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Rapid sequestration of rock avalanche deposits within glaciers.

ABSTRACT: Topographic development in mountainous landscapes is a complex interplay between tectonics, climate and denudation. Glaciers erode valleys to generate headwall relief, and hillslope processes control the height and retreat of the peaks. The magnitude-frequency of these landslides and their long-term ability to lower mountains above glaciers is poorly understood; however, small, frequent rockfalls are currently thought to dominate. The preservation of rarer, larger, landslide deposits is exceptionally short-lived, as they are rapidly reworked. The 2013 Mount Haast rock avalanche that failed from the slopes of Aoraki/Mount Cook, New Zealand, onto the glacier accumulation zone below was invisible to conventional remote sensing after just 3 months. Here we use sub-surface data to reveal the now-buried landslide deposit, and suggest that large landslides are the primary hillslope erosion mechanism here. These data show how past large landslides can be identified in accumulation zones, providing an untapped archive of erosive events in mountainous landscapes.

SUBMITTER: Dunning SA

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4560769 | biostudies-other | 2015

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-other

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Project description:A global warming-induced transition from glacial to periglacial processes has been identified in mountainous regions around the world. Degrading permafrost in pristine periglacial environments can produce acid rock drainage (ARD) and cause severe ecological damage in areas underlain by sulfide-bearing bedrock. Limnological and paleolimnological approaches were used to assess and compare ARDs generated by rock glaciers, a typical landform of the mountain permafrost domain, and their effects on alpine headwater lakes with similar morphometric features and underlying bedrock geology, but characterized by different intensities of frost action in their catchments during the year. We argue that ARD and its effects on lakes are more severe in the alpine periglacial belt with mean annual air temperatures (MAAT) between -2°C and +3°C, where groundwater persists in the liquid phase for most of the year, in contrast to ARD in the periglacial belt where frost action dominates (MAAT < -2°C). The findings clearly suggest that the ambient air temperature is an important factor affecting the ARD production in alpine periglacial environments. Applying the paleoecological analysis of morphological abnormalities in chironomids through the past millennium, we tested and rejected the hypothesis that unfavorable conditions for aquatic life in the ARD-stressed lakes are largely related to the temperature increase over recent decades, responsible for the enhanced release of ARD contaminants. Our results indicate that the ARDs generated in the catchments are of a long-lasting nature and the frequency of chironomid morphological deformities was significantly higher during the Little Ice Age (LIA) than during pre- or post-LIA periods, suggesting that lower water temperatures may increase the adverse impacts of ARD on aquatic invertebrates. This highlights that temperature-mediated modulations of the metabolism and life cycle of aquatic organisms should be considered when reconstructing long-term trends in the ecotoxicological state of lakes.

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Rapid sequestration of rock avalanche deposits within glaciers.

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