A massive rock and ice avalanche caused the 2021 disaster at Chamoli, Indian Himalaya

D H Shugar¹, M Jacquemart^{2

3

4}, D Shean⁵, S Bhushan⁵, K Upadhyay⁶, A Sattar⁷, W Schwanghart⁸, S McBride⁹, M Van Wyk de Vries^{10

11}, M Mergili^{12

13}, A Emmer¹², C Deschamps-Berger¹⁴, M McDonnell¹⁵, R Bhambri¹⁶, S Allen^{7

17}, E Berthier¹⁸, J L Carrivick^{19

20}, J J Clague²¹, M Dokukin²², S A Dunning²³, H Frey⁷, S Gascoin¹⁴, U K Haritashya²⁴, C Huggel⁷, A Kääb²⁵, J S Kargel²⁶, J L Kavanaugh²⁷, P Lacroix²⁸, D Petley²⁹, S Rupper¹⁵, M F Azam³⁰, S J Cook^{31

32}, A P Dimri³³, M Eriksson³⁴, D Farinotti^{3

4}, J Fiddes³⁵, K R Gnyawali³⁶, S Harrison³⁷, M Jha³⁸, M Koppes³⁹, A Kumar⁴⁰, S Leinss⁴¹, U Majeed⁴², S Mal⁴³, A Muhuri^{14

44}, J Noetzli³⁵, F Paul⁷, I Rashid⁴², K Sain⁴⁰, J Steiner^{45

46}, F Ugalde^{47

48}, C S Watson⁴⁹, M J Westoby⁵⁰

Affiliations

¹ Water, Sediment, Hazards, and Earth-surface Dynamics (waterSHED) Lab, Department of Geoscience, University of Calgary, AB, Canada. daniel.shugar@ucalgary.ca.
² Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO, USA.
³ Laboratory of Hydraulics, Hydrology, and Glaciology (VAW), ETH Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland.
⁴ Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research WSL, Birmensdorf, Switzerland.
⁵ Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA.
⁶ Independent journalist/water policy researcher, Nainital, Uttarakhand, India.
⁷ Department of Geography, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland.
⁸ Institute of Environmental Science and Geography, University of Potsdam, Potsdam, Germany.
⁹ U.S. Geological Survey, Earthquake Science Center, Moffett Field, CA, USA.
¹⁰ Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, USA.
¹¹ St. Anthony Falls Laboratory, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, USA.
¹² Institute of Geography and Regional Science, University of Graz, Graz, Austria.
¹³ Institute of Applied Geology, University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences (BOKU), Vienna, Austria.
¹⁴ Centre d'Etudes Spatiales de la Biosphère (CESBIO), Université de Toulouse, CNES/CNRS/INRAE/IRD/UP, Toulouse, France.
¹⁵ Department of Geography, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah, USA.
¹⁶ Department of Geography, South Asia Institute, Heidelberg University, Heidelberg, Germany.
¹⁷ Institute for Environmental Sciences, University of Geneva, Switzerland.
¹⁸ Laboratoire d'Etudes en Géophysique et Océanographie Spatiales (LEGOS), Université de Toulouse, CNES/CNRS/IRD/UPS, Toulouse, France.
¹⁹ School of Geography, University of Leeds, Leeds, West Yorkshire, UK.
²⁰ water@leeds, University of Leeds, Leeds, West Yorkshire, UK.
²¹ Department of Earth Sciences, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, BC, Canada.
²² Department of Natural Disasters, High-Mountain Geophysical Institute, Nalchik, Russia.
²³ School of Geography, Politics, and Sociology, Newcastle University, Newcastle, UK.
²⁴ Department of Geology and Environmental Geosciences, University of Dayton, Dayton, OH, USA.
²⁵ Department of Geosciences, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway.
²⁶ Planetary Science Institute, Tucson, AZ, USA.
²⁷ Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB, Canada.
²⁸ ISTerre, Université Grenoble Alpes, IRD, CNRS, Grenoble, France.
²⁹ Department of Geography, The University of Sheffield, Sheffield, UK.
³⁰ Indian Institute of Technology Indore, Madhya Pradesh, Indore, India.
³¹ Department of Geography and Environmental Science, University of Dundee, Dundee, UK.
³² United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) Centre for Water Law, Policy, and Science, University of Dundee, Dundee, UK.
³³ School of Environmental Sciences, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, India.
³⁴ Stockholm International Water Institute, Stockholm, Sweden.
³⁵ WSL Institute for Snow and Avalanche Research SLF, Davos, Switzerland.
³⁶ School of Engineering, University of British Columbia, Kelowna, BC, Canada.
³⁷ College of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Exeter, Penryn, UK.
³⁸ Department of Mines and Geology, National Earthquake Monitoring and Research Center, Kathmandu, Nepal.
³⁹ Department of Geography, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada.
⁴⁰ Wadia Institute of Himalayan Geology, Dehradun, Uttarakhand, India.
⁴¹ Institute of Environmental Engineering (IfU), ETH Zurich, 8093 Zürich, Switzerland.
⁴² Department of Geoinformatics, University of Kashmir, Hazratbal Srinagar, Jammu and Kashmir, India.
⁴³ Department of Geography, Shaheed Bhagat Singh College, University of Delhi, Delhi, India.
⁴⁴ Institute of Geography, Heidelberg University, Germany.
⁴⁵ International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development, Kathmandu, Nepal.
⁴⁶ Department of Physical Geography, Utrecht University, Netherlands.
⁴⁷ Geoestudios, San José de Maipo, Chile.
⁴⁸ Department of Geology, University of Chile, Santiago, Chile.
⁴⁹ Centre for Observation and Modelling of Earthquakes, Volcanoes and Tectonics (COMET), School of Earth and Environment, University of Leeds, Leeds, UK.
⁵⁰ Department of Geography and Environmental Sciences, Northumbria University, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK.

PMID: 34112725
DOI: 10.1126/science.abh4455

Free article

A massive rock and ice avalanche caused the 2021 disaster at Chamoli, Indian Himalaya

D H Shugar et al. Science. 2021.

Free article

. 2021 Jul 16;373(6552):300-306.

doi: 10.1126/science.abh4455. Epub 2021 Jun 10.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ Water, Sediment, Hazards, and Earth-surface Dynamics (waterSHED) Lab, Department of Geoscience, University of Calgary, AB, Canada. daniel.shugar@ucalgary.ca.
² Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO, USA.
³ Laboratory of Hydraulics, Hydrology, and Glaciology (VAW), ETH Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland.
⁴ Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research WSL, Birmensdorf, Switzerland.
⁵ Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA.
⁶ Independent journalist/water policy researcher, Nainital, Uttarakhand, India.
⁷ Department of Geography, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland.
⁸ Institute of Environmental Science and Geography, University of Potsdam, Potsdam, Germany.
⁹ U.S. Geological Survey, Earthquake Science Center, Moffett Field, CA, USA.
¹⁰ Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, USA.
¹¹ St. Anthony Falls Laboratory, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, USA.
¹² Institute of Geography and Regional Science, University of Graz, Graz, Austria.
¹³ Institute of Applied Geology, University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences (BOKU), Vienna, Austria.
¹⁴ Centre d'Etudes Spatiales de la Biosphère (CESBIO), Université de Toulouse, CNES/CNRS/INRAE/IRD/UP, Toulouse, France.
¹⁵ Department of Geography, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah, USA.
¹⁶ Department of Geography, South Asia Institute, Heidelberg University, Heidelberg, Germany.
¹⁷ Institute for Environmental Sciences, University of Geneva, Switzerland.
¹⁸ Laboratoire d'Etudes en Géophysique et Océanographie Spatiales (LEGOS), Université de Toulouse, CNES/CNRS/IRD/UPS, Toulouse, France.
¹⁹ School of Geography, University of Leeds, Leeds, West Yorkshire, UK.
²⁰ water@leeds, University of Leeds, Leeds, West Yorkshire, UK.
²¹ Department of Earth Sciences, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, BC, Canada.
²² Department of Natural Disasters, High-Mountain Geophysical Institute, Nalchik, Russia.
²³ School of Geography, Politics, and Sociology, Newcastle University, Newcastle, UK.
²⁴ Department of Geology and Environmental Geosciences, University of Dayton, Dayton, OH, USA.
²⁵ Department of Geosciences, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway.
²⁶ Planetary Science Institute, Tucson, AZ, USA.
²⁷ Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB, Canada.
²⁸ ISTerre, Université Grenoble Alpes, IRD, CNRS, Grenoble, France.
²⁹ Department of Geography, The University of Sheffield, Sheffield, UK.
³⁰ Indian Institute of Technology Indore, Madhya Pradesh, Indore, India.
³¹ Department of Geography and Environmental Science, University of Dundee, Dundee, UK.
³² United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) Centre for Water Law, Policy, and Science, University of Dundee, Dundee, UK.
³³ School of Environmental Sciences, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, India.
³⁴ Stockholm International Water Institute, Stockholm, Sweden.
³⁵ WSL Institute for Snow and Avalanche Research SLF, Davos, Switzerland.
³⁶ School of Engineering, University of British Columbia, Kelowna, BC, Canada.
³⁷ College of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Exeter, Penryn, UK.
³⁸ Department of Mines and Geology, National Earthquake Monitoring and Research Center, Kathmandu, Nepal.
³⁹ Department of Geography, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada.
⁴⁰ Wadia Institute of Himalayan Geology, Dehradun, Uttarakhand, India.
⁴¹ Institute of Environmental Engineering (IfU), ETH Zurich, 8093 Zürich, Switzerland.
⁴² Department of Geoinformatics, University of Kashmir, Hazratbal Srinagar, Jammu and Kashmir, India.
⁴³ Department of Geography, Shaheed Bhagat Singh College, University of Delhi, Delhi, India.
⁴⁴ Institute of Geography, Heidelberg University, Germany.
⁴⁵ International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development, Kathmandu, Nepal.
⁴⁶ Department of Physical Geography, Utrecht University, Netherlands.
⁴⁷ Geoestudios, San José de Maipo, Chile.
⁴⁸ Department of Geology, University of Chile, Santiago, Chile.
⁴⁹ Centre for Observation and Modelling of Earthquakes, Volcanoes and Tectonics (COMET), School of Earth and Environment, University of Leeds, Leeds, UK.
⁵⁰ Department of Geography and Environmental Sciences, Northumbria University, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK.

PMID: 34112725
DOI: 10.1126/science.abh4455

Abstract

On 7 February 2021, a catastrophic mass flow descended the Ronti Gad, Rishiganga, and Dhauliganga valleys in Chamoli, Uttarakhand, India, causing widespread devastation and severely damaging two hydropower projects. More than 200 people were killed or are missing. Our analysis of satellite imagery, seismic records, numerical model results, and eyewitness videos reveals that ~27 × 10⁶ cubic meters of rock and glacier ice collapsed from the steep north face of Ronti Peak. The rock and ice avalanche rapidly transformed into an extraordinarily large and mobile debris flow that transported boulders greater than 20 meters in diameter and scoured the valley walls up to 220 meters above the valley floor. The intersection of the hazard cascade with downvalley infrastructure resulted in a disaster, which highlights key questions about adequate monitoring and sustainable development in the Himalaya as well as other remote, high-mountain environments.

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A massive rock and ice avalanche caused the 2021 disaster at Chamoli, Indian Himalaya

Affiliations

A massive rock and ice avalanche caused the 2021 disaster at Chamoli, Indian Himalaya

Authors

Affiliations

Abstract

Publication types

LinkOut - more resources

Full Text Sources