Conclusion : L'érosion dans les Alpes occidentales : contribution à un bilan des mesures et des méthodes / Erosion in the western Alps : a contribution to an assesment of measurements and methods

摘要

Abstract: The article presents a rapid overview of erosion measurements conducted over recent decades in mountain environments in the Alps. The processes of erosion examined are those at work in the glacial, periglacial, fluvial and karstic morphogenetic systems. A hierarchy of erosion rates can be observed according to the type of process and the method of measurement chosen. Mean annual erosion rates vary from a few tenths of a millimetre to a few millimetres per year in glacial, periglacial and karstic areas, depending on structural and lithological characteristics. The highest rates seem to be associated with gully formation in marly catchment areas, with an average rate of about a centimetre per year. Significant differences in the values obtained can also be attributed to the types of method used. In general, single-point measurements give higher erosion rates than more general measurements for a wider area. A critical study of the of these methods is proposed.