Dating Torrential Processes on Fans and Cones

Water-related processes such as floods, debris floods, flash floods, and debris flows represent major geomorphic hazards in mountain areas of the world. Recent decades have seen human pressures on these regions increase, aggravating conflicts between natural hazards and infrastructure. Detailed knowledge on frequency and magnitude of past flood or debris-flow events on alluvial fans and cones remains scarce, although it is widely accepted that such knowledge is of crucial importance for the assessment of hazards, mitigation of risks, and land-use planning. Archival records on the occurrence of past events are often fragmentary or even completely missing. Modern methods of historical dating of past debris-flow and flood events such as dendrochronology, radiocarbon dating, lichenometry and many more can provide valuable insights into past process activity and thus add key detail to the historical record. This book provides a detailed overview on methods used for the dating of past torrential activity on fans and cones and fosters the discussion on the impact of past and potential future climate change on torrential processes. The book has a clear focus on the practical applications of these methods, complemented by case studies. The limits of each dating method in case of excessive natural and human interventions on fans and cones are shown.