Climatic controls on frost cracking and implications for the evolution of bedrock landscapes

Abstract

In mountainous landscapes the role of periglacial processes in producing sediment is poorly defined, despite evidence of abundant talus slopes. Ice growth in rock has long been recognized as an efficient erosion mechanism, but the effects have not been readily applied to landscape evolution in response to tectonic and climatic forcing. Here, we quantify how and where ice‐driven mechanical erosion occurs in cold, bedrock‐dominated landscapes using a simple one‐dimensional numerical heat flow model. In our model, ice grows by water migration to colder regions in shallow rock by the reduction in chemical potential associated with intermolecular forces between ice and mineral surfaces, a process called segregation ice growth. The depth and intensity of frost cracking is primarily dependent on mean annual temperature (MAT), with positive MAT sites characterized by intense cracking in the top meter of the rock mass and a maximum frost penetration of ∼4 m. In contrast, negative MAT areas have less intense cracking that primarily occurs at depths between 50 and 800 cm. We compare the depth and intensity of frost cracking predicted by our model with measures of the intensity of frost processes determined in three studies: The first measured the timing of rockfall in the Canadian Rockies, Niagara Escarpment, and Japanese Alps; the second analyzed scree deposits in the Southern Alps, New Zealand; and the third documented rockfall frequency in Utah. These natural examples show that rockfalls tend to nucleate at elevations that coincide with zones of intense frost cracking predicted by our model. As such, climatic variations associated with interglacial‐glacial cycles may impart a significant influence on the denudation of mountainous landscapes.