Distribution and characteristics of rock glaciers in the southern part of Jasper National Park, Alberta

1978 ◽  
Vol 15 (4) ◽  
pp. 540-550 ◽  
Author(s):  
B. H. Luckman ◽  
K. J. Crockett
Keyword(s):  
Little Ice Age ◽  
National Park ◽  
Ice Age ◽  
Rock Glacier ◽  
Genetic Classification ◽  
Climatic Fluctuations ◽  
Glacial Ice ◽  
Jasper National Park ◽  
Rock Glaciers ◽  
Two Phases

One hundred and nineteen rock glaciers were identified in an aerial photograph inventory of 4632 km2 in Jasper National Park, Alberta. Morphological subdivision indicated 33 lobate, 76 tongue-shaped and 10 spatulate rock glaciers, whereas a 'genetic' classification identified 65 'glacial' (ice-cored) and 54 'non-glacial' (ice-cemented) rock glaciers. Head elevations of the glacial group (mean 2318 m) are significantly higher than the non-glacial group (mean 2256 m). The total elevation range of rock glaciers is 1710–2670 m.Optimal rock glacier sites are below north- or northeast-facing quartzite cliffs in cirques or on valley walls. These topographic and geologic controls produce a greater concentration of rock glaciers in the Main Ranges than the Front Ranges. Rock glacier head elevations rise eastwards and, to a lesser extent, southward across the area in response to regional climatic and latitudinal effects. Two phases of pre-'Little Ice Age' rock glacier activity are recognized on morphologic grounds and, since Little Ice Age glaciers overrode most of the evidence of Holocene glacier fluctuation, provide a major source of information on Holocene climatic fluctuations. Preliminary data suggest most rock glacier activity pre-dates the Little Ice Age and the oldest phases probably occurred between 6600 and 9000 BP.

Are There Any Active Rock Glaciers in the Tatra Mountains?

2014 ◽  
Vol 48 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Stanisław Kędzia
Keyword(s):  
Little Ice Age ◽  
High Probability ◽  
Ice Age ◽  
Tatra Mountains ◽  
Rock Glacier ◽  
Rock Glaciers ◽  
The Tatra Mountains

AbstractResearch on rock glaciers have been conducted in the Tatra Mountains for about 100 years. About 30 years ago, there were papers suggesting that part of the Tatra rock glaciers was formed during the Little Ice Age. About 20 years ago, permafrost was discovered in the mountains. This discovery marked the beginning of research on the activity of rock glaciers. Ten years ago, a study was carried out on the rock glacier near the Velké Hincovo Pleso lake, which excluded any activity of this glacier in the last few hundred years, despite the high probability of the existence of permafrost in it. The following paper presents the results of lichenometric dating conducted for the activity of rock glaciers in the Świstówka Roztocka and the Buczynowa valleys.

scholarly journals Equilibrium-line altitudes and rock glaciers during the Younger Dryas cooling event, Ferwall group, western Tyrol, Austria

1999 ◽  
Vol 28 ◽  
pp. 141-145 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rudolf Sailer ◽  
Hanns Kerschner
Keyword(s):  
Little Ice Age ◽  
Younger Dryas ◽  
Late Glacial ◽  
Ice Age ◽  
Equilibrium Line ◽  
Rock Glacier ◽  
Equilibrium Line Altitude ◽  
Discontinuous Permafrost ◽  
Rock Glaciers ◽  
Temperature Depression

AbstractThree cirques in the Ferwall group, western Tyrol, Austria, which are characterized by distinct Late-glacial moraines and rock glaciers, are discussed. The morphology of the moraines and the depression of the equilibrium-line altitude suggest they were deposited during the Egesen Stadial (Younger Dryas), which can be subdivided into three substages. Rock-glacier formation was initialized during or after the Egesen II substage. They became inactive at the Pleistocene—Holocene transition. ELA values are 290–320 m lower than the Little Ice Age ELA during the Egesen I substage, 190–230 m lower during the Egesen II substage and 120 —160 m lower during the Egesen III substage. The lowering of the rock-glacier belt (discontinuous permafrost) during and after the Egesen II substage is about 400 m, indicating a mean annual air-temperature depression in the order of 3 K. During the Egesen I (earlyYounger Dryas), the climate seems to have been rather cold and wet with precipitation similar to present-day values. During later phases (Egesen II and III), the climate remained cold and became increasingly drier. The rise of the ELA during the Egesen I—III substages seems to have been mainly caused by a decrease in precipitation.

Relationships between glacier and rock glacier in the Maritime Alps, Schiantala Valley, Italy

2007 ◽  
Vol 68 (3) ◽  
pp. 353-363 ◽  
Author(s):  
Adriano Ribolini ◽  
Alessandro Chelli ◽  
Mauro Guglielmin ◽  
Marta Pappalardo
Keyword(s):  
Little Ice Age ◽  
Geophysical Methods ◽  
Ice Crystals ◽  
Ice Age ◽  
Ice Formation ◽  
Dc Resistivity ◽  
Rock Glacier ◽  
Maritime Alps ◽  
Rock Glaciers ◽  
The Relationship

AbstractIn the Schiantala Valley of the Maritime Alps, the relationship between a till-like body and a contiguous rock glacier has been analyzed using geomorphologic, geoelectric and ice-petrographic methodologies. DC resistivity tomographies undertaken in the till and in the rock glacier show the presence of buried massive ice and ice-rich sediments, respectively. Ice samples from a massive ice outcrop show spherical gas inclusions and equidimensional ice crystals that are randomly orientated, confirming the typical petrographic characteristics of sedimentary ice. The rock glacier formation began after a phase of glacier expansion about 2550"50 14C yr BP. Further ice advance during the Little Ice Age (LIA) overrode the rock glacier root and caused partial shrinkage of the pre-existing permafrost. Finally, during the 19th and 20th centuries, the glacial surface became totally debris covered. Geomorphological and geophysical methods combined with analyses of ice structure and fabric can effectively interpret the genesis of landforms in an environment where glaciers and permafrost interact. Ice petrography proved especially useful for differentiating ice of past glaciers versus ice formed under permafrost conditions. These two mechanisms of ice formation are common in the Maritime Alps where many sites of modern rock glaciers were formerly occupied by LIA glaciers.

Dynamics of an active rock glacier (Ötztal Alps, Austria)

2004 ◽  
Vol 62 (3) ◽  
pp. 233-242 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jana Berger ◽  
Karl Krainer ◽  
Wolfram Mostler
Keyword(s):  
Little Ice Age ◽  
High Surface ◽  
Weather Conditions ◽  
Surface Flow ◽  
Ice Age ◽  
Rock Glacier ◽  
Glacial Origin ◽  
Seasonal And Diurnal Variations ◽  
Rock Glaciers ◽  
Local Weather

The rock glacier Innere Ölgrube, located in a small side valley of the Kauner Valley (Ötztal Alps, Austria), consists of two separate, tongue-shaped rock glaciers lying next to each other. Investigations indicate that both rock glaciers contain a core of massive ice. During winter, the temperature at the base of the snow cover (BTS) is significantly lower at the active rock glacier than on permafrost-free ground adjacent to the rock glacier. Discharge is characterized by strong seasonal and diurnal variations, and is strongly controlled by the local weather conditions. Water temperature of the rock glacier springs remains constantly low, mostly below 1°C during the whole melt season. The morphology of the rock glaciers and the presence of meltwater lakes in their rooting zones as well as the high surface flow velocities of >1 m/yr point to a glacial origin. The northern rock glacier, which is bounded by lateral moraines, evolved from the debris-covered tongue of a small glacier of the Little Ice Age with its last highstand around A.D. 1850. Due to the global warming in the following decades, the upper parts of the steep and debris-free ice glacier melted, whereas the debris-covered glacier tongue transformed into an active rock glacier. Due to this evolution and due to the downslope movement, the northern rock glacier, although still active, at present is cut off from its ice and debris supply. The southern rock glacier has developed approximately during the same period from a debris-covered cirque glacier at the foot of the Wannetspitze massif.

IMPENDING LOSS OF LITTLE ICE AGE GLACIERS IN YOSEMITE NATIONAL PARK

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Greg M. Stock ◽  
◽  
Robert S. Anderson ◽  
Thomas H. Painter ◽  
Brian Henn ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Little Ice Age ◽  
National Park ◽  
Ice Age ◽  
Yosemite National Park

scholarly journals Photo-Interpretation of two Types of Rock Glacier in the Colorado Front Range, U.S.A.

1965 ◽  
Vol 5 (42) ◽  
pp. 849-856 ◽  
Author(s):  
Samuel I. Outcalt ◽  
James B. Benedict
Keyword(s):  
Wall Rock ◽  
Colorado Front Range ◽  
Front Range ◽  
Rock Glacier ◽  
Floor Rock ◽  
Glacial Ice ◽  
Photo Interpretation ◽  
Two Generations ◽  
Rock Glaciers ◽  
Small Valley

AbstractTwo types of rock glacier occur in the Colorado Front Range. Rock glaciers on the floors of modern cirques closely resemble the tongues of small valley glaciers. Because they contain cores of banded glacial ice and grade up-valley into lateral moraines, rock glaciers of this type are believed to represent the debris-covered tongues of former glaciers. Most consist of two or more superimposed lobes, bounded by longitudinal furrows, and resulting from independent ice advances. Despite their compound nature, the complexes now appear to be moving down-slope as single units. Two generations of “cirque-floor” rock glaciers, both tentatively dated as being of post-Pleistocene age, occur in the Front Range.Rock glaciers of an entirely different character occur beneath steep valley walls, where they are supplied with debris by avalanche couloirs. Interstitial ice, responsible for the movement of “valley-wall” rock glaciers, probably results from the metamorphism of snow buried beneath rock-fall debris or supplied by winter avalanching.

scholarly journals Bodengeographische Beobachtungen zur pleistozänen und holozänen Vergletscherung des Westlichen Tienshan (Usbekistan)

1996 ◽  
Vol 46 (1) ◽  
pp. 144-151
Author(s):  
Wolfgang Zech ◽  
Rupert Bäumler ◽  
Oksana Savoskul ◽  
Anatoli Ni ◽  
Maxim Petrov
Keyword(s):  
Little Ice Age ◽  
Late Glacial ◽  
Ice Age ◽  
Lower Side ◽  
Glacial Ice ◽  
Middle Holocene ◽  
Glacial Origin ◽  
Weathered Soils ◽  
Recent Origin ◽  
The Alps

Abstract. Soil geographic studies were carried out in the Oigaing valley between Ugamsky and Pskemsky range NE of Tashkent (W-Tienshan, Republic of Uzbekistan) with special regard to the Pleistocene and Holocene glaciation. Clear end moraines of the last main glaciation are preserved at the junction of Maidan and Oigaing river at 1500-1600 m a.s.l. They show intensively weathered soils with a depth of more than 80 cm. Similar deposits ol presumably Pleistocene or late glacial origin are also located upvalley at the embouchure of numerous side valleys (Beschtor, Tekesch, Aütor) into the main valley of Oigaing. All side valleys are characterized by late glacial ground and end moraines in 2500-2700 m a.s.l. showing intensively weathered brown colored soils of 30-40 cm depth. Further moraines of Holocene or recent origin are located approach of the recent glaciers which descend to 3000-3200 m. They show shallow, initial soils, and presumably correspond with glacial advances during the so-called "Little Ice Age" with a maximum advance at about 1850 in the Alps, and in the middle Holocene at about 2000 or 4000 a BP. Highly weathered, and rubefied interglacial soils developed from old Quaternary gravel are preserved above high glacial ice marginal grounds of the last main glaciation (>2850 m a.s.l.) in the lower side valley of the Barkrak river. In the upper valley huge drift could be shown above the ice marginal grounds, but without typical forms of morainic deposits. They give evidence for older glaciations with a greater extent compared with the last main glaciation. However, no corresponding moraines are present in the working area.

scholarly journals Supraglacial debris-transport variability over time: examples from Switzerland and Iceland

1996 ◽  
Vol 22 ◽  
pp. 181-186 ◽  
Author(s):  
W.B. Whalley ◽  
C.F. Palmer ◽  
S.J. Hamilton ◽  
D. Kitchen
Keyword(s):  
19Th Century ◽  
Little Ice Age ◽  
Ice Age ◽  
Debris Transport ◽  
Actual Volume ◽  
Glacier Ice ◽  
Rock Glaciers ◽  
Slow Moving ◽  
The 19Th Century ◽  
Over Time

The volume of debris in the left-lateral, Little Ice Age (LIA:AD1550–1850) moraine of the Feegletscher, Valais, Switzerland was compared with the actual volume being transported currently by the glacier. The latter is smaller by a factor of about two. In Tröllaskagi, north Iceland, a surface cover of debris on top of a very slow moving glacier ice mass (glacier noir, rock glacier) has been dated by lichenometry. The age of the oldest part is commensurate with LIA moraines in the area. Knowing the volume of debris of a given age allows an estimate of the debris supply to the glacier in a given time. Again, there appears to have been a significant reduction in debris to the glacier since the turn of the 19th century. Debris input in the early LIA seems to have been particularly copious and this may be important in the formation of some glacier depositional forms such as rock glaciers.

scholarly journals Ice Segregation as an Origin for Lenses of Non-Glacial Ice in “Ice-Cemented” Rock Glaciers

1981 ◽  
Vol 27 (97) ◽  
pp. 506-510 ◽  
Author(s):  
William J. Wayne
Keyword(s):  
Groundwater Flow ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Water Pressure ◽  
Snow Melt ◽  
Total Thickness ◽  
Rock Glacier ◽  
Glacial Ice ◽  
Substantial Loss ◽  
Rock Glaciers ◽  
Ice Segregation

AbstractIn order to flow with the gradients observed (10° to 15°) rock glaciers cannot be simply ice-cemented rock debris, but probably contain masses or lenses of debris-free ice. The nature and origin of the ice in rock glaciers that are in no way connected to ice glaciers has not been adequately explained. Rock glaciers and talus above them are permeable. Water from snow-melt and rain flows through the lower part of the debris on top of the bedrock floor. In the headward part of a rock glacier, where the total thickness is not great, if this groundwater flow is able to maintain water pressure against the base of an aggrading permafrost, segregation of ice lenses should take place. Ice segregation on a large scale would produce lenses of clear ice of sufficient size to permit the streams or lobes of rock debris to flow with gradients comparable to those of glaciers. It would also account for the substantial loss in volume that takes place when a rock glacier stabilizes and collapses.

scholarly journals Relation between recent glacier variations and climate in the Tien Shan mountains, central Asia

1992 ◽  
Vol 16 ◽  
pp. 11-16 ◽  
Author(s):  
Liu Chaohai ◽  
Han Tianding
Keyword(s):  
Mass Balance ◽  
Central Asia ◽  
Air Temperature ◽  
Little Ice Age ◽  
General Trend ◽  
Summer Temperature ◽  
Tien Shan ◽  
Ice Age ◽  
Climatic Fluctuations ◽  
Tien Shan Mountains

Since the Little Ice Age, most glaciers in the Tien Shan mountains have been retreating. Owing to an increase in precipitation in most parts of the mountains during the late 1950s to early 1970s, the percentage of receding glaciers and the speed of retreat have tended to decrease in the 1970s. However, the general trend of continuous glacier retreat remains unchanged, in part because the summer air temperature shows no tendency to decrease.In the Tien Shan mountains, as the degree of climatic continentality increases the mass balance becomes more dependent on summer temperature, and accumulation and ablation tend to be lower. Therefore, the responses of glaciers to climatic fluctuations in more continental areas are not synchronous with those in less continental areas, and the amplitude of the glacier variations becomes smaller.

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