Abstract
ABSTRACTThis work defends and applies a new proposal for mapping debris-covered glaciers and rock glaciers. This proposal combines highly accurate traditional methods, such as manual geomorphological photointerpretation, with novel digital techniques. The new methodological strategy applies rendering and lighting tools from Computer-Aided Design platforms and uses graphic design from Desktop Publishing Programs, to improve the geovisualization of geomorphological maps. This combination was applied to the debris-covered glacier and a set of rock glaciers located on the Tröllaskagi peninsula (northern Iceland). The result is a 1:4,500 scale geomorphological map of 16 km2, which for the first time maps the features that differentiate the debris-covered glacier from rock glaciers, as well as genetically different units within each formation and a long series of landforms characteristic of different processes. This map thus becomes a very useful tool in the evolutionary study of these formations in relation to the impact of climate change.
Highlights
Three major types of ice masses have been differentiated within high mountain areas, according to the importance of the debris cover: debris-free glaciers, debris-covered glaciers, and rock glaciers
This lack of a clear distinction between the two formations is a major shortcoming as some rock glaciers derive from debris-covered glaciers, but others derive from rock fall talus, where interstitial ice has formed between the blocks and the whole mass acquires a plastic character with the existence of permafrost (Janke et al, 2015; Whalley et al, 2015)
In debris-covered glaciers, the flow responds to the reaction of the glacier to its mass balance; in rock glaciers the flow displays the deformation of ice/debris mixtures by long-term creep under permafrost conditions (Berthling, 2011)
Summary
Three major types of ice masses have been differentiated within high mountain areas, according to the importance of the debris cover: debris-free glaciers (without major debris cover), debris-covered glaciers (with an almost continuous, thin debris cover), and rock glaciers (with a continuous, very thick debris cover, where the ice often only fills the interstices between blocks). The flow is very different in these three types of ice masses, their defining criteria are not fully established, especially the difference between debris-covered and rock glaciers (Berthling, 2011; Janke, Regmi, Giardino, & Vitek, 2013; Kirkbride, 2011; Monnier & Kinnard, 2015, 2017; Whalley, Matsuoka, Sik, Kereszturi, & Hargitai, 2015). This is proposed as the best method to study the origin and climatic significance of rock glaciers and debriscovered glaciers, to analyze their dynamics and their morphological changes over time (Bosson & Lambiel, 2016; Capt, Bosson, Fischer, Micheletti, & Lambiel, 2016; Emmer, Loarte, Klimes, & Vilímek, 2015)
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