Scale‐Dependent Influence of Permafrost on Riverbank Erosion Rates

Author:

Rowland Joel C.1ORCID,Schwenk Jonathan P.1ORCID,Shelef Eitan2ORCID,Muss Jordan3ORCID,Ahrens Daniel4,Stauffer Sophie1,Pilliouras Anastasia5ORCID,Crosby Benjamin6ORCID,Chadwick Austin7ORCID,Douglas Madison M.7ORCID,Kemeny Preston C.7ORCID,Lamb Michael P.7,Li Gen K.8ORCID,Vulis Lawrence9ORCID

Affiliation:

1. Earth and Environmental Sciences Division Los Alamos National Laboratory Los Alamos NM USA

2. Department of Geology and Environmental Science University of Pittsburgh Pittsburgh PA USA

3. General Atomics Commonwealth Computer Research, Inc. Charlottesville VA USA

4. Stanford Law School Stanford CA USA

5. Department of Geosciences Pennsylvania State University University Park PA USA

6. Department of Geosciences Idaho State University Pocatello ID USA

7. Division of Geological and Planetary Sciences California Institute of Technology Pasadena CA USA

8. Department of Earth Science University of California Santa Barbara Santa Barbara CA USA

9. Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering University of California Irvine Irvine CA USA

Abstract

AbstractWhether permafrost systematically alters the rate of riverbank erosion is a fundamental geomorphic question with significant importance to infrastructure, water quality, and biogeochemistry of high‐latitude watersheds. For over four decades, this question has remained unanswered due to a lack of data. Using remotely sensed imagery, we addressed this knowledge gap by quantifying riverbank erosion rates across the Arctic and subarctic. To compare these rates to non‐permafrost rivers, we assembled a global data set of published riverbank erosion rates. We found that erosion rates in rivers influenced by permafrost are on average nine times lower than non‐permafrost systems; erosion rate differences increase up to 40 times for the largest rivers. To test alternative hypotheses for the observed erosion rate difference, we examined differences in total water yield and erosional efficiency between these rivers and non‐permafrost rivers. Neither of these factors nor differences in river sediment loads provided compelling alternative explanations, leading us to conclude that permafrost limits riverbank erosion rates. This conclusion was supported by field investigations of rates and patterns of erosion along three rivers flowing through discontinuous permafrost in Alaska. Our results show that permafrost limits maximum bank erosion rates on rivers with stream powers greater than 900 Wm−1. On smaller rivers, however, hydrology rather than thaw rate may be the dominant control on bank erosion. Our findings suggest that Arctic warming and hydrological changes should increase bank erosion rates on large rivers but may reduce rates on rivers with drainage areas less than a few thousand km2.

Funder

Biological and Environmental Research

Los Alamos National Laboratory

National Science Foundation

Publisher

American Geophysical Union (AGU)

Subject

Earth-Surface Processes,Geophysics

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