Title: A Morphometric Analysis of Existing Glaciers in the Punjab Himalayas, India
Abstract: On the basis of topographical maps (Scale 1:50, 000), a morphometric analysis was conducted to make clear the relationships between the altitudinal distribution and the size of existing glaciers in a part of the Punjab Himalayas, India. The study area carrying 118 glaciers stands 5, 000 to 6, 000 metres high in the Great Himalayas. The following eight variables were selected to explain the glacial morphology; a) elevation of the top of mountain behind the glacier, b) elevation of the top of glacier, c) elevation of the terminal of glacier, d) length of glacier, e) area of glacier, f) slope of glacier, g) relative height of glacier, h) relative height between the top of mountain and the top of glacier. Glaciers in this area can be divided into two; glaciers with simple nourishment area (S type) and glaciers with complex nourishment area (C type). The former consists of cirque type glacier (SC type) and valley type glacier (SV type). The latter also consists of cirque type glacier (CC type) and valley type glacier (CV) type). Correlation coefficients of the above variables in each type of glaciers are shown in Tables 3 to 8.The characteristics of glaciers in this study area may safely be summarized as follows:1) In all types of glacier, very good correlation is recognized between length and area of glaciers, which is quite acceptable. Positive correlations between the elevation of the top of mountain and the elevation of the top of glacier, and between the elevation of the top of mountain and the elevation of the terminal of glacier, suggest that the higher mountain keeps the glaciers at higher position.2) In SC and CV types, the elevations of the top of mountain and the terminal of glacier are not significantly correlated with length and area of glaciers. Especially, in the case of SC type the size of glacier is rarely affected with the altitudinal distribution.3) Regarding C type, the higher mountain nourishes the more extensive glacier. However, the size of glacier is not correlated with the elevation of the terminal of glacier.In the case of SV type and in the case of S type, the higher mountain keeps the more extensive glacier which spreads the terminal downward, although in general the higher mountain leads the terminal of glacier higher.