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Fluvial Processes and Contemporary Fluvial Denudation in Different Mountain Landscapes in Western and Central Norway

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Landscapes and Landforms of Norway

Part of the book series: World Geomorphological Landscapes ((WGLC))

Abstract

In the mountainous landscapes of mainland Norway, fluvial processes and contemporary fluvial denudation occur in both non-glacierized and glacierized (glacier-connected) drainage basin systems. Fluvial processes in non-glacierized cold climate drainage basins are driven by snowmelt or rainfall, or by combinations of snowmelt and rainfall, whereas fluvial processes in glacier-connected drainage basin systems are generated by snowmelt, glacier melt or rainfall, or by combinations of snowmelt/glacier melt and rainfall. Contemporary chemical and mechanical fluvial denudation rates in drainage basins of the partly glacierized and very steep mountain landscape of the inner Nordfjord in western Norway and of the non-glacierized and less steep mountain landscape located south of the Trondheim fjord in central Norway are found to be rather low, with mechanical fluvial denudation being significantly higher in the steeper and partly glacierized mountain landscape of the inner Nordfjord as compared to the studied mountain landscape in central Norway. In the partly glacierized mountain landscape of the inner Nordfjord mechanical fluvial denudation clearly dominates over chemical denudation, whereas the non-glacierized mountain landscape in central Norway is characterized by a clear dominance of chemical denudation over mechanical fluvial denudation. In the inner Nordfjord pluvially triggered denudational process events and pluvially activated sediment sources in ice-free surface areas as well as pluvially induced fluvial suspended sediment transport are, with respect to their overall contribution to drainage basin-wide annual suspended sediment yields, more important than the mostly thermally induced suspended sediment transport during the summer (glacier ablation) or in spring (snowmelt). However, the highest quantitative share of fluvial bedload transport occurs here during thermally generated snowmelt peak runoff in spring which is due to a significantly higher availability of bedload material within the mainstream channels as compared to time periods later in the hydrological year. Compared to that, in the studied non-glacierized mountain landscape in central Norway, the highest quantitative share of the total fluvial transport occurs during thermally induced snowmelt peak runoff in spring. With respect to the total annual sediment mobilization and total annual fluvial sediment transport, the sum of snowmelt-generated peak runoff events occurring over the hydrological year is here altogether more important than the annual sum of purely rainfall-generated peak runoff events. While the larger topographic relief and the partly glacial coverage in the mountain landscape of the inner Nordfjord are important factors for the higher mechanical fluvial denudation rates, the clearly higher importance of extreme pluvial events with respect to mobilization and transport of sediments within the drainage basins of this mountain landscape as compared to drainage basins in the non-glacierized mountain landscape south of the Trondheim fjord in central Norway must be highlighted. Fluvial transport in the studied fluvial systems in western and central Norway is clearly supply limited. It is expected that postulated changes of the current wind, air temperature and precipitation regimes will lead to increased chemical and mechanical fluvial denudation rates in both partly glacierized drainage basin systems in western Norway and non-glacierized drainage basin systems in central Norway.

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  1. Geomorphological Field Laboratory (GFL), Sandviksgjerde, Strandvegen 484, 7584, Selbustrand, Norway

    Achim A. Beylich & Katja Laute

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  1. Achim A. Beylich
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Correspondence to Achim A. Beylich .

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    Achim A. Beylich

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Beylich, A.A., Laute, K. (2021). Fluvial Processes and Contemporary Fluvial Denudation in Different Mountain Landscapes in Western and Central Norway. In: Beylich, A.A. (eds) Landscapes and Landforms of Norway. World Geomorphological Landscapes. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-52563-7_7

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