S.A. Dunning
Rapid sequestration of rock avalanche deposits within glaciers
Dunning, S.A.; Rosser, N.J.; McColl, S.T.; Reznichenko, N.V.
Abstract
Topographic development in mountainous landscapes is a complex interplay between tectonics, climate and denudation. Glaciers erode valleys to generate headwall relief, and hillslope processes control the height and retreat of the peaks. The magnitude–frequency of these landslides and their long-term ability to lower mountains above glaciers is poorly understood; however, small, frequent rockfalls are currently thought to dominate. The preservation of rarer, larger, landslide deposits is exceptionally short-lived, as they are rapidly reworked. The 2013 Mount Haast rock avalanche that failed from the slopes of Aoraki/Mount Cook, New Zealand, onto the glacier accumulation zone below was invisible to conventional remote sensing after just 3 months. Here we use sub-surface data to reveal the now-buried landslide deposit, and suggest that large landslides are the primary hillslope erosion mechanism here. These data show how past large landslides can be identified in accumulation zones, providing an untapped archive of erosive events in mountainous landscapes.
Citation
Dunning, S., Rosser, N., McColl, S., & Reznichenko, N. (2015). Rapid sequestration of rock avalanche deposits within glaciers. Nature Communications, 6, Article 7964. https://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms8964
Journal Article Type | Article |
---|---|
Acceptance Date | May 19, 2015 |
Online Publication Date | Aug 19, 2015 |
Publication Date | Aug 1, 2015 |
Deposit Date | May 19, 2015 |
Publicly Available Date | Mar 29, 2024 |
Journal | Nature Communications |
Publisher | Nature Research |
Peer Reviewed | Peer Reviewed |
Volume | 6 |
Article Number | 7964 |
DOI | https://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms8964 |
Keywords | Earth sciences, Geology and geophysics |
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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons license, unless indicated otherwise in the credit line; if the material is not included under the Creative Commons license, users will need to obtain permission from the license holder to reproduce the material. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
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