First Alps-wide reconstruction of LGM glacial sediment transport enabled by GPU-accelerated particle tracking - Supplementary Data

The data provided in this Zenodo repository accompanies the study by Leger et al. (2026) entitled:

"First Alps-wide reconstruction of LGM glacial sediment transport enabled by GPU-accelerated particle tracking"

Authors: Tancrède P.M. Leger, Guillaume Jouvet, Sarah Kamleitner, Brandon D. Finley, Maxime Bernard, Balthazar Allegri, Frédéric Herman, Andreas Vieli, Andreas Henz, Samuel U. Nussbaumer

and published in: Earth Surface Dynamics (Copernicus Publications), in 05/2026. PLEASE make sure to cite the above original publication when making use of- and/or when referring to- these data.

The data shared here are composed of 7 main datasets:

1) SINK_TO_SOURCE_CATALOGUE

Series of maps and histograms presenting glacially-transported particle trajectories and particle statistics for particles ending up in each of the 49 sinks (ice contact deposit) after final modelled Alpine-Ice-Field retreat from LGM margins. The data are presented for both supraglacial and subglacial particle seeding separately. The first 3 PNGs in the list provide an index map of the 49 sinks, a map of all hydrological basins (and their IDs and name) for reference to our particle provenance analysis, and a legend description. More details can be found in the main paper's Methods section. 

    2) SOURCE_TO_SINK_CATALOGUE

Series of maps presenting glacially-transported particle trajectories and possible deposition location for particles corresponding to each surface lithology (n=22) selected as a source in our catalogue: i.e. an area (outcrops) in which particle seeding occurred at any point during the simulations (40-18 ka). The first PNG shows an index map of these lithologies. This folder also features a folder entitled "Lithologies" in which one will find the 1:500,000 Italian Geological map sheets used for digitizing most lithologies (https://www.socgeol.it/438/structural-model-of-italy-scale-1-500-000.html), as well as polygon shapefiles, detailed descriptions and scientific references for each surface lithology selected as a source in our analysis. More details can be found in the main paper's Methods section. 

3) ICE_TRANSFLUENCE_CATALOGUE

Series of 6 maps showing simplified static flowlines during the LGM, the main modelled ice domes of the Alpine Ice Field, and the resulting ice transfluences for the largest hydrological catchments in the Alps. One will find more details in specific READ_ME files and legend description inside the relevant folder as well as in the main Paper.  

4) VIDEOS_IGM_SIM_SUBGLACIAL_SEEDING

Series of 10 videos showing the time-transient evolution of the simulated Alpine Ice Field during the LGM and, more specifically, its modelled ice surface velocity as well as modelled particles. The videos are zoomed in within 10 different regions of the Alps, focusing on main outlet glaciers (whose names are indicated in the video file name). This folder contains videos exclusively for simulations with subglacial particle seeding (abrasion, plucking): see Figs. 1,2 in main paper. These videos can also ve viewed online, directly via the IGM model YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@IGMGlacierModel/playlists

5) VIDEOS_IGM_SIM_SUPRAGLACIAL_SEEDING

Series of 10 videos showing the time-transient evolution of the simulated Alpine Ice Field during the LGM and, more specifically, its modelled ice surface velocity as well as modelled particles. The videos are zoomed in within 10 different regions of the Alps, focusing on main outlet glaciers (whose names are indicated in the video file name). This folder contains videos exclusively for simulations with supraglacial particle seeding (rockfall, landslides, rock avalanches, etc): see Figs. 1,2 in main paper.These videos can also ve viewed online, directly via the IGM model YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@IGMGlacierModel/playlists

6) PARTICLES_TRAJECTORIES_SHAPEFILES

This folder presents, for each seeding type (subglacial, supraglacial) and for both our 'sink-to-source' and 'source-to-sink' analyses, line shapefiles of glacially-transported particle trajectories for particles ending up in each sink (n=49) or seeded in each source (n=22). Essentially: these present the same data as shown in maps of our sink-to-source and source-to-sink catalogues (datasets 1 and 2 above) but under shapefile format: which can then be loaded and visualized in GIS softwares. CAUTION: these shapefiles are highly compressed in individual folders: If one unzips all folders and all shapefiles: the data will become very large (80 GB).

7) REPRODUCE_IGM_SIMULATIONS

This folder features the necessary files, codes, and detailed instructions to install the same version of IGM as used in this study, and reproduce the exact same IGM simulations (subglacial particle seeding, and supraglacial particle seeding) conducted in this study. CAUTION:  these simulations are computationally demanding, and will require a powerful GPU with a least 24 GB of memory access. In our study: we used the NVIDIA RTX 4090 GPU. The simulations will fail upon launch if the GPU used does not have enough access to memory (because of the large domain grid).