---
DOAJ_listed: '1'
OA_place: publisher
OA_type: gold
_id: '21708'
abstract:
- lang: eng
  text: On October 4, 2023, a proglacial lake named the South Lhonak lake was the
    source of a catastrophic Glacier Lake Outburst Flood (GLOF) in the Teesta river
    basin area, resulting in 24 fatalities and leaving over 70 persons missing. The
    GLOF also destroyed 13 bridges and a major hydropower plant in the Chungthang
    region. Over 60,000 individuals in four districts of Sikkim were impacted by this
    GLOF event. This study examines the factors that led to the GLOF event. Our study
    shows that the cause of this GLOF was initiated by a landslide, that dumped a
    substantial amount (~ 38.31 million m3) of debris into the South Lhonak Lake.
    Furthermore, the glacier that was connected to the lake, lost a big chunk of ice
    mass (~ 7 million m3) due to calving. The combination of these two processes led
    to the collapse of the left lateral moraine that consequently generated flood
    waves which breached the terminal moraine dam of the lake. We recommend monitoring
    land subsidence and calving events for large proglacial lakes to prevent the disastrous
    consequences of such GLOFs in the future.
acknowledgement: This work was carried out independently without the support of any
  funding agency or sponsors. The authors thank the SARPROZ team for providing an
  evaluation license for the MTInSAR processing software.
article_number: '9741'
article_processing_charge: Yes
article_type: original
author:
- first_name: Litan Kumar
  full_name: Mohanty, Litan Kumar
  last_name: Mohanty
- first_name: Prateek
  full_name: Gantayat, Prateek
  id: 02734268-3e8d-11ef-80a1-cec4a088d004
  last_name: Gantayat
- first_name: Ankur
  full_name: Dixit, Ankur
  last_name: Dixit
- first_name: Manik
  full_name: Das Adhikari, Manik
  last_name: Das Adhikari
- first_name: Rahul
  full_name: Biswas, Rahul
  last_name: Biswas
- first_name: Vivek Kumar
  full_name: Singh, Vivek Kumar
  last_name: Singh
citation:
  ama: Mohanty LK, GANTAYAT P, Dixit A, Das Adhikari M, Biswas R, Singh VK. Sequence
    of events that led to the South Lhonak lake outburst flood in Sikkim, India. <i>Scientific
    Reports</i>. 2026;16. doi:<a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-026-35895-7">10.1038/s41598-026-35895-7</a>
  apa: Mohanty, L. K., GANTAYAT, P., Dixit, A., Das Adhikari, M., Biswas, R., &#38;
    Singh, V. K. (2026). Sequence of events that led to the South Lhonak lake outburst
    flood in Sikkim, India. <i>Scientific Reports</i>. Springer Nature. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-026-35895-7">https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-026-35895-7</a>
  chicago: Mohanty, Litan Kumar, PRATEEK GANTAYAT, Ankur Dixit, Manik Das Adhikari,
    Rahul Biswas, and Vivek Kumar Singh. “Sequence of Events That Led to the South
    Lhonak Lake Outburst Flood in Sikkim, India.” <i>Scientific Reports</i>. Springer
    Nature, 2026. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-026-35895-7">https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-026-35895-7</a>.
  ieee: L. K. Mohanty, P. GANTAYAT, A. Dixit, M. Das Adhikari, R. Biswas, and V. K.
    Singh, “Sequence of events that led to the South Lhonak lake outburst flood in
    Sikkim, India,” <i>Scientific Reports</i>, vol. 16. Springer Nature, 2026.
  ista: Mohanty LK, GANTAYAT P, Dixit A, Das Adhikari M, Biswas R, Singh VK. 2026.
    Sequence of events that led to the South Lhonak lake outburst flood in Sikkim,
    India. Scientific Reports. 16, 9741.
  mla: Mohanty, Litan Kumar, et al. “Sequence of Events That Led to the South Lhonak
    Lake Outburst Flood in Sikkim, India.” <i>Scientific Reports</i>, vol. 16, 9741,
    Springer Nature, 2026, doi:<a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-026-35895-7">10.1038/s41598-026-35895-7</a>.
  short: L.K. Mohanty, P. GANTAYAT, A. Dixit, M. Das Adhikari, R. Biswas, V.K. Singh,
    Scientific Reports 16 (2026).
corr_author: '1'
date_created: 2026-04-12T22:01:48Z
date_published: 2026-03-24T00:00:00Z
date_updated: 2026-05-04T07:54:53Z
day: '24'
ddc:
- '550'
department:
- _id: FrPe
doi: 10.1038/s41598-026-35895-7
external_id:
  pmid:
  - '41876546'
file:
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  creator: dernst
  date_created: 2026-05-04T07:24:59Z
  date_updated: 2026-05-04T07:24:59Z
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  file_size: 17406006
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file_date_updated: 2026-05-04T07:24:59Z
has_accepted_license: '1'
intvolume: '        16'
language:
- iso: eng
license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
month: '03'
oa: 1
oa_version: Published Version
pmid: 1
publication: Scientific Reports
publication_identifier:
  eissn:
  - 2045-2322
publication_status: published
publisher: Springer Nature
quality_controlled: '1'
scopus_import: '1'
status: public
title: Sequence of events that led to the South Lhonak lake outburst flood in Sikkim,
  India
tmp:
  image: /images/cc_by_nc_nd.png
  legal_code_url: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/legalcode
  name: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International
    (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0)
  short: CC BY-NC-ND (4.0)
type: journal_article
user_id: 2DF688A6-F248-11E8-B48F-1D18A9856A87
volume: 16
year: '2026'
...