Stephen E. Darby
Drainage and erosion of Cambodia's Great Lake in the middle-late Holocene: the combined role of climatic drying, base-level fall and river capture
Darby, Stephen E.; Langdon, Peter G.; Best, James L; Leyland, Julian; Hackney, Christopher; Marti, Mackenzie; Morgan, Peter R.; Ben, Savuth; Aalto, Rolf; Parsons, Daniel R.; Nicholas, Andrew P.; Leng, Melanie J.
Authors
Peter G. Langdon
James L Best
Julian Leyland
Christopher Hackney
Mackenzie Marti
Peter R. Morgan
Savuth Ben
Rolf Aalto
Professor Daniel Parsons D.Parsons@hull.ac.uk
Professor in Sedimentology/ Director, Energy and Environment Institute
Andrew P. Nicholas
Melanie J. Leng
Abstract
We provide evidence for a large-scale geomorphic event in Cambodia’s great lake, the Tonlé Sap, during the middle Holocene. The present-day hydrology of the basin is dominated by an annual flood pulse where water from the Mekong River raises the lake level by c. 8m during the monsoon season. We present new subsurface geophysical data, allied to new and past core studies, which unequivocally show a period of major mid-Holocene erosion across the entire Tonlé Sap basin that is coincident with establishment of the lake’s flood pulse. We argue that this widespread erosion, which removed at least 1.2 m of sediment across the lake’s extent, was triggered by up to three, likely interacting, processes: (1) base-level lowering due to mid-Holocene sea-level fall, leading to (2) capture of the Tonlé Sap drainage by the Mekong River, and (3) a drying climate that also reduced lake level. Longer-term landscape evolution was thus punctuated by a rapid, river capture- and base-level fall-induced, lake drainage that established the ecosystem that flourishes today. The scale of change induced by this mid-Holocene river capture event demonstrates the susceptibility of the Tonlé Sap to ongoing changes in local base-level and hydrology induced by anthropogenic activity, such as damming and sand mining, within the Mekong River Basin.
Citation
Leng, M. J., Nicholas, A. P., Morgan, P. R., Hackney, C. R., Langdon, P. G., Best, J. L., …Penh, D. (2020). Drainage and erosion of Cambodia's Great Lake in the middle-late Holocene: the combined role of climatic drying, base-level fall and river capture. Quaternary science reviews, 236, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quascirev.2020.106265
Journal Article Type | Article |
---|---|
Acceptance Date | Mar 9, 2020 |
Online Publication Date | Apr 8, 2020 |
Publication Date | May 15, 2020 |
Deposit Date | Mar 9, 2020 |
Publicly Available Date | Apr 9, 2022 |
Journal | Quaternary Science Reviews |
Print ISSN | 0277-3791 |
Publisher | Elsevier |
Peer Reviewed | Peer Reviewed |
Volume | 236 |
Article Number | 106265 |
DOI | https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quascirev.2020.106265 |
Public URL | https://hull-repository.worktribe.com/output/3467395 |
Files
This file is under embargo until Apr 9, 2022 due to copyright reasons.
Contact D.Parsons@hull.ac.uk to request a copy for personal use.
You might also like
The logistics service providers in eco-efficiency innovation: An empirical study
(2013)
Journal Article
Aligning product design with supply chain: a case study
(2012)
Journal Article
Approaches to managing global sourcing risk
(2011)
Journal Article
The impact of product design on supply chain risk: A case study
(2008)
Journal Article
Responsiveness and hypercompetition - Consequences for supply chain management
(2003)
Conference Proceeding