Abstract
ABSTRACTA detailed map of rock glaciers at a scale of 1 : 40 000 is produced for the Western and High Tatra Mts., Western Carpathians, based on remotely sensed mapping. We inventoried a total of 383 rock glaciers, covering a total area of 13.84 km2. Most rock glaciers (85 %) are considered relict (without permafrost). These landforms have an average lower limit of 1684 m asl and occupy a total area of 12.50 km2. In contrast, intact rock glaciers (containing permafrost) cover a total area of 1.34 km2 and their average lower limit is located at 1986 m asl, which is 56 m above the previously suggested lower limit of discontinuous permafrost. The inventory adds new information about rock-glacier occurrence in the European high-mountain areas and improves the understanding of present and past environmental conditions in the region.
Highlights
Rock glaciers are tongue- or lobate-shaped landforms resulting from downslope creeping of ice-rich debris in mountain permafrost conditions (e.g. Barsch, 1996; Berthling, 2011; Kääb, 2013)
As rock glaciers are widely accepted indicators of the lower limit of discontinuous mountain permafrost (Barsch, 1996), we show the level of 1930 m asl in the Main Map, which corresponds to the average minimum elevation of discontinuous permafrost occurrence in the Tatra Mts. suggested by Dobiński (1997a, 2004, 2005)
The map includes a total of 383 rock glaciers, making it the most comprehensive rock-glacier inventory for the entire area of the Western and High Tatra Mts. to date
Summary
Rock glaciers are tongue- or lobate-shaped landforms resulting from downslope creeping of ice-rich debris in mountain permafrost conditions (e.g. Barsch, 1996; Berthling, 2011; Kääb, 2013). Rock glaciers are tongue- or lobate-shaped landforms resulting from downslope creeping of ice-rich debris in mountain permafrost conditions Colucci, Boccali, Žebre, & Guglielmin, 2016; KellererPirklbauer, Wagner, & Winkler, 2016). Active and inactive rock glaciers represent important component of mountain cryosphere because they contain significant volumes of ground ice and act as long-term stores of water, even in arid or semi-arid regions (e.g. Azócar & Brenning, 2010; Brenning, 2005; Burger, Degenhardt, & Giardino, 1999; Millar, Westfall, & Delany, 2013). Relict rock glaciers indicate the existence of large amounts of ground ice in the past Barsch, 1996; Frauenfelder & Kääb, 2000; Haeberli et al, 2006), which can be mapped rapidly and at low cost to build-up extensive databases of permafrost evidence over large spatial scales. In Europe, these investigations have been realized in larger scale in the Alps (e.g. Baroni, Carton, & Seppi, 2004; Colucci et al, 2016; Kellerer-Pirklbauer, Lieb, & Kleinferchner, 2012; Krainer & Ribis, 2012; Nyenhuis, Hoelzle, & Dikau, 2005; Scotti, Brardinoni, Alberti, Frattini, & Crosta, 2013; Seppi et al, 2012), the Pyrenees (e.g. Chueca, 1992; Serrano, Agudo, & Martinez de Pisón, 1999), the Scandinavian Mts. (e.g. Lilleøren & Etzelmüller, 2011; Sollid & Sørbel, 1992) and the Southern Carpathians (e.g. Onaca, Ardelean, Urdea, & Magori, 2017; Urdea, 1992)
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