Himalayan sandpiles

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Abstract
Himalayan avalanches are examined for agreement with power-law behavior between frequency of outfall and rock volume. The data support a scaling state beyond the size ranges in which corresponding sandpile experiments have suffered from finite-size effects. Large-scale data (12 orders of magnitude in rock volume) additionally suggest a possible role for the numerically predicted ‘‘snowball effects’’ of large rocks triggering more net dislodging events.