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Glacial lakes

  • Posted By
    10Pointer
  • Categories
    Geography
  • Published
    10th Feb, 2021

Glacial lakes are thought to be a major reason behind the recent flood at Uttarakhand.

Context

Glacial lakes are thought to be a major reason behind the recent flood at Uttarakhand.

What are Glacial lakes?

  • A glacial lake is a body of water with origins from glacier activity.
  • They are formed when a glacier erodes the land, and then melts, filling the depression created by the glacier.

Threats from Glacial lakes

  • Over the years, the frequency of formation of these lakes has increased.
  • But despite that, there are not many GLOF (glacial lake outburst flood) events happening in Uttarakhand. This is because Uttarakhand has very steep slopes, and the water manages to find a way out.
  • But there are over 1,200 big and small lakes in the high mountains of Uttarakhand. Many of them are increasing in size.
  • A lot of them do pose a threat of similar kinds of incidents.
  • There are also no storage dams being constructed in this area. This also poses a threat to these lakes.

Verifying, please be patient.

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