Effects of climate warming on debris flow activity and sediment supply in high mountain regions.

• Applicant: Professor Bodo Bookhagen, Ph.D., since 10/2023
• Subject Area: Physical Geography ; Palaeontology
• Term: from 2018 to 2024
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 399435624

• Final Report Year: 2024

Final Report Abstract

During the DFG project, I managed to perform all the field activities that were originally planned: During the first summer (in 2019), I collected 32 samples for the 10Be analysis, 196 tree-cores for the dendrochronology analysis, and performed 21 clast counts for additional provenance analysis. The 10Be samples were prepared partially in Bolzano and partially in Potsdam, whereas all the chemistry procedure was done at the cosmogenic nuclide preparation facilities of Prof. Bodo Bookhagen in Potsdam. The samples were measured by the AMS facility in Dresden. Further (and not originally planned) XRF analyses were also performed in Potsdam. Dendrochronology samples were prepared and analysed in Bolzano, as originally planned. Due to the COVID pandemic and restriction measurements, all the laboratory analyses encountered strong delays. For this reason, I shifted the focus of my work on the analysis of orthophotos and historical images, together with the mechanisms influencing rock desegregation, an activity that was originally planned in a later stage of the project. This research allowed me to published the first paper on slope stability. While working on this paper, and waiting for the possibility to use the labs, I was fascinated by the history of the Sulden glacier and managed to publish a paper on this topic. Also, thanks to the availability of topographic data belonging to the Free University of Bolzano, I could reconstruct the dynamics of sediment production and sediment transfer within the proglacial area of the Sulden basin, an activity that was not originally planned in the proposal. This allowed me to publish two extra papers on sediment budget of high alpine regions that enhanced our understanding of the sediment dynamics governing these regions. The collaborations established during the DFG project are still active and allowed me to reach unexpected results. The work and research on the Sulden area is still ongoing, as I will have to publish work derived from the 10Be and dendrochronology analyses, and new and promising data on sediment dynamics are collected every year.

Publications

• Interactions between main channels and tributary alluvial fans: channel adjustments and sediment-signal propagation. Earth Surface Dynamics, 8(2), 303-322.
  Savi, Sara; Tofelde, Stefanie; Wickert, Andrew D.; Bufe, Aaron; Schildgen, Taylor F. & Strecker, Manfred R.
  
• Pronounced increase in slope instability linked to global warming: A case study from the eastern European Alps. Earth Surface Processes and Landforms, 46(7), 1328-1347.
  Savi, Sara; Comiti, Francesco & Strecker, Manfred R.
  
• The Sulden/Solda glacier (Eastern Italian Alps): fluctua tions, dynamics, and topographic control over the last 200 years. Geografia Fisica e Dinamica Quaternaria, 44, 15-30
  Savi S., Dinale R. & Comiti F.
  
• Bedload Fluxes in a Glacier‐Fed River at Multiple Temporal Scales. Water Resources Research, 58(10).
  Coviello, Velio; Vignoli, Gianluca; Simoni, Silvia; Bertoldi, Walter; Engel, Michael; Buter, Anuschka; Marchetti, Giulia; Andreoli, Andrea; Savi, Sara & Comiti, Francesco
  
• Effects of catchment characteristics and hydro-meteorological scenarios on sediment connectivity in glacierised catchments. Geomorphology, 402, 108128.
  Buter, Anuschka; Heckmann, Tobias; Filisetti, Lorenzo; Savi, Sara; Mao, Luca; Gems, Bernhard & Comiti, Francesco
  
• Glacial hot spots for sediment supply during global warming: a case study from the Eastern Italian Alps. Copernicus GmbH.
  Savi, Sara; Comiti, Francesco & Strecker, Manfred
  
• Multi-temporal analysis of morphological changes in an Alpine proglacial area and their effect on sediment transfer. CATENA, 220, 106701.
  Savi, Sara; Buter, Anuschka; Heckmann, Tobias; Theule, Joshua; Mao, Luca & Comiti, Francesco
  
• Meltwater-driven sediment transport dynamics in two contrasting alpine proglacial streams. Journal of Hydrology, 635, 131171.
  Engel, Michael; Coviello, Velio; Savi, Sara; Buter, Anuschka; Andreoli, Andrea; Miyata, Shusuke; Marchetti, Giulia; Scorpio, Vittoria; Rathburn, Sara; Nicholson, Lindsey & Comiti, Francesco
  
• Sediment export from an Alpine proglacial area under a changing climate: Budgets, rates, and geomorphological processes. Geomorphology, 462, 109343.
  Savi, Sara; Pitscheider, Felix; Engel, Michael; Coviello, Velio; Strecker, Manfred R. & Comiti, Francesco