Morpho.field.catch – Morphometry versus fieldwork: Classifying debris flow, debris flood and fluvial flow processes on alluvial fans influenced by carbonate bedrock catchments

Title
Acronym
The role of GeoZS
Participants
Morpho.field.catch – Morphometry versus fieldwork: Classifying debris flow, debris flood and fluvial flow processes on alluvial fans influenced by carbonate bedrock catchments
Morpho.field.catch, Z1-70003
Dr Andrej Novak (Head)
Start of the project
End of the project
Programme
Funding
Link to the project website
01.03.2026
29.02.2028
Postdoctoral research project
ARIS
18. March, 2026

Content

Alluvial fans are sedimentary bodies typical for mountainous environments. Sediment from the fan’s catchment is transported via the watershed onto the fan’s surface by water. Fans are built by a variety of sedimentary processes influenced by climatic and weather conditions, their morphometric parameters of fan and its catchment, and lithology of the catchment. Morphometric analysis of fan and catchment topography (angle and size of the fan and its catchment, watershed length, Melton’s coefficient etc.) can robustly recognise the predominant sedimentary process. Morphometric analysis however does not consider the ability of the catchment lithology to weather into fine grained sediment (fine sand, silt, and clay), which considerably influence the sedimentary process outcome. Carbonate rocks, which are very common in several mountain ranges, are an example of a lithology without this ability. Determining prevailing sedimentary process on fans with carbonate rocks only through morphometric analysis can therefore be misleading. 

The aim of this postdoctoral project is to study the relation between morphometry of alluvial fan catchment lithology, and the prevailing sedimentary process. The study will be based on available geological and geomorphological maps, freely available topographic data derived from lidar scanning, data on documented mass-movement events and fieldwork derived data from the Slovenian Alps which are predominantly built by carbonate rocks. We will perform morphometric and fieldwork analyses of the prevailing sedimentary processes on fans with catchments built solely of carbonate rocks. Comparison of the results derived from the two analyses will establish the influence of carbonate rock catchments on the prevailing sedimentary processes. Additionally, the results will provide new limiting values for the morphometric classification on fans with catchment lithology that does not produce fine-grained sediment. 

Work Packages:

  • Project management

  • Defining the research sites

    • Compilation of active alluvial fans with CBC

    • Morphometric analysis of the studied alluvial fans

  • Field work analysis (Identifying sedimentary process based on field work analysis.)

  • Comparing morphometric and field work analysis

    • Establishing corrected morphometric parameters for processes on alluvial fans with carbonate bedrock catchments

  • Dissemination of results