Ecohydrological and geomorphological importance of glacial lakes

作者：Taigang Zhang, Weicai Wang, Adam Emmer, Gang Jin, Keshao Liu, Baosheng An, Tandong Yao · 发表于：Earth-Science Reviews · 年份：2025 · DOI：10.1016/j.earscirev.2025.105356 · 被引用次数：4 · 研究领域：Cryospheric studies and observations、Peatlands and Wetlands Ecology、Polar Research and Ecology

Rapidly expanding glacial lakes are transforming cryospheric, hydrologic, ecologic, and societal dynamics worldwide. They affect water resources, hydropower, sediment transport, and carbon cycles while also being influenced by the increased instability and interactions with their surroundings due to global warming. Here, we present a state-of-the-art synthesis on glacial lakes, focusing on their ecohydrological and geomorphological importance. First, warming-driven deglaciation is inducing extensive glacial lake expansion, enhancing freshwater storage capacity and hydropower potential. Sediment-rich meltwater promotes underwater weathering, positioning glacial lakes as important yet underrecognized carbon sinks, with a preliminary global carbon consumption flux estimated at over 0.26 Tg C-CO 2 yr −1 . Second, glacial lakes profoundly reshape high mountain landscapes by acting as sediment sinks, drivers of catastrophic sediment transport events, and modulators of cascading hazards. They trap sediment fluxes from glacier-fed systems, creating long-term geological archives and influencing downstream geomorphology. Extreme lake outbursts can mobilize vast quantities of sediment, dramatically altering river networks, floodplains, and valley morphology. Moreover, interactions between expanding proglacial lakes, retreating and calving glaciers, and unstable ice-rich moraine dams heighten geomorphic instability under ongoing warming, increasing the susceptibility of lake outbursts. O...