The Northwest Himalaya is a region of rapid rock uplift and a strongly erosive climate that allows the competing influences on drainage development to be assessed in the Indus River. This study used U-Pb zircon and K-feldspar Pb isotope analysis together with conventional heavy minerals to reconstruct flood plain drainage patterns from ~20 ka. Furthermore, clay mineralogy is used to reconstruct changes in chemical weathering. U-Pb ages for zircon grains from the Indus tributaries were compared with available bedrock data in order to constrain the source of the sediment reaching the Arabian Sea. The trunk Indus is typified by <200 Ma zircons, in contrast with >800 Ma in the eastern tributaries, eroded from Himalayan sources. A significant population of grains <200 Ma in Thar Desert indicates monsoon-related eolian transport from the lower Indus. Modelling of modern delta sand that is rich in >1700 Ma zircons contrasts with modern water discharge which is dominated by the trunk Indus indicating preferential Lesser Himalayan erosion before ~7 ka. Pb isotope compositions of K-feldspars were used as an additional provenance constraint. The eastern tributaries show a clear Himalayan provenance, contrasting with radiogenic grains in the trunk Indus. Thar desert sands show isotopic values that suggest significant erosion from Karakoram, consistent with the zircon dating, as well as heavy mineral data. In turn Holocene river sands from the western edge of the desert indicate increasing reworking from the dunes prior to ~4.5 ka, linked to climatic drying. XRD clay mineralogy shows increasing smectite in the delta at 13–7.5 ka, indicating stronger chemical weathering as the summer monsoon intensified. In contrast, the upper flood plains show evidence for increased chemical weathering after ~7 ka linked to the cessation of fluvial transport under the influence of a weakening monsoon.

Thesis (doctoral)--Thüringische Landesuniversität Jena. / "Sonderdruck aus 'Dresdner Georgr. Studien' Heft 1." Vita. Bibliography: p. 94-99.

This thesis examines the concept of the state in the context of the Indus River Valley, located in northwest India and Pakistan. In the first section, I synthesize several popular trends in state discussion from both inside and outside of archaeological theory. I then apply my synthesized approach to state definition to the archaeological record from the Indus River Valley. The resulting work visits both the concept of the state and the rich cultural history of the Indus Civilization. I determine that there was a state in the Indus River Valley, but that the Indus state was very different from others scholars have identified in the archaeological record.

This thesis examines the concept of the state in the context of the Indus River Valley, located in northwest India and Pakistan. In the first section, I synthesize several popular trends in state discussion from both inside and outside of archaeological theory. I then apply my synthesized approach to state definition to the archaeological record from the Indus River Valley. The resulting work visits both the concept of the state and the rich cultural history of the Indus Civilization. I determine that there was a state in the Indus River Valley, but that the Indus state was very different from others scholars have identified in the archaeological record.

No description available.

Quantifying the contribution of glaciers to water resources is particularly important in locations where glaciers may provide a large percentage of total river discharge. In some remote locations, direct field measurements of melt rates are difficult to acquire, so alternate approaches are needed. Positive degree-day modeling (PDD) of glacier melt is a valuable tool to making first order approximations of the volume of melt coming from glaciers. In this study, a PDD-melt model is applied to glaciers in the Indus River watershed located in Afghanistan, China, India, and Pakistan. Here, millions of people rely on the water from the Indus River, which previous work suggests may be heavily dependent on glacier melt from high mountain regions in the northern part of the watershed. In this region, the PDD melt model calculates the range of melt volumes from more than 45,000 km2 of glaciated area. It relies on a limited suite of input variables for glaciers in the region: elevation, temperature, temperature lapse rate, melt factor, and surface area. Three global gridded climate datasets were used to determine the bounds of temperature at each glacier: UEA CRU CL 2.0, UEA CRU TS 2.1, and NCEP/NCAR 40 year reanalysis. The PDD melt model was run using four different melt scenarios: mean, minimum, maximum, and randomized. These scenarios account for differences in melt volume not captured by temperature, and take uncertainties in all input parameters into account to bound the possible melt volume. The spread in total melt volume from the model scenarios ranges between 27 km3 and 439 km3. While the difference in these calculations is large, it is highly likely the real value falls within this range. Importantly, even the smallest model volume output is a significant melt water value. This suggests that even when forcing the absolute smallest volume of melt, the glacier contribution to the Indus watershed is significant. In addition to providing information about melt volume, this model helps to highlight glaciers with the greatest contribution to total melt. Despite differences in the individual climate models, the spatial pattern in glacier melt is similar, with glaciers contributing the majority of total melt volume occurring in similar geographic regions regardless of which temperature dataset is used. For regions where glacier areas are reasonably well-constrained, contributions from individual glaciers can be quantified. Importantly, less than 5% of glaciers contribute at least 70% of the total melt volume in the watershed. The majority of these glaciers are in Pakistan, the region with the largest percentage of known glaciers with large surface areas at lower elevations. In addition to calculating current melt volumes over large glaciated areas, this model can also be used to determine future melt rates under differing climate scenarios. By applying suggested future regional temperature change to the temperature data, the impact on average melt rate over the watershed was found to increase from 3.02 m/year to 4.69 m/year with up to 2 °C temperature increase. Assuming glacier area remains relatively constant over short time periods, this would amount to a 145 km3 increase in melt volume.

High rates of soil loss and high sediment loads in rivers necessitate efficient monitoring and quantification methodologies so that effective land management strategies can be designed. Constructing a sediment budget is a useful approach to address these issues. Quantifying a sediment budget using classical field-based techniques, however, is labour intensive and expensive for poorly gauged, large drainage basins. The availability of global environmental datasets in combination with GIS techniques provides an opportunity for studying large basins. Following this approach, a framework is presented for constructing sediment budgets for large, data-sparse drainage basins, which is applied to the mountainous upper Indus River basin in northern Pakistan. The methodological framework consists of five steps: (1) analyzing hydro-climatological data for dividing the drainage basin into characteristic regions, and calculating sediment yields; (2) investigation of major controls on sediment yields; (3) identification and mapping of sediment source areas by spatially distributed modelling of erosional processes; (4) spatially distributed modelling of sediment yields; and (5) carrying out the sediment budget balance calculation at the basin outlet. Further analysis carried out on the Indus data has enabled a better understanding of sediment dynamics in the basin.<p> Analysis of the available hydro-climatological data indicates that the basin can be subdivided into three characteristic regions based on whether runoff production and subsequent sediment generation is controlled by temperature (Region 1, upper, glacierized sub-basins), precipitation caused by the monsoon and western disturbances (Region 3, lower sub-basins), or a combination of the two (Region 2, middle reach sub-basins). It is also demonstrated that contrary to the conventional model, the specific sediment yield increases markedly with drainage area along the Indus River. An investigation of major controls on specific sediment yield in the basin indicates that percent snow/ice cover is a major land cover control for specific sediment yield. Spatially distributed erosion modelling predictions indicate that 87% of the annual gross erosion takes place in the three summer months with greatest erosion potential concentrated in sub-basins with high relief and a substantial proportion of glacierized area. Lower erosion rates can be explained by the arid climate and low relief on the Tibetan Plateau, and by the dense vegetation and lower relief in the lower monsoon sub-region. The model predicts an average annual erosion rate of 3.2 mm/a or 868 Mt/a. Spatially distributed sediment yield predictions made with coupled models of erosion and sediment delivery indicate that the Indus sub-basins generally show an increase of sediment delivery ratio with basin area. The predicted annual basin sediment yield is 244 Mt/a and the overall sediment delivery ratio in the basin is calculated as 0.28. The long-term mean annual sediment budget, based on mass balance, is characterized by a gross erosion of 762.9, 96.7 and 8.4 Mt, and a gross storage of 551.4, 66.1, and 6.5 Mt in the upper, middle, and lower regions of the basin, respectively. The sediment budget indicates that the major sources of eroded sediment are located in the Karakoram, in particular in the Hunza basin. Substantial sediment storage occurs on the relatively flat Tibetan Plateau and the Indus River valley reach between Partab Bridge and Shatial. The presented framework for sediment budget construction requires relatively few data, mostly derived from global datasets. It therefore can be utilized for other ungauged or poorly gauged drainage basins of the world.

High rates of soil loss and high sediment loads in rivers necessitate efficient monitoring and quantification methodologies so that effective land management strategies can be designed. Constructing a sediment budget is a useful approach to address these issues. Quantifying a sediment budget using classical field-based techniques, however, is labour intensive and expensive for poorly gauged, large drainage basins. The availability of global environmental datasets in combination with GIS techniques provides an opportunity for studying large basins. Following this approach, a framework is presented for constructing sediment budgets for large, data-sparse drainage basins, which is applied to the mountainous upper Indus River basin in northern Pakistan. The methodological framework consists of five steps: (1) analyzing hydro-climatological data for dividing the drainage basin into characteristic regions, and calculating sediment yields; (2) investigation of major controls on sediment yields; (3) identification and mapping of sediment source areas by spatially distributed modelling of erosional processes; (4) spatially distributed modelling of sediment yields; and (5) carrying out the sediment budget balance calculation at the basin outlet. Further analysis carried out on the Indus data has enabled a better understanding of sediment dynamics in the basin.<p> Analysis of the available hydro-climatological data indicates that the basin can be subdivided into three characteristic regions based on whether runoff production and subsequent sediment generation is controlled by temperature (Region 1, upper, glacierized sub-basins), precipitation caused by the monsoon and western disturbances (Region 3, lower sub-basins), or a combination of the two (Region 2, middle reach sub-basins). It is also demonstrated that contrary to the conventional model, the specific sediment yield increases markedly with drainage area along the Indus River. An investigation of major controls on specific sediment yield in the basin indicates that percent snow/ice cover is a major land cover control for specific sediment yield. Spatially distributed erosion modelling predictions indicate that 87% of the annual gross erosion takes place in the three summer months with greatest erosion potential concentrated in sub-basins with high relief and a substantial proportion of glacierized area. Lower erosion rates can be explained by the arid climate and low relief on the Tibetan Plateau, and by the dense vegetation and lower relief in the lower monsoon sub-region. The model predicts an average annual erosion rate of 3.2 mm/a or 868 Mt/a. Spatially distributed sediment yield predictions made with coupled models of erosion and sediment delivery indicate that the Indus sub-basins generally show an increase of sediment delivery ratio with basin area. The predicted annual basin sediment yield is 244 Mt/a and the overall sediment delivery ratio in the basin is calculated as 0.28. The long-term mean annual sediment budget, based on mass balance, is characterized by a gross erosion of 762.9, 96.7 and 8.4 Mt, and a gross storage of 551.4, 66.1, and 6.5 Mt in the upper, middle, and lower regions of the basin, respectively. The sediment budget indicates that the major sources of eroded sediment are located in the Karakoram, in particular in the Hunza basin. Substantial sediment storage occurs on the relatively flat Tibetan Plateau and the Indus River valley reach between Partab Bridge and Shatial. The presented framework for sediment budget construction requires relatively few data, mostly derived from global datasets. It therefore can be utilized for other ungauged or poorly gauged drainage basins of the world.

京都大学 / 新制・課程博士 / 博士(工学) / 甲第23429号 / 工博第4884号 / 新制||工||1763(附属図書館) / 京都大学大学院工学研究科社会基盤工学専攻 / (主査)教授 田中 茂信, 准教授 田中 賢治, 准教授 佐山 敬洋 / 学位規則第4条第1項該当 / Doctor of Philosophy (Engineering) / Kyoto University / DFAM

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Wisconsin-Madison, 1998. / Includes bibliographical references.