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Many passive margins experience pulsed exhumation events late in their history as a result of plate boundary distal geodynamic mechanisms or climatic events. The onset of late Cenozoic glaciation, often associated with enhanced rates of erosion, is one such possible cause of passive margin rejuvenation. However, along passive margins the effectiveness of Plio-Pleistocene glaciers at eroding the landscape may be limited by low tectonic rock uplift rates or as a result of erosionally inefficient cold based continental ice-sheets. In this dissertation the evolution of post-orogenic topography and the effect of glaciations on denuding landscapes along the North Atlantic Passive Margin, in the White Mountains of New Hampshire and the western Scottish Highlands, was investigated. Background exhumation rates averaged over 106-7 yr timescale were determined using apatite (U-Th)/He thermochronology. To resolve whether or not a change in exhumation rate occurred coincident with glaciation these background exhumation rates were compared to magnitudes of erosion averaged over the glacially relevant 103-4 yr timescale using the in situ terrestrial cosmogenic nuclide 10Be. In chapter two, 106-7 yr timescale exhumation and burial histories across the western Scottish Highlands were determined. The results show that post-orogenic burial and exhumation is mostly a result of plate margin distal tectonic and magmatic factors that are variable across short distances (i.e., <100 km). In chapter three, patterns and magnitudes of erosion during glaciation and following deglaciation in the Scottish Highlands were investigated. The results indicate that polythermal glacial erosion denuded low elevation portions of the Scottish Highlands and preserved summits. This produced relief but did not significantly lower the maximum elevation of the landscape. Following deglaciation Scotland's sediment budget remains dominated by glaciogenic sediment. In the fourth chapter, magnitudes of background exhumation in the Presidential and Carter Ranges of the White Mountains, New Hampshire were compared to magnitudes of glacial erosion. The results indicate that most relief was produced prior to glaciation and that background exhumation rates in the Cenozoic are low (<0.01 mm yr-1). In the late-Cenozoic, cold- based glaciation prevented an acceleration of erosion in the White Mountains. The post- glacial sediment budget is made up of dominantly glaciogenic sediment. Overall, the main findings of this dissertation are; (1) post-orogenic burial, exhumation, and relief production are mainly the result of spatially heterogeneous plate margin distal vertical crustal motions; across passive margins covered by large continental ice sheets; (2) cold-based ice limits the magnitudes of late Cenozoic glacial erosion sediment budgets continue to be dominated by glaciogenic sediment, >10 ka after and (3) post-glacial deglaciation. / Ph. D. / Far away from the edges of modern tectonic plates, old mountain ranges (~300 million years old) may experience changes in rates of erosion long after the forces that built those mountains have gone away. Tectonic forces that occur far away from the edges of tectonic plates could cause these changes in erosion rate or they could be a result of changes in climate that create conditions in which erosion rates could increase. One change in climate that could have caused faster rates of erosion in old mountain ranges is climatic cooling causing the repeated advance and retreat of glaciers in mid to high latitudes over the past ~2.6 million years. Glaciers are usually seen as having the ability to erode faster than non-glacial processes (e.g., rivers). However, not all glaciers have the ability to erode really fast. In old mountain ranges glacial erosion might be limited because the mountains are not being uplifted very fast supplying new land to be subjected to erosion. Also, big ice sheets that covered many old mountain ranges can be very cold, freezing ice to the ground and therefore acting to protect the underlying landscape rather than eroding it. In this dissertation the question of whether glaciation caused an acceleration in erosion rates in old mountain ranges far away from the edges of tectonic plates is investigated, specifically in White Mountains of New Hampshire and the western Scottish Highlands. To this end, erosion rates in these mountain ranges were determined prior to glaciation and then compared to erosion rates during glaciation and following deglaciation. The results of the research presented in this dissertation indicate that; (1) pre-glacial erosion resulting from tectonic forces far from the edges of tectonic plates was more important at producing relief and eroding the landscape than glaciers; (2) ice covering old mountain ranges was at least partially cold-based, inhibiting erosion; and (3) following deglaciation sediments in streams are mostly sourced from remobilized glacially produced sediments rather than direct bedrock erosion.

Une partie de la region de Paspebiac a ete recouverte par deux glaces contemporaines, lors du dernier stade glaciaire du Wisconsinien. Une premiere s'est ecoulee du nord-nord-ouest, a recouvert la partie ouest de la region a l'etude et a erige une grande moraine laterale nord-sud a sa marge orientale; il n'a pu etre determine si cette glace etait l'inlandsis laurentidien ou une calotte gaspesienne. Une seconde glace progressant vers le nord-ouest a englace le sud-est du territoire et a construit une moraine terminale ouest-est, perpendiculaire et jointive a la premiere moraine. Un lac proglaciaire s'est forme a l'encoignure des deux glaces et a recouvert une partie d'un plateau demeure deglace au nord-est. Lors du dernier rechauffement climatique, le front de la glace du sud a regresse le premier, avant que la mer de Goldthwait noit les basses terres jusqu'a 46 metres vers 12 200 BP. Alors seulement, l'autre glace decouvre a son tour le territoire a l'etude. L'emersion est rapide, et certains elements laissent croire que les terres sont de nouveau transgressees depuis quelques millenaires.

Agents érosifs parmi les plus efficaces, les glaciers réagissent dynamiquement aux variations climatiques et entraînent à l’aval des modifications importantes des flux de sédiments. Dans les Alpes, et dans le cadre du réchauffement climatique actuel, se pose la question de l’évolution de la charge sédimentaire provenant de bassins versants partiellement englacés. L’export détritique issu d’un tel environnement résulte de processus d’érosion affectant plusieurs domaines géomorphologiques : les parois supra glaciaires, le substratum couvert de glace et la zone pro glaciaire à l’aval du glacier. Aussi, l’intention de ce travail de recherche doctorale est de caractériser l’origine et le transport des sédiments dans les bassins versants de deux torrents issus du glacier des Bossons (massif du Mont-Blanc, France).Dans ce but, les composantes du flux de sédiment issu des domaines supra glaciaire, sous-glaciaire et proglaciaire sont séparées et quantifiées à partir de méthodes innovantes :i. L’utilisation de la concentration en nucléides cosmogéniques comme marqueur du trans-port à la surface du glacier ;ii. L’analyse combinée de données météorologiques et de mesures hydro-sédimentaire à haute résolution temporelle (2 min) complétées par des modèles linéaires multivariés ;iii. La mise en oeuvre d’une méthode probabiliste adjointe à une application à l’échelle pluri-annuelle de l’estimation des flux sédimentaires par source ;iv. Le traçage radio-fréquence de particules grossières dans la zone pro glaciaire associé à une analyse dans le cadre d’un modèle de transport stochastique.A travers des outils numériques, l’application des méthodologies présentées apporte une estimation des taux d’érosion des domaines supra glaciaire, sous-glaciaire et pro glaciaire, et contraint le transfert des sédiments dans le bassin versant.Ainsi, dans la partie terminale du glacier, 52±14 à 9±4% de la charge supra glaciaire est transférée vers le réseau de drainage sous-glaciaire. Par ailleurs, l’évolution de ce dernier au cours de la saison de fonte entraîne sur une courte période l’export de la production sédimentaire hivernale. De plus, la configuration du drainage sous le glacier et sa dynamique de retrait contrôlent la remobilisation d’un stock sédimentaire sous-glaciaire plus ancien. Ces processus expliquent le contraste entre les taux moyens d’érosion sous-glaciaire des deux torrents instrumentés, respectivement 0.63 ± 0.37 et 0.38 ± 0.22 mm/an . Ces valeurs sont inférieures à la création topographique tectonique, ∼1.5 mm/an , et du même ordre de grandeur que le taux moyen d’érosion des parois surplombants le glacier, évalué à 0.76 ± 0.34 mm/an.A l’aval du glacier, les versants ne sont pas efficacement connectés au torrent proglaciaire et le glacier reste la source principale de l’export sédimentaire. Ainsi, en l’absence d’événements extrêmes, l’apport du domaine pro glaciaire correspond à 13 ± 10% de l’export sédimentaire total du bassin versant. Par ailleurs, la zone proglaciaire agit comme un tampon sédimentaire fonctionnant d’une échelle quotidienne à annuelle pour les silts et les sables, et à une échelle décennale pour les particules plus grossières. Au total, malgré un retrait glaciaire récent et rapide, le bassin versant du glacier des Bossons présente actuellement une dynamique paraglaciaire limitée dont l’intensité correspond à un taux moyen d’érosion proglaciaire de 0.25±0.20 mm/an. Enfin, sur l’ensemble du bassin versant, la dynamique sédimentaire est multi-fréquentielle et amortie par des stockages intermédiaires. / Among the most efficient agents of erosion, glaciers react dynamically to climate change, leading to a significant adjustment of downstream sediment flux. Present-day global warming raises the question regarding the evolution of the sediment load originating from partially glaciated catchment. The detrital export from such environment results from erosion processes operating within distinct geomorphological domains : supraglacial rockwalls, ice-covered substratum and the proglacial area, downstream from the glacier. The general intent of this doctoral research is therefore to characterize the origin and transport of sediments in the watersheds of two streams draining Bossons glacier (Mont-Blanc massif, France).For this purpose, the components of the sediment flux coming from supraglacial, subglacial and proglacial domains are separated and quantified by innovating methods:i. Using the terrestrial cosmogenic nuclides concentrations as evidence of a supraglacialtransport;ii. Combining meteorological data and hydro-sedimentary data acquired at a high timeresolution (2 min) and completed by multi-linear models;iii. Estimating sediment flux by source for 7 years and with a probabilistic method;iv. Associating radio-frequency identification of pebbles in the proglacial area with a stochas-tic transport analysis.Through numerical tools, applying the presented methodologies provides erosion rates of thesupraglacial, subglacial and proglacial domains, and determines the sediment transfer mecha-nisms within the catchment.Thus in the terminal part of the glacier, 52±14 to 9±4% of the supraglacial load is transferred to the subglacial drainage network. Moreover, its evolution throughout the melt season leads to the export of the winter sediment production during a limited period. Furthermore, the drainage configuration beneath the glacier and its retreat control the remobilization of a long-term sediment stock. These processes explain the contrast between the mean subglacial erosion rates of the two monitored streams, 0.63 ± 0.37 et 0.38 ± 0.22 mm/yr, respectively. This values are lower than the tectonic uplift, ∼1.5 mm/an, and of the same order of magnitude than the mean erosion rate of supraglacial rockwalls, evaluated at 0.76 ± 0.34 mm/an.Downstream from the glacier, hillslopes are not efficiently connected to the proglacial stream and the glacier is the main source of the sediment export. Hence, without extreme events, the input from proglacial domain corresponds to 13 ± 10% of the total sediment export from the catchment. Besides, the proglacial area acts as a buffer functioning from the daily to the year scales for fine particles, and at a decennial scale for coarser particles. In total, despite the rapid recent retreat of the glacier, the Bossons catchment exhibits a limited paraglacialdynamic whose intensity corresponds to a mean proglacial erosion rate of 0.25±0.20 mm/an. Finally, at the catchment scale, the sediment dynamic is multi-frequential and buffered by storage and release mechanisms.

Ma thèse se focalise sur l'étude des mécanismes qui ont conduit au soulèvement et à la construction du relief dans les Andes du Nord du Pérou. Dans cette région, la Cordillère Blanche forme les plus hauts sommets péruviens (> 6000 m) et constitue une anomalie à l'échelle des Andes. La morphologie de cette région des Andes est marquée par un pluton de forme atypique, allongé et à l'affleurement sur plus de 150 km. Ce pluton est bordé par une faille normale de plus de 200 km de long. La présence de cette faille normale majeure en contexte de subduction plane reste surprenante car ces zones de subduction planes semblent induire une augmentation du raccourcissement dans la plaque chevauchante. Mon travail a eu pour objectifs de caractériser les variations de l'état de contraintes régional, l'âge du soulèvement et de discuter les processus géodynamiques qui ont contribué à la formation du relief. Dans ce cadre, j'ai utilisé une approche pluridisciplinaire impliquant sur plusieurs échelles spatio-temporelles et comprenant à la fois de nouvelles données de terrain, leur analyse et leur modélisation.Mes données de microtectonique indiquent qu'il est possible de générer de l'extension au dessus d'une subduction plane à l'échelle régionale. Ces données sont en contradiction avec l'augmentation du raccourcissement classiquement attendue dans la plaque chevauchante. Mes nouvelles données de thermochronologie basse température et leur modélisation montrent une augmentation de l'exhumation induite par le soulèvement de la Cordillère Occidentale à 15 Ma. En les confrontant aux modèles précédents, je propose un soulèvement régional lié à l'aplatissement de la subduction et à la topographie dynamique associée.J'ai également étudié l'impact de l'arc Miocène sur le soulèvement à une échelle plus locale. Pour cela, j'ai compilé tous les âges de refroidissement du pluton disponibles dans la littérature. En parallèle, j'ai obtenu les premières données de profondeur de mise en place du batholite de la Cordillère Blanche. Cela m'a permis de proposer une structure du batholite en sills empilés puis basculés vers l'est. De plus, la modélisation des variations spatio-temporelle des taux d'érosion à partir des données de thermochronologie basse température indique une augmentation importante des taux d'érosion dans la Cordillère Blanche à partir de 2 Ma. L'arc Miocène ne semble donc pas contribuer significativement au soulèvement malgré sa probable contribution à l'épaississement de la lithosphère. En revanche, l'érosion glaciaire récente semble contribuer fortement à l'exhumation de la Cordillère Blanche et au basculement du batholite.Dans la dernière partie de ma thèse, pour quantifier l'importance de l'érosion dans la création du relief et le soulèvement, j'ai modélisé l'évolution du paysage de la région (FastScape). Mes modélisations numériques démontrent le rôle majeur de l'érosion et du rebond flexural associé dans la création du relief et les taux de soulèvement. Pour finir, basée sur les données de la littérature et celles apportées par mon travail de thèse, je propose un nouveau modèle pour expliquer la faille normale de la Cordillère Blanche dans son contexte régional. Ce modèle implique une faille normale d'extrado et l'érosion importante du mur de la faille. / My thesis focuses on the mechanisms that controlled the uplift and construction of the relief in the northern Peruvian Andes. In this area, the Cordillera Blanca forms the highest peaks in Peru (> 6000 m), which is a topographic anomaly across the Andes. The morphology of the Cordillera Blanca is marked by an elongated pluton, which outcrops over 150 km. In addition, this pluton is bordered by the largest normal fault from South America. The presence of this major normal fault in a flat-slab context remains surprising because flat slabs usually induce an increase of the shortening in the overriding plate. The aim of my work is to characterize the variations of the regional stress field, the age of the uplift and discuss the geodynamic processes that contributed to relief building. To address these issues, I used a multidisciplinary approach involving new field data, their analysis and modeling.My microtectonic dataset reveals regional extension above the Peruvian flat-slab. This data contradicts the expected increase of shortening in the overriding plate. Modeling my new thermochronologic data shows an increase in the exhumation rates induced by the uplift of the Cordillera Occidental since 15 Ma. I propose that the regional uplift relates to the flattening of the subduction and associated dynamic topography.To address the impact of the Miocene arc on the uplift at a more local scale, I compiled the cooling ages of the pluton available in the literature. In parallel, I obtained the first amphibole thermo-barometry data that constrains emplacement depth of the Cordillera Blanca batholith. Following these data, I propose that the batholith is structured in eastward-tilted sills. In addition, modeling of the space and time variations of erosion rates based on the inversion of thermochronologic data indicates that erosion rates significantly increased in the Cordillera Blanca since 2 Ma. The Miocene arc seems to insignificantly contribute to the local uplift despite its contribution to the thickening of the lithosphere. Thus, I suggest that the recent glacial erosion contributes to the exhumation of the Cordillera Blanca and subsequent tilting of the batholith.Then, I modeled the landscape evolution for the Cordillera Blanca region to quantify the contribution of erosion in the relief building and the uplift. My numerical models (FastScape) evidence the importance of erosion and associated flexural rebound in fostering relief building and the uplift rates.Finally, based on all available data, I propose a new regional model to explain the Cordillera Blanca normal fault. This model implies an extrado normal fault and erosion of the footwall.

No description available.

The kinematics and architecture of orogenic systems may be heavily influenced by climate, but little research has focused on the long-term effects of glacial erosion on orogenesis. Low-temperature thermochronometry and subsidiary structural, earthquake relocation, and offshore seismic reflection data from the St. Elias orogen are the basis for a new architectural model and demonstrate an association between glacial denudation and orogenic evolution. These data show that exhumation and deformation within the St. Elias orogen are focused across a thin-skinned fold and thrust belt on the windward flank, whereas the leeward flank functions as a deformational backstop. A previously unrecognized structure beneath the Bagley ice field separates these domains with south-side-up motion. This structure is interpreted to be a backthrust, making the orogen doubly-vergent. Suggestive of accelerated fault motion in response to climate change, bedrock cooling rates within the hanging wall of the backthrust and across the entire subaerial wedge accelerated ~ten-fold coeval with the onset of intense glacial conditions. Within the orogenic wedge, the zone of highest Quaternary exhumation (5 km/myr (±25%)) is focused around a narrow zone where the glacial equilibrium line altitude (ELA) intersects mean topography. This zone of rapid exhumation, not present prior to the onset of intense glacial conditions, cuts across the structural trend of the orogen and is more narrowly focused than the zone of orographic precipitation. Augmented glacial erosion around glacial ELA also coincided with a regional shift in deformation away from prominent forethrusts including the North American-Yakutat terrane suture (Chugach St. Elias fault) and the seaward deformation front (Pamplona zone). Accelerated denudation across the subaerial wedge thus appears to have forced the redistribution of strain along the backthrust and a series of forethrusts that lie beneath the zone of highest glacial flux, which in turn are systematically truncated by the backthrust. In a cause and effect response, the expansion of glaciers therefore appears to have resulted in an orogen scale structural reorganization and a narrowing of the orogenic wedge to preserve topographic slope. The focusing of long-term erosion around glacial ELA and the structural response of the orogenic wedge to Cenozoic climate change have not previously been observed in a real-world orogenic system and imply a high degree of coupling between climate and tectonics in this glacially-dominated orogen. / Ph. D.

Changes in global climate conditions significantly impact ice sheet and glacier mass change leading to global mean sea level (GMSL) change. One of the largest present-day contributors to GMSL is the Greenland ice sheet (GrIS) and it will likely continue to be so in the future. To accurately predict future ice mass changes, it is crucial to understand the response of GrIS to a changing climate and to correctly represent this behavior in climate models. The GrIS’ contribution to GMSL can in large part be attributed to the loss of ice and snow mass from the ice sheet surface. The surface mass loss has accelerated in the past decades due to increased surface melting and runoff in response to atmospheric warming. Surface melting is strongly controlled by ice albedo, a complex and dynamic property of ice that regulates the amount of solar radiation that is absorbed or reflected by the surface. Absorbed solar radiation leads to heating and melting of the ice surface. However, we lack a comprehensive understanding of the physical processes controlling ice mass loss, including ice albedo. These processes are, therefore, often simplified or crudely parameterized in climate models and subsequently add to large uncertainties in sea level rise predictions. This uncertainty prevents effective mitigation of and adaptation to the effects of climate change and sea level rise. It is, therefore, essential to advance our understanding of these processes and their representation in climate models. In this dissertation, I describe improvements to our understanding of the behavior of the GrIS and pose improvements to climate modeling capabilities that can lead to a reduced uncertainty of sea level rise projections. In the first chapter, I put constraints on the past response of the GrIS to a changing climate. Understanding the response of the GrIS to times in the past when temperatures were as warm or warmer than today offers insights into its current and future response to climate change. The southwestern GrIS retreated inland beyond its current margin during the (at least regionally) warmer-than-present mid-Holocene, before it readvanced. To investigate the timing and magnitude of southwest GrIS retreat and readvance in response to Holocene warmth, we model the response of the solid Earth and local relative sea level (RSL) to past ice sheet change. I compare model predictions to observations of paleo and present-day RSL and present-day vertical land motion around Nuuk, Greenland. I find that the southwest GrIS minimum extent likely occurred between 5 and 3 ka and that the historical maximum extent was likely approached between 2 and 1 ka. Comparing this timing to local and regional records of temperature and ice-sheet change suggest that the evolution of the southwestern GrIS presented here was in-phase with the likely evolution of southwestern GrIS mass balance through the Holocene. In the second chapter, I assess the performance of a regional climate model in simulating the spatiotemporal variability of GrIS ice extent and ice albedo in the period 2000-2021. A large portion of runoff from the GrIS originates from exposure of the darker ice in the ablation zone when the overlying snow melts, where surface albedo plays a critical role in modulating the energy available for melting. Ice albedo is spatially and temporally variable and contingent on non-linear feedbacks and the presence of light-absorbing constituents. An assessment of models aiming at simulating albedo variability and associated impacts on meltwater production is crucial for improving our understanding of the processes governing these feedbacks and, in turn, surface mass loss from Greenland. Our findings suggest that the regional climate model Modèle Atmosphérique Régional (MAR) overestimates ice albedo on average by 22.8 % compared to the ice albedo observations derived from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS). We also find that this ice albedo bias can lead to an underestimation of total meltwater production from the GrIS ice zone of 42.8 %. In the third chapter, I build upon the second chapter and present PIXAL, a physics-informed explainable machine learning architecture for Greenland ice albedo modeling. PIXAL is an Extreme Gradient Boosting (XGBoost) model and is trained on a suite of modeled topographic, atmospheric, radiative, and glaciologic variables from MAR to capture the complex and non-linear relationships with ice albedo observations from MODIS in the period 2000-2021. PIXAL outperforms MAR in modeling ice albedo on the southwestern GrIS. The performance metrics show that PIXAL achieves an R2 of 0.563, an SSIM of 0.620, an MSE of 0.005, and a MAPE of 14.699%, compared to MAR’s R2 of 0.062, SSIM of 0.112, MSE of 0.032, and MAPE of 46.202%. Explainable artificial intelligence (XAI) analysis reveals that topographic features, specifically ice sheet surface height and slope, are primary drivers of ice albedo. Near-surface air temperature and runoff further impact ice albedo. These findings highlight that understanding the complex physical processes underlying ice albedo variability is essential for accurate climate modeling and sea level rise predictions. PIXAL represents a crucial advancement in ice albedo modeling and paves the way for improved climate models that can more accurately estimate GrIS ice surface melting and its contribution to sea level rise. Overall, my results have implications for future ice sheet modeling studies targeting Greenland and provide a deeper understanding of the interactions between the climate and the cryosphere and thus of future ice sheet change.

Declines in glacier area and volume are widespread. These changes will have important hydrologic consequences since glaciers store tremendous amounts of fresh water and buffer seasonally low flows in many densely populated regions. In this thesis I focus on a region that is hydrologically vulnerable to glacier change, namely the Cordillera Blanca, Peru. I present three manuscripts that focus on measuring glacier area change, modeling the effect of this area change on the hydrology of one watershed, and isotopic sampling to elucidate hydrologic processes in this watershed and the entire Cordillera Blanca. In the first manuscript, I describe a methodology for mapping glaciers using satellite imagery. Satellite data, in conjunction with automated glacier mapping methods, are being used more frequently to map changes in glacier size. In contrast to the majority of studies using automated methods, I correct satellite images for atmospheric effects. Mapping glaciers with atmospherically-corrected satellite images resulted in an approximately 5% increase in glacier area, relative to glaciers mapped with non-atmospherically-corrected images. I also applied a consistent threshold that was validated using high-resolution satellite imagery. This helps to reduce error associated with change analysis. For the entire Cordillera Blanca, I calculated a 25% decrease in glacier area from 1987 to 2010. The rate of glacier area loss has increased significantly based on the most recent estimates. In the second manuscript, I use a physically-based, hydrologic model, the Distributed Hydrology Soil Vegetation Model (DHSVM) with a newly-coupled dynamic glacier model to simulate stream discharge and glacier change in the Llanganuco watershed of the Cordillera Blanca. I also examined statistical trends associated with historical records of temperature, precipitation, and discharge. I observed significant positive trends in annual temperature, but no trends in precipitation or discharge despite a 25% reduction in glacier area in this watershed over the same time. The model setup process and the results of sensitivity analyses are described. Of the input parameters I examined, I found that the model was particularly sensitive to changes in albedo and precipitation. Based on established efficiency criteria, the newly-coupled model did a decent job of simulating historical stream discharge and glacier area during 10 year calibration and validation periods. However, due to the lack of additional validation data and an inability to quantify uncertainty associated with model output, the model is not yet ready to be used for predicting future discharge based on different climate projections. In the third manuscript I describe the knowledge gained about hydrologic processes from isotopic sampling in the Llanganuco watershed, as well as other watersheds of the Cordillera Blanca. Thirty water samples from Llanganuco were collected in July 2011 and measured for stable isotopes of water, δ¹⁸O and δ²H. I first calculated the isotopic lapse rate, or the relationship between isotopic values and elevation. Lapse rates from this watershed are slightly more positive than global averages. This observation is best explained by the influence of glaciers. I also calculated the strength of the relationship between isotopic values and percent glacier cover. For Llanganuco, glacier cover is a better predictor of isotopic value than elevation. Based on examination of the same relationships at larger scales in the Cordillera Blanca, this relationship appears to be persistent at a regional scale. Finally, I used a simple two-component mixing model to estimate the relative contributions of glacier meltwater and groundwater in the Llanganuco watershed. Glacier meltwater made up approximately three-fourths of surface water that exited the watershed during this two week period in July, 2011. The importance of glacier meltwater is clearly demonstrated using stable isotopes, but further, more detailed monthly sampling is necessary to accurately determine annual and dry season streamflow contributions from glacier meltwater and groundwater. / Graduation date: 2013