Genesis of the Potholes in China ——Comments on Moulin Discovery
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    Abstract:

    The landform similar to mortar was called “moulin” by Han Tonglin and some other scholars. They considered these landforms were formed by the scouring of meltwater, which ran through the crevasses from top to bottom and its continual dropping wore away the bedrock. Therefore, the “moulins” and “moulin groups” are regarded as a very important evidence of ancient glaciers. Actually, the socalled “moulins” or “moulin groups” are multiple genesis landforms, called “kettle holes” or “potholes” in modern geomorphology. Reviewing the available literatures, the most chaos was caused by Moulin Discovery that has been written by Mr. Han Tonglin. On the sight of glaciology, the theories such as glacier movement and ablation, which do not support the view that “Moulin” is formed by glacialization .The following are some comments on the mistakes in that book. Firstly, according to the knowledge of glaciology, moulins or moulin groups are a kind of negative relief on glacier surface and formed by melting, rather than the bedrock. In other words, they refer to glacial ice, not the bedrock. Secondly, Brgger’s hypothesis of moulin formation—— meltwater penetrated through crevasses to erode the bedrock has already been abandoned. However, Mr. Han chose this abandoned hypothesis to interpretate the formation of moulins or moulin groups in his book. On the basis of glacier knowledge, it is impossible for moulins or moulin groups to form beneath glaciers due to the movement of glacier. Thirdly, the hypothesis of cylindrical roller meltwater flow that focus on one point to erode the bedrock is not consistent with the facts, for the meltwater lubricates the glacier's bottom and accelerates its movement. In addition, there are more or less rock debris and confined groundwater at the bottom of glacier, they will keep the bedrock from erosion. The above comments indicate that the hypothesis in Han Tonglin's book is not correct, it is just a surmise of Mr. Han Tonglin and some other scholars.

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SU Zhen, PU Jianchen, ZHAO Jingdong.2017. Genesis of the Potholes in China ——Comments on Moulin Discovery[J]. Geological Review,63(1):143-152.

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History
  • Received:December 16,2015
  • Revised:November 11,2016
  • Adopted:
  • Online: January 20,2017
  • Published: