Internal Structure Of Rock Glaciers Research Articles

Internal structure of rock glaciers in Altai (The case of talus rock glacier in Dzhelo River Valley)

In 2019, a comprehensive study of the internal structure of the talus rock glacier in the Dzhelo River valley was carried out (North-Chuya Range). The identification of the internal structure was performed using electrical resistivity tomography and GPR sounding. In order to compare the internal structure of the rock glacier with its surface morphology, we carried out aerial photography and constructed a digital terrain model. The study revealed that the depth of the rock-ice core varies from 2.5-3 m to 10 m, and the thickness ranges from 7 m to 30 m. The consolidation cores of the rock-ice material are confined to inter-ridge depressions in the rock glacier body. The potential volume of a rock-ice core is 800 thousand m3, which is 53% of the rock glacier total volume, the ice volume in the rock-ice core can be as much as 400 thousand m3.

Internal structure of two alpine rock glaciers investigated by quasi-3-D electrical resistivity imaging

Abstract. Interactions between different formative processes are reflected in the internal structure of rock glaciers. Therefore, the detection of subsurface conditions can help to enhance our understanding of landform development. For an assessment of subsurface conditions, we present an analysis of the spatial variability of active layer thickness, ground ice content and frost table topography for two different rock glaciers in the Eastern Swiss Alps by means of quasi-3-D electrical resistivity imaging (ERI). This approach enables an extensive mapping of subsurface structures and a spatial overlay between site-specific surface and subsurface characteristics. At Nair rock glacier, we discovered a gradual descent of the frost table in a downslope direction and a constant decrease of ice content which follows the observed surface topography. This is attributed to ice formation by refreezing meltwater from an embedded snow bank or from a subsurface ice patch which reshapes the permafrost layer. The heterogeneous ground ice distribution at Uertsch rock glacier indicates that multiple processes on different time domains were involved in the development. Resistivity values which represent frozen conditions vary within a wide range and indicate a successive formation which includes several advances, past glacial overrides and creep processes on the rock glacier surface. In combination with the observed topography, quasi-3-D ERI enables us to delimit areas of extensive and compressive flow in close proximity. Excellent data quality was provided by a good coupling of electrodes to the ground in the pebbly material of the investigated rock glaciers. Results show the value of the quasi-3-D ERI approach but advise the application of complementary geophysical methods for interpreting the results.

Application of electrical tomography to study the internal structure of rock glaciers in Altai

Internal structure of rock glaciers was investigated at two key sites in Altai by means of electric tomography. It had been found that the rock glaciers of the same type, located at different altitude levels, differ in electric resistances of ice nuclei and the degree of consolidation of the ice material inside of them. Typical characteristics of the ice core of a rock glacier in the high-mountain area are the following: electrical resistivity is about 1000–2000 kOhm∙m and a high degree of the ice consolidation, while the same for the mid-mountain region: the electrical resistivity is 150–300 kOhm∙m and the presence of the talik zones within the glacier body. Using the method of electric tomography for investigation of the internal structure of the rock-glaciers makes possible to reveal presence of frozen soils and ice and to find the upper boundary of occurrence of them from anomalously high specific electric resistance. However, it is not always possible to determine a thickness of the rock-ice formation, and to estimate a degree of its consolidation that does not allow calculating the ice content volume. Limitations of this technology can be overcome by the use of electric tomography in combination with other geophysical methods.

Internal structure of the Green Lake 5 rock glacier, Colorado Front Range, USA

ABSTRACTInformation about the internal structure of rock glaciers is needed to understand their reaction to ongoing climate warming. Three different geophysical techniques—shallow seismic refraction, ground‐penetrating radar (GPR) and electrical resistivity tomography—were used to develop a detailed subsurface model of the Green Lake 5 rock glacier in the Colorado Front Range, USA. Below a thin zone of fine sediments and soils (0.7 – 1‐m thickness; 0 – 20 kΩm and 320 – 370 m s−1), a 1 – 3‐m thick zone with low p‐wave velocities (790 – 820 m s−1) and high electrical resistivity (20 – 100 kΩm) is interpreted as the ice‐free, blocky active layer with large void spaces. The data corroborate strong reflections of the GPR signals which travel at this depth at 0.11 m ns−1. A third layer that extends from depths of 1 – 3 m to about 5 m is characterised by lower electric resistivities (5 – 20 kΩm) and has lower electromagnetic wave velocities (0.65 m ns−1), representing unfrozen, finer and wetter sediments. At around 5‐m depth, the measured physical parameters change drastically (vp = 3200 – 3300 m s−1, 50 – 150 kΩm, vGPR = 0.15 m ns−1), showing an ice‐rich permafrost zone above the bedrock. This model of the internal structure was used to evaluate an existing hydrological flowpath model based on the hydrochemical properties of water outflow from the rock glacier. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

The internal structure of rock glaciers and recently deglaciated slopes as revealed by geoelectrical tomography: insights on permafrost and recent glacial evolution in the Central and Western Alps (Italy–France)

Ground ice of permafrost origin and sedimentary ice of glacial origin can coexist in locations where rock glaciers and glaciers interacted, as well as in glacigenic sediments abandoned by a retreating glacier and subsequently exposed again to atmospheric cooling. Some of these geomorphological settings in the Central (Foscagno rock glacier) and Western Alps (Marinet and Schiantala rock glaciers, Schiantala debris-covered glacier, Maledia glacier) were explored by means of geoelectrical tomographies. The aim was that of inferring the presence of ice and cryologically interpreting electrical stratigraphies in order to test whether or not the internal structure of these landforms can be used for the reconstruction of recent permafrost and glacier evolution. Geomorphological data assisted these reconstructions and available borehole stratigraphies were used to calibrate the resistivities. Along with the ice-debris mixture, massive ice has also been found as lenses both at the apex and the front of the studied rock glaciers. These lenses of sedimentary origin are thought to be transferred from a glacier snout to sectors of rock glacier and eventually embedded into the permafrost creep. The scarcity of frozen debris in the mid-upper part of the rock glaciers – as revealed by low resistivity values – can be due to the disruptive effect of the over-riding glacier over the permafrost. The near-surface sedimentary ice masses detected along the slopes of the studied glacial cirques are interpreted as or debris-covered terminations of the glaciers still visible upward, or as fragments of it detached by the main bodies. These ice masses are locally associated to medium–high resistive sediments, consistent with permafrost occurrence. This indicates that the non-glacial environment established during the deglaciation allowed the onset of frozen sediments formation. Overall, the results indicate that internal structure of rock glaciers and recent-deglaciated slopes can store the different climate-related episodes occurred in a specific area, such as those linked to the shifting between glacial to criotic condition and vice-versa.

岩石氷河 氷河説と周氷河説

Recent progress in rock glacier studies is reviewed with some emphases on the competition between the glacial and periglacial hypotheses. Rock glaciers are tongue-shaped or lobate bodies composed of angular boulders that resembles a small glacier, usually accompanied by multiple transverse ridges resulting from a compressive flow. Rock glaciers are classified, in terms of the origin of surface materials, into talus and morainic rock glaciers, and in the light of the activity status, into active, inactive and fossil ones. The distribution of active rock glaciers are delimited by the regional glacier equilibrium line and lower limit of mountain permafrost.The internal structure of rock glaciers has been approached by direct observations and indirect geophysical soundings. In some rock glaciers, natural outcrops exhibit a massive ice body with debris bands beneath the surface boulder layer, which has encouraged the glacial hypothesis. Massive ice was also found in boreholes penetrating through a rock glacier permafrost in the Swiss Alps, despite being considered to originate from snow avalanche or refrozen meltwater. In fact, deformation occurred mostly in the frozen debris layer beneath the massive ice, indicating the periglacial origin of the rock glacier due to permafrost creep. Geophysical soundings, including seismic, geoelectric and gravimetric measurements, have provided useful information on the three-dimensional structure, stratigraphy and ice contents of rock glacier bodies, although authors preferring the glacial hypothesis tend to reject such indirect results. The origin of any rock glacier is thus equivocal without detailed analyses of internal stratigraphy and ice composition.Most of the active rock glaciers are moving at a speed of 101 cm yr-1, two orders of magnitude slower than 'ice' glaciers. The periglacial model attributes such a slow movement to permafrost creep. A possible consequence of this is that active rock glaciers usually have ages of several thousand years ; that inactive ones were activated repeatedly during the colder periods of the Holocene; and that fossil ones moved during the Late Glacial. In contrast, the glacial model explains that many rock glaciers originated from a debris-covered glacier during the Little Ice Age and have been loosing their ice content and speed rapidly with the 20th-Century warming.Only a few rock glaciers have been identified from Japanese mountains. Although locations favorable for active rock glaciers are restricted to the northern side of some high mountains, the mountain permafrost belt must have been wide enough to form a number of rock glaciers during some past cold periods. Subsequent permafrost melting would have fossilized these rock glaciers, some of which may have been misinterpreted as glacial moraines or protalus ramparts.