A 35-year record of solifluction in a maritime periglacial environment

Auteur(s) et Affiliation(s)



Description :
Eight segmented PVC columns (Rudberg pillars) inserted vertically in the treads of 3 vegetation-covered (turf-banked) solifluction lobes at altitudes of 912–1031 m in the Fannich Mountains of NW Scotland were exhumed 35 years after insertion, and downslope displacement of each segment was measured to derive velocity profiles for each site. Measured volumetric velocities for these maritime periglacial sites are fairly similar to those recorded in high alpine environments. Movement affects only the uppermost parts of individual lobes, and the measured volumetric velocities imply either very slow advance of lobe fronts or slow thickening and steepening of stationary lobe risers. Comparison with measured rates of periglacial mass transport elsewhere on British mountains suggests (1) that, contrary to traditional views, surface velocities are similar to (and may exceed) those of ploughing boulders in the same area, and (2) that both surface velocities and volumetric velocities are markedly less than at unvegetated sites where needle ice creep is the dominant component of solifluction.


Type de document :
Article de périodique

Source :
Permafrost and periglacial processes, issn : 1045-6740, 2013, vol. 24, n°. 1, p. 56-66, nombre de pages : 11, Références bibliographiques : 1 p.

Date :
2013

Editeur :
Pays édition : Royaume-Uni, Chichester, Wiley