Ice content and interannual water storage changes of an active rock glacier in the dry Andes of Argentina

Abstract. The quantification of volumetric ice and water content in active rock glaciers is necessary to estimate their role as water stores and contributors to runoff in dry mountain catchments. In the semi-arid to arid Andes of Argentina, active rock glaciers potentially constitute important water reservoirs due to their widespread distribution. Here however, water storage capacities and their interannual changes have so far escaped quantification in detailed field studies. Volumetric ice and water content was quantified using a petrophysical four-phase model (4PM) based on complementary electrical resistivity tomography (ERT) and seismic refraction tomography (SRT) in different positions of the Dos Lenguas rock glacier in the upper Agua Negra basin, Argentina. We derived vertical and horizontal surface changes of the Dos Lenguas rock glacier, for the periods 2016–2017 and 2017–2018 using drone-derived digital elevation models (DEMs). Interannual water storage changes of −36 mm yr−1 and +27 mm yr−1 derived from volumetric surface changes for the periods 2016–2017 and 2017–2018, respectively, indicate that significant amounts of annual precipitation can be stored in and released from the active rock glacier. Geophysical results show heterogeneous ice and water content with ice-rich permafrost and supra-, intra- and sub-permafrost water pathways at the end of the thaw period. Active layer and ice-rich permafrost control traps and pathways of shallow groundwater and thus regulate interannual storage changes and water releases from the active rock glaciers in the dry mountain catchment. The ice content of 1.7–2.0 × 109 kg in the active Dos Lenguas rock glacier represents an important long-term ice reservoir, as do other ground ice deposits in the vicinity, if compared to surface ice that covers less than 3 % of the high mountain catchment.

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Ice content and interannual water storage changes of an active rock glacier in the dry Andes of Argentina

10.5194/tc-2020-29 ◽

2020 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Christian Halla ◽

Jan Henrik Blöthe ◽

Carla Tapia Baldis ◽

Dario Trombotto ◽

Christin Hilbich ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Seismic Refraction ◽

Water Storage ◽

Field Studies ◽

High Mountain ◽

Rock Glacier ◽

Mountain Catchment ◽

Rock Glaciers ◽

Ice Content ◽

Surface Ice ◽

Water Contents

Abstract. The quantification of volumetric ice and water contents in active rock glaciers is necessary to estimate their role as water stores and contributors to runoff in dry mountain catchments. In the semi-arid to arid Andes of Argentina, active rock glaciers potentially constitute important water reservoirs due to their widespread distribution. Here however, water storage capacities and their interannual changes have so far escaped quantification in detailed field studies. Volumetric ice and water contents were quantified using a petrophysical four-phase model (4PM) based on complementary electrical resistivities (ERT) and seismic refraction tomographies (SRT) in different positions of Dos Lenguas rock glacier in the Upper Agua Negra basin, Argentina. We derived vertical and horizontal surface changes of the Dos Lenguas rock glacier, for the periods 2016–17 and 2017–18 using drone-derived digital elevation models (DEM). Interannual water storage changes of −36 mm yr−1 and +27 mm yr−1 derived from DEMs of Difference (DoD) for the periods 2016–17 and 2017–18, respectively, indicate that significant amounts of annual precipitation rates can be stored in and released from the active rock glacier. Heterogeneous ice and water contents show ice-rich permafrost and supra-, intra- and sub-permafrost aquifers in the subsurface. Active layer and ice-rich permafrost control traps and pathways of shallow ground water, and thus regulate interannual storage changes and water releases from the active rock glacier in the dry mountain catchment. The ice content of 1.7–2.0 × 109 kg in the active Dos Lenguas rock glacier represents an important long-term ice reservoir, just like other ground ice deposits in the vicinity, if compared to surface ice that covers less than 3 % of the high mountain catchment.

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Comment on "Ice content and interannual water storage changes of an active rock glacier in the dry Andes of Argentina" by Halla et al. (2021)

10.5194/tc-2021-88 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

W. Brian Whalley

Keyword(s):

Water Storage ◽

Rock Glacier ◽

Melt Pond ◽

Rock Glaciers ◽

Ice Content

Abstract. Recently published work on water preservation in Chile assume that 'permafrost' (cryogenic) rock glaciers are dominant. Melt pond development shows that rock glaciers are glacier-derived ('glacigenic') rather than of permafrost origin.

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Geophysical characterization of inactive/active rock glaciers in the semi-arid Andes using seismic, geoelectrics and GPR

10.5194/egusphere-egu2020-11808 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

remi valois ◽

Nicole Schafer ◽

Giulia De Pasquale ◽

Gonzalo Navarro ◽

Shelley MacDonell

Keyword(s):

Electrical Resistivity ◽

Seismic Velocity ◽

Seismic Refraction ◽

Geophysical Methods ◽

Late Summer ◽

Relevant Information ◽

Refraction Tomography ◽

Rock Glaciers ◽

Ice Content ◽

Ground Penetrating

Rock glaciers play an important hydrological role in the semiarid Andes (SA; 27&#186;-35&#186;S). They cover about three times the area of uncovered glaciers and they are an important contribution to streamflow when water is needed most, especially during dry years and in the late summer months. Their characteristics such as their extension in depth and their ice content is poorly known. Here, we present a case study of one active rock glacier and periglacial inactive geoform in Estero Derecho (~30&#730;S), in the upper Elqui River catchment, Chile. Three geophysical methods (ground-penetrating radar and electrical resistivity and seismic refraction tomography) were combined to detect the presence of ice and understand the internal structure of the landform. The results suggest that the combination of electrical resistivity and seismic velocity provide relevant information on ice presence and their geometry. Radargrams shows diffraction linked to boulders presence but some information regarding electromagnetic velocity could be extracted. These results strongly suggest that such landforms contain ice, are therefore important to include in future inventories and should be considered when evaluating the hydrological importance of a particular region.&#160;

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Modelling rock glacier velocity and ice content, Khumbu and Lhotse Valleys, Nepal

10.5194/tc-2021-110 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Yan Hu ◽

Stephan Harrison ◽

Lin Liu ◽

Joanne Laura Wood

Keyword(s):

Current Knowledge ◽

Slope Angle ◽

Water Volume ◽

Active Layer Thickness ◽

Rock Glacier ◽

Average Value ◽

Mountain Glaciers ◽

Rock Glaciers ◽

Glacier Velocity ◽

Ice Content

Abstract. Rock glaciers contain significant amount of ground ice and serve as important freshwater resources as mountain glaciers melt in response to climate warming. However, current knowledge about ice content in rock glaciers has been acquired mainly from in situ investigations in limited study areas, which hinders a comprehensive understanding of ice storage in rock glaciers situated in remote mountains and over local or regional scales. In this study, we develop an empirical rheological model to infer ice content of rock glaciers using readily available input data, including rock glacier planar shape, surface slope angle, active layer thickness, and surface creep rate. We apply the model to infer the ice content of five rock glaciers in Khumbu and Lhotse Valleys, north-eastern Nepal. The inferred volumetric ice fraction ranges from 57.5 % to 92 %, with an average value between 71 % to 75.3 %. The total water volume equivalent in the study area lies between 10.61 and 16.54 million m3. Considering previous mapping results and extrapolating from our findings to the entire Nepalese Himalaya, the total amount of water stored in rock glaciers ranges from 8.97 to 13.98 billion m3, equivalent to a ratio of 1 : 17 between the rock glacier and glacier reservoirs. Due to the accessibility of the input parameters of the model developed in this study, it is promising to apply the approach to permafrost regions where previous information about ice content of rock glaciers is lacking.

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Rock glacier types and their drainage systems, Grizzly Creek, Yukon Territory

Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences ◽

10.1139/e78-155 ◽

1978 ◽

Vol 15 (9) ◽

pp. 1496-1507 ◽

Cited By ~ 30

Author(s):

P. G. Johnson

Keyword(s):

Suspended Sediment ◽

Sediment Load ◽

Ice Core ◽

Yukon Territory ◽

Suspended Sediment Load ◽

Rock Glacier ◽

Vegetation Development ◽

Recent Movement ◽

Rock Glaciers ◽

Ice Content

Moraine rock glaciers, talus-derived rock glaciers, and avalanche rock glaciers are described from Grizzly Creek. The main moraine rock glacier has a number of flow lobes of different ages as indicated by lichen and vegetation development. On many of these surfaces there is evidence for recent movement in the form of overridden vegetation surfaces and unstable frontal slopes. Meltwater drainage through the landform is slow, allowing precipitation of the suspended sediment load, and as resurgences do not occur for all of the inflow the possibilities of addition to the ice core or drainage below Grizzly Creek gravels are discussed. The talus-derived rock glaciers differ morphologically from the moraine forms with far greater complexity of the flow ridges but with fewer flow episodes indicated. Drainage through these forms is slow and variable and indicates percolation of meltwater over an impermeable surface within the form. Avalanche rock glaciers by contrast are relatively simple morphologically and the extension from the base of the talus is attributed to ice content derived from the avalanches.

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Rock Glacier Dynamics by a Thermo-Elastic-Viscoplastic Constitutive Relationship

Geosciences ◽

10.3390/geosciences11100417 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 11 (10) ◽

pp. 417

Author(s):

Stefano Alberti ◽

Luca Flessati

Keyword(s):

Point Of View ◽

Constitutive Relationship ◽

High Mountain ◽

Seasonal Temperature ◽

Rock Glacier ◽

Rate Dependent ◽

Sustainable Operation ◽

Dependent Behavior ◽

Rock Glaciers ◽

Basal Shear

As a result of mountain permafrost creep, rock glaciers are common features in high-altitude periglacial areas. From a practical point of view, beyond their localization and inventorying, both the monitoring and prediction of their evolution due to climate changes are crucial. One of the effects of climate change is the thickening of the basal shear zone (the portion of the rock glacier where most deformations are localized), eventually leading to the development of unexpected and unprecedented (in terms of location, magnitude, frequency, and timing) instability phenomena. These phenomena bear consequences for the understanding of landscape evolution, natural hazards, and the safe and sustainable operation of high-mountain infrastructures. Most of the studies about active rock glaciers are focused on the analysis of monitoring data, while just a few studies are focused on modeling their behavior to understand their possible further evolution. The active rock glacier response is characterized by a viscous (rate-dependent) behavior, influenced by seasonal temperature oscillations, and characterized by a seasonal transition from slow to fast. In this work, a new thermo-mechanical model based on the delayed plasticity theory and calibrated on experimental results is proposed. The model is employed to evaluate the influence of geometry and forcing (air temperature) on a real rock glacier (Murtèl-Corvatsch rock glacier) creep behavior.

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Supplementary material to "Ice content and interannual water storage changes of an active rock glacier in the dry Andes of Argentina"

10.5194/tc-2020-29-supplement ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Christian Halla ◽

Jan Henrik Blöthe ◽

Carla Tapia Baldis ◽

Dario Trombotto ◽

Christin Hilbich ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Water Storage ◽

Rock Glacier ◽

Supplementary Material ◽

Ice Content

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Towards accurate quantification of ice content in permafrost of the Central Andes – Part II: an upscaling strategy of geophysical measurements to the catchment scale at two study sites

10.5194/tc-2021-251 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Tamara Mathys ◽

Christin Hilbich ◽

Lukas U. Arenson ◽

Pablo A. Wainstein ◽

Christian Hauck

Keyword(s):

Geophysical Data ◽

Distribution Model ◽

Permafrost Degradation ◽

Rock Glacier ◽

Ground Ice ◽

Data Set ◽

Refraction Seismic ◽

Geophysical Surveys ◽

Rock Glaciers ◽

Ice Content

Abstract. With ongoing climate change, there is a pressing need to better understand how much water is stored as ground ice in areas with extensive permafrost occurrence and how the regional water balance may alter in response to the potential generation of melt water from permafrost degradation. However, field-based data on permafrost in remote and mountainous areas such as the South-American Andes is scarce and most current ground ice estimates are based on broadly generalised assumptions such as volume-area scaling and mean ground ice content estimates of rock glaciers. In addition, ground ice contents in permafrost areas outside of rock glaciers are usually not considered, resulting in a significant uncertainty regarding the volume of ground ice in the Andes, and its hydrological role. In part I of this contribution, Hilbich et al. (submitted) present an extensive geophysical data set based on Electrical Resistivity Tomography (ERT) and Refraction Seismic Tomography (RST) surveys to detect and quantify ground ice of different landforms and surface types in several study regions in the semi-arid Andes of Chile and Argentina with the aim to contribute to the reduction of this data scarcity. In part II we focus on the development of a methodology for the upscaling of geophysical-based ground ice quantification to an entire catchment to estimate the total ground ice volume (and its estimated water equivalent) in the study areas. In addition to the geophysical data, the upscaling approach is based on a permafrost distribution model and classifications of surface and landform types. Where available, ERT and RST measurements were quantitatively combined to estimate the volumetric ground ice content using petrophysical relationships within the Four Phase Model (Hauck et al., 2011). In addition to introducing our upscaling methodology, we demonstrate that the estimation of large-scale ground ice volumes can be improved by including (i) non-rock glacier permafrost occurrences, and (ii) field evidence through a large number of geophysical surveys and ground truthing information. The results of our study indicate, that (i) conventional ground ice estimates for rock-glacier dominated catchments without in-situ data may significantly overestimate ground ice contents, and (ii) substantial volumes of ground ice may also be present in catchments where rock glaciers are lacking.

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Creating a rock glacier inventory of the northern Nyainqêntanglha range (Tibetan Plateau) based on InSAR time-series analysis

10.5194/egusphere-egu2020-1605 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Eike Reinosch ◽

Johannes Buckel ◽

Markus Gerke ◽

Jussi Baade ◽

Björn Riedel

Keyword(s):

Time Series ◽

Tibetan Plateau ◽

Time Series Analysis ◽

Microwave Remote Sensing ◽

High Mountain ◽

Mountain Range ◽

Rock Glacier ◽

Series Analysis ◽

Ipcc Report ◽

Rock Glaciers

The northern Nyainq&#234;ntanglha range on the southern Tibetan Plateau reaches an elevation of 7150 m and is mainly characterized by a periglacial landscape. A monsoonal climate, with a wet period during the summers and arid conditions during the rest of the year governs the landscape processes. Large parts of the mountain range are considered permafrost due to the high altitude and the associated low air temperature. Rock glaciers, which are bodies of ice-rich debris, are a typical landform. The recently published IPCC report on the cryospheres of high mountain areas highlights the sensitivity of rock glaciers to climate warming and emphasizes the importance of their study.We study the distribution of rock glaciers of the northern Nyainq&#234;ntanglha range and our aim is to produce an inventory of active rock glaciers based on their surface motion characteristics. The lack of higher order vegetation and the relatively low winter precipitation enable us to employ Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (InSAR) time-series techniques to study both seasonal and multi-annual surface displacement patterns. InSAR is a powerful microwave remote sensing technique, which makes it possible to study displacement from a few millimeters to centimeters and decimeters per year. It is thus suitable to detect sliding and creeping processes related to periglacial landscapes and permafrost conditions on the Earth&#8217;s surface. We use both Sentinel-1 (2015-2019) and TerraSAR-X ScanSAR data (2017-2019) for our analysis.In this study we differentiate rock glaciers from the surrounding seasonally sliding slopes by their significantly higher surface creeping rates with mean velocities of 5&#8211;20 cm yr-1. We also observe that the velocity of rock glaciers is less dependent on the summer monsoon, which allows us to further differentiate between rock glaciers and other landforms. This method could potentially be used to create rock glacier inventories in other remote regions, as long as the snow cover in winter is thin enough to allow continuous InSAR time-series analysis. These rock glacier inventories are necessary to assess the effects of climate change on vulnerable high mountain regions.

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Distribution and morpho-thermal characteristics of rock glaciers in southern Peru: case, Cordilleras Huanzo and Chila

10.5194/egusphere-egu2020-4442 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Katy Medina ◽

Edwin Loarte ◽

Edwin Badillo ◽

Hairo Leon ◽

Francisco Castillo ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Thermal Characteristics ◽

Google Earth ◽

High Mountain ◽

Rock Glacier ◽

Alos Palsar ◽

Mountain Ranges ◽

Thermal Range ◽

Tropical Glaciers ◽

The Pacific ◽

Rock Glaciers

Climate change generates significant impacts on high mountain regions, especially considering the sensitivity of tropical glaciers. However, information about rock glaciers are very scarce and there is very limited research in this field in Peru. Rock glacier concentrate mainly in the southern part of Peru where 95% of rock glaciers are located. Here we present for the first time an overview of rock glacier occurrence and characteristics in Peru.The Cordilleras Huanzo and Chila are located in the mountain ranges in the southern region of Peru, Huanzo in the administrative region of Apurimac, Arequipa, Cusco and Ayacucho, while Chila in Arequipa. Both cordilleras extend from S 15&#176;39'41.36" to 14&#176;03'17.54" and W 73&#176;24'12.55" to 71&#176;27'113.20". For this study, remote sensing tools and geographic information system were applied, using images from Google Earth-Pro and SASPlanet, corrected DEM ALOS Palsar (12.5m), MERIT DEM (90m) and WorldClim data (1970-2000) 1 km2.The results indicate that in the cordillera Huanzo there are 317 rock glaciers with a total area of 26.97 km2 and in the cordillera Chila there are 289 rock glaciers with 17.96 km2. Concerning their activity or dynamic there are 295 intact (active and inactive) rock glaciers and 311 relict or fossil rock glaciers.The results further indicate that rock glaciers are located in thermal ranges between -1.53&#176;C and 3.97&#176;C. The relict or fossil types are located in the thermal range between -1.34&#176;C and 3.97&#176;C, while intact types between -1.53&#176;C and 2.56&#176;C. The rock glaciers of the cordillera Huanzo are located at an average altitude of 4497 to 5221 m.a.s.l., while in the cordillera Chila at 4470 to 5454 m.a.s.l. The aspect is predominantly S to SW.Rock glaciers contain ice which may represent a potential water reserve in arid regions in Southern of Peru. The greatest distribution of these resources is found in the Camana and Oco&#241;a basins of the Pacific watershed with 38.1 km2 of rock glacier area. In the Atlantic watershed, 6.8 km2 of rock glaciers are located in the Alto Apurimac and Oco&#241;a basins.

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