the expression of the ``history'' of their watersheds because they have been created by and represent a summary of hydrologic, geomorphic, climatic, biologic, and anthropogenic processes (e.g. agriculture, forestry) in the mountains and hillslopes upstream of fans and cones. Inherited and present-day processes in the watershed actively influence water and sediment regimes and can thus lead to significant changes in the timing, frequency, and magnitude of hydrogeomorphic events. The scarcity of event occurrence and the widespread absence of hydrogeomorphic disasters over several decades in the twentieth century represent a major handicap for an appropriate assessment of the frequency and magnitude of past and potential future events. Records of past hydrogeomorphic activity are stored in many different types of archives. Besides the classical anthropogenic archives, nature provides many sources of information that can be extracted using the appropriate methods. A broad spectrum of methods allowing the improvement of data series on past hydrogeomorphic events on fans and cones are introduced in this chapter and further described in this book.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 89.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 119.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 169.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

References

  • AGI – American Geological Institute (1962) Dictionary of geological terms. Dolphin Books, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Ammann WJ (2006) The risk concept. In: Dannenmann S, Ammann WJ, Vulliet L (eds) Risk 21 – coping with risks due to natural hazards in the 21st century. Taylor & Francis, London, pp 3–23

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Ang AH-S, Tang WH (2007) Probability concepts in engineering – emphasis on applications to civil and environmental engineering. Wiley, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • BAFU (2007) Ereignisanalys Hochwasser 2005. Bundesamt für Umwelt, Bern

    Google Scholar 

  • Ballesteros JA, Bodoque JM, Díez A, Sánchez M, Stoffel M (2011a) Calibration of floodplain roughness and estimation of palaeoflood discharge based on tree-ring evidence and hydraulic modeling. J Hydrol 403:103–115

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ballesteros JA, Eguibar M, Bodoque JM, Díez A, Stoffel M, Gutiérrez I (2011b) Estimating flash flood discharge in an ungauged mountain catchment with 2D hydraulic models and dendrogeomorphic paleostage indicators. Hydrol Process 25:970–979

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Baroni G, Gentili R, Armiraglio S (2012) Vegetation analysis on composite debris cones. In: Schneuwly-Bollschweiler M, Stoffel M, Rudolf-Miklau M (eds) Dating torrential processes on fans and cones -- methods and their application for hazard and risk assessment. Advances in Global Change Research. Springer, Dordrecht/Heidelberg/London/New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Beaty CB (1990) Anatomy of a White Mountains debris flow – the making of an alluvial fan. In: Rachocki AH, Church M (eds) Alluvial fans: a field approach. Wiley, Chichester, pp 69–89

    Google Scholar 

  • Blair TC, McPherson JG (1994) Alluvial fan processes and forms. In: Abrahams AD, Parsons AJ (eds) Geomorphology of desert environments. Chapman & Hall, London, pp 354–402

    Google Scholar 

  • Blair TC, McPherson JG (2009) Processes and forms of alluvial fans. In: Parsons AJ, Abrahams AD (eds) Geomorphology of desert environments, 2nd edn. Springer, New York, pp 413–467

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Bloetzer W, Egli T, Petrascheck A, Sauter J, Stoffel M (1998) Klimaänderungen und Naturgefahren in der Raumplanung – Methodische Ansätze und Fallbeispiele. Vdf Hochschulverlag AG, Zürich

    Google Scholar 

  • Blöschl G, Merz R (2008) Bestimmung von Bemessungshochwässern gegebener Jährlichkeit – Aspekte einer zeitgemäßen Strategie. Wasserwirtschaft 11:2–11

    Google Scholar 

  • BMLFUW (2006) Ereignisdokumentation Hochwasser 2005. Bundesministerium für Land- und Forstwirtschaft, Umwelt und Wasserwirtschaft, Vienna

    Google Scholar 

  • Bollschweiler M, Stoffel M (2010) Tree rings and debris flows – trends and challenges. Prog Phys Geogr 34:625–645

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bründl M (2012) Dealing with natural hazard risks in Switzerland – the influence of hazard mapping on risk-based decision making. In: Schneuwly-Bollschweiler M, Stoffel M, Rudolf-Miklau M (eds) Dating torrential processes on fans and cones – methods and their application for hazard and risk assessment, Advances in global change research. Springer, Dordrecht/Heidelberg/London/New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Bründl M, Romang H, Bischof N, Rheinberger CM (2009) The risk concept and its application in natural hazard risk management in Switzerland. Nat Hazard Earth Syst Sci 9(3):801–813

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bull WB (1977) The alluvial-fan environment. Prog Phys Geogr 1:222–270

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chiverell R, Jakob M (2012) Radiocarbon dating : alluvial fan / debris cone evolution and hazards. In: Schneuwly-Bollschweiler M, Stoffel M, Rudolf-Miklau M (eds) Dating torrential processes on fans and cones -- methods and their application for hazard and risk assessment. Advances in Global Change Research. Springer, Dordrecht/Heidelberg/London/New York

    Google Scholar 

  • D'Agostiono V (2012) Assessment of past torrential events through historical sources. In: Schneuwly-Bollschweiler M, Stoffel M, Rudolf-Miklau M (eds) Dating torrential processes on fans and cones -- methods and their application for hazard and risk assessment. Advances in Global Change Research. Springer, Dordrecht/Heidelberg/London/New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Gilli A, Anselmetti FS, Glur L, Wirth SB (2012) Lake sediments as archives of recurrence rates and intensities of past flood events. In: Schneuwly-Bollschweiler M, Stoffel M, Rudolf-Miklau M (eds) Dating torrential processes on fans and cones -- methods and their application for hazard and risk assessment. Advances in Global Change Research. Springer, Dordrecht/Heidelberg/London/New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Harvey AM (1984) Debris flows and fluvial deposits in Spanish Quaternary alluvial fans: implications for fan morphology. In: Koster EH, Steel R (eds) Sedimentoloqy of gravels and conglomerates, Memoir 10. Canadian Society of Petroleum Geologists, Calgary, pp 23–132

    Google Scholar 

  • Harvey AM (2001) Coupling between hillslopes and channels in upland fluvial systems: implications for landscape sensitivity, illustrated from the Howgill Fells, northwest England. Catena 42:225–250

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Harvey AM (2012) Processes of sediment supply to alluvial fans and debris cones. In: Schneuwly-Bollschweiler M, Stoffel M, Rudolf-Miklau M (eds) Dating torrential processes on fans and cones – methods and their application for hazard and risk assessment, Advances in global change research. Springer, Dordrecht/Heidelberg/London/New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Harvey AM, Mather AE, Stokes M (2005) Alluvial fans: geomorphology, sedimentology, dynamics – introduction. A review of alluvial-fan research. In: Alluvial fans: geomorphology, sedimentology, dynamics, Geological Society special publication 251. Geological Society, London, pp 1–7

    Google Scholar 

  • Hübl J, Kienholz H, Loipersberger A (2006) DOMODIS: Dokumentation alpiner Naturereignisse [Documentation of mountain disasters]. Internationale Forschungsgesellschaft INTERPRAEVENT, Klagenfurt

    Google Scholar 

  • INTERPRAEVENT (2010) Alpine Naturkatastrophen. Verlag Leopold Stocker, Graz

    Google Scholar 

  • Ivy-Ochs S, Dühnforth M, Densmore AL, Alfimov V (2012) Dating fan deposits with cosmogenic nuclides. In: Schneuwly-Bollschweiler M, Stoffel M, Rudolf-Miklau M (eds) Dating torrential processes on fans and cones -- methods and their application for hazard and risk assessment. Advances in Global Change Research. Springer, Dordrecht/Heidelberg/London/New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Jakob M (2005) Debris-flow hazard analysis. In: Jakob M, Hung O (eds) Debris-flow hazards and related phenomena. Springer, Berlin, pp 411–444

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Jakob M, Friele P (2010) Frequency and magnitude of debris flows on Cheekye River, British Columbia. Geomorphology 114:382–395

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jakob M, Hungr O (2005) Introduction. In: Jakob M, Hung O (eds) Debris-flow hazards and related phenomena. Springer, Berlin

    Google Scholar 

  • Jomelli V (2012) Lichenometric dating of debris avalanche deposits with an example from the French Alps. In: Schneuwly-Bollschweiler M, Stoffel M, Rudolf-Miklau M (eds) Dating torrential processes on fans and cones -- methods and their application for hazard and risk assessment. Advances in Global Change Research. Springer, Dordrecht/Heidelberg/London/New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Kaitna R, Huebl J (2012) Silent witnesses for torrential processes. In: Schneuwly-Bollschweiler M, Stoffel M, Rudolf-Miklau M (eds) Dating torrential processes on fans and cones -- methods and their application for hazard and risk assessment. Advances in Global Change Research. Springer, Dordrecht/Heidelberg/London/New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Khaliq MN, Ouarda TMBJ, Ondo J-C, Gachon P, Bobée B (2006) Frequency analysis of a sequence of dependent and/or non-stationary hydro-meteorological observations: a review. J Hydrol 329:534–552

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kidson R, Richards KS (2005) Flood frequency analysis: assumptions and alternatives. Prog Phys Geogr 3:392–410

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kostaschuk RA, Macdonald GM, Putnam PE (1986) Depositional processes and alluvial fan – drainage basin morphometric relationships near Banff, Alberta, Canada. Earth Surf Process Landf 11:471–484

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lang A (2012) Luminescence dating of alluvial fans and cones. In: Schneuwly-Bollschweiler M, Stoffel M, Rudolf-Miklau M (eds) Dating torrential processes on fans and cones -- methods and their application for hazard and risk assessment. Advances in Global Change Research. Springer, Dordrecht/Heidelberg/London/New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Lanz-Stauffer H, Rommel C (1936) Elementarschäden und Versicherung. Studie des Rückversicherungs-Verbandes kantonal-schweizerischer Feuerversicherungen zu Förderung der Elementarschaden-Versicherung. Rückversicherungsverband, Bern

    Google Scholar 

  • Loat R, Meier E (2003) Dictionary of flood protection. Bundesamt für Wasser und Geologie, Biel

    Google Scholar 

  • Merz R (2007) Hochwasserstatistik – Das Ausreisserproblem. Wiener Mitteilungen: Wasser, Abwasser, Gewässer. Institut für Wasserbau und Ingenieurhydrologie, Technische Universität Wien, Vienna, pp 181–194

    Google Scholar 

  • Mudersbach C (2009) Untersuchungen zur Ermittlung von hydrologischen Bemessungsgrößen mit Verfahren der instationären Extremwertstatistik. Dissertationsschrift, Universität Siegen, Fachbereich Bauingenieurwesen

    Google Scholar 

  • ONR (24800:2008) Schutzbauwerke der Wildbachverbauung – Begriffe und ihre Definition sowie Klassifizierung. Austrian Standards Institute, Vienna

    Google Scholar 

  • Pfister C (1999) Wetternachhersage. Paul Haupt, Bern

    Google Scholar 

  • Pierson T (2012) Using Age of colonizing Douglas fir for the dating of young geomorphic surfaces -- a case study. In: Schneuwly-Bollschweiler M, Stoffel M, Rudolf-Miklau M (eds), Dating torrential processes on fans and cones -- methods and their application for hazard and risk assessment. Advances in Global Change Research. Springer, Dordrecht/Heidelberg/London/New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Plate EJ, Merz B (2001) Naturkatastrophen: Ursachen, Auswirkungen, Vorsorge. Verlag Schweizerbart, Stuttgart

    Google Scholar 

  • Plattform Naturgefahren der Alpenkonvention (PLANALP) (2006) Dokumentation von Naturereignissen – Feldanleitung. Ständiges Sekretariat der Alpenkonvention, Innsbruck

    Google Scholar 

  • Rickenmann D, Scheidl C (2012) Debris-flow runout and deposition on the fan. In: Schneuwly-Bollschweiler M, Stoffel M, Rudolf-Miklau M (eds) Dating torrential processes on fans and cones – methods and their application for hazard and risk assessment, Advances in global change research. Springer, Dordrecht/Heidelberg/London/New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Rickenmann D, Zimmermann M (1993) The 1987 debris flows in Switzerland: documentation and analysis. Geomorphology 8:175–189

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rudolf-Miklau F (2009) Naturgefahren-Management in Österreich. Verlag LexisNexis Orac, Wien

    Google Scholar 

  • Rudolf-Miklau F, Sereinig N (2009) Festlegung des Bemessungshochwassers: Prozessorientierte Harmonisierung für Flüsse und Wildbäche. ÖWAW (7–8):29–32

    Google Scholar 

  • Rudolf-Miklau F, Suda J (2012) Design criteria for torrential barriers. In: Schneuwly-Bollschweiler M, Stoffel M, Rudolf-Miklau M (eds) Dating torrential processes on fans and cones – methods and their application for hazard and risk assessment, Advances in global change research. Springer, Dordrecht/Heidelberg/London/New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Schlunegger F, Norton K, Steffen D (2012) Timing the interface between mass wasting and fluvial processes with OSL. In: Schneuwly-Bollschweiler M, Stoffel M, Rudolf-Miklau M (eds) Dating torrential processes on fans and cones -- methods and their application for hazard and risk assessment. Advances in Global Change Research. Springer, Dordrecht/Heidelberg/London/New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Schneuwly-Bollschweiler M, Stoffel M (2012) Dendrogeomorphology -- tracking past events with tree rings. In: Schneuwly-Bollschweiler M, Stoffel M, Rudolf-Miklau M (eds) Dating torrential processes on fans and cones -- methods and their application for hazard and risk assessment. Advances in Global Change Research. Springer, Dordrecht/Heidelberg/London/New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Schneuwly-Bollschweiler M, Stoffel M, Rudolf-Miklau M (2012) Dating torrential processes on fans and cones – methods and their application for hazard and risk assessment, Advances in global change research. Springer, Dordrecht/Heidelberg/London/New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Shroder J Jr, Marston RA, Stoffel M (2012) Mountain and hillslope geomorphology. Treatise on geomorphology. Academic, San Diego

    Google Scholar 

  • Sidle RC, Pearce AJ, O’Loughlin CL (1985) Hillslope stability and land use, Water Resources Monograph 11. American Geophysical Union, Washington, DC, pp 1–140

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Staley DM, Wasklwicz TA (2012) The use of airborne laser swath mapping on fans and cones: an example from the Colorado Front Range. In: Schneuwly-Bollschweiler M, Stoffel M, Rudolf-Miklau M (eds) Dating torrential processes on fans and cones -- methods and their application for hazard and risk assessment. Advances in Global Change Research. Springer, Dordrecht/Heidelberg/London/New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Stoffel M (2012) Tree-ring based record of debris-flow dynamics and triggering rainstorms at Ritigraben (Swiss Alps). In: Schneuwly-Bollschweiler M, Stoffel M, Rudolf-Miklau M (eds) Dating torrential processes on fans and cones -- methods and their application for hazard and risk assessment. Advances in Global Change Research. Springer, Dordrecht/Heidelberg/London/New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Stoffel M, Beniston M (2006) On the incidence of debris flows from the early Little Ice Age to a future greenhouse climate: a case study from the Swiss Alps. Geophys Res Lett 33:L16404

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Stoffel M, Wilford DJ (2012) Hydrogeomorphic processes and vegetation: disturbance, process histories, dependencies and interactions. Earth Surf Process Landf 37(1):9–22

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Stoffel M, Conus D, Grichting MA, Lièvre I, Maitre G (2008) Unraveling the patterns of late Holocene debris-flow activity on a cone in the Swiss Alps: Chronology, environment and implications for the future. Glob Planet Chang 60(3–4):222–234

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Stoffel M, Bollschweiler M, Beniston M (2011) Rainfall characteristics for periglacial debris flows in the Swiss Alps: past incidences – potential future evolutions. Clim Chang 105:263–280

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Suwa H, Okuda S (1983) Deposition of debris flows on a fan surface, Mt. Yakedake, Japan. Zeitschrift fuer Geomorphologie, Supplementband 46:79–101

    Google Scholar 

  • UNDHA/IDNDR (1992) Glossary of disaster management. UNDHA/IDNDR, 34p

    Google Scholar 

  • Whipple KX, Dunne T (1992) The influence of debris-flow rheology on fan morphology, Owens Valley, California. Geol Soc Am Bull 104(7):887–900

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wilford DJ, Sakals ME, Grainger WW, Millard TH, Giles TR (2009) Managing forested watersheds for hydrogeomorphic risks on fans, Land management handbook 61. B.C. Ministry of Forest and Range, Victoria, pp 1–62

    Google Scholar 

  • Wolman MG, Miller JP (1960) Magnitude and frequency of forces on geomorphic processes. J Geol 68(1):54–74

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zimmermann M (2012) Hazard assessment. In: Schneuwly-Bollschweiler M, Stoffel M, Rudolf-Miklau M (eds) Dating torrential processes on fans and cones – methods and their application for hazard and risk assessment, Advances in global change research. Springer, Dordrecht/Heidelberg/London/New York

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratory of Dendrogeomorphology (dendrolab.ch), Institute of Geological Sciences, University of Berne, CH-3012, Berne, Switzerland

    Markus Stoffel & Michelle Schneuwly-Bollschweiler

  2. Chair for Climate and Climatic Impacts, Environmental Sciences, University of Geneva, CH-1227, Carouge-Geneva, Switzerland

    Markus Stoffel & Michelle Schneuwly-Bollschweiler

  3. Federal Ministry for Agriculture, Forestry, Environment and Water Management, Vienna, Austria

    Florian Rudolf-Miklau

Authors
  1. Markus Stoffel
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Michelle Schneuwly-Bollschweiler
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Florian Rudolf-Miklau
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Markus Stoffel .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. University of Berne, Laboratory of Dendrogeomorphology, Institute of Geological Sciences, Baltzerstrasse 1+3, Berne, 3012, Bern, Switzerland

    Michelle Schneuwly-Bollschweiler

  2. University of Berne, Laboratory of Dendrogeomorphology, Institute of Geological Sciences, Baltzerstrasse 1+3, Berne, 3012, Bern, Switzerland

    Markus Stoffel

  3. Forestry Environment &Water Management, IV/5 – Torrent & Avalanche Control, Federal Ministry for Agriculture,, Marxergasse 5, Vienna, 1030, Wien, Austria

    Florian Rudolf-Miklau

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2013 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Stoffel, M., Schneuwly-Bollschweiler, M., Rudolf-Miklau, F. (2013). Dating Past Events on Fans and Cones – An Introduction. In: Schneuwly-Bollschweiler, M., Stoffel, M., Rudolf-Miklau, F. (eds) Dating Torrential Processes on Fans and Cones. Advances in Global Change Research, vol 47. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-4336-6_1

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation