Paraglacial gullying of sediment‐mantled slopes: a case study of Colletthøgda, Kongsfjorden area, West Spitsbergen (Svalbard)
Abstract This paper evaluates the paraglacial evolution of a sediment‐mantled slope in a polar maritime environment. The intensity of paraglacial processes is estimated through quantification of erosion and dating of field sectors with the help of photographic archives. Gully erosion has been estima...
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crwiley:10.1002/esp.1862 2024-06-23T07:53:05+00:00 Paraglacial gullying of sediment‐mantled slopes: a case study of Colletthøgda, Kongsfjorden area, West Spitsbergen (Svalbard) Mercier, Denis Étienne, Samuel Sellier, Dominique André, Marie‐Françoise 2009 http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/esp.1862 https://api.wiley.com/onlinelibrary/tdm/v1/articles/10.1002%2Fesp.1862 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1002/esp.1862 en eng Wiley http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/termsAndConditions#vor Earth Surface Processes and Landforms volume 34, issue 13, page 1772-1789 ISSN 0197-9337 1096-9837 journal-article 2009 crwiley https://doi.org/10.1002/esp.1862 2024-06-11T04:46:27Z Abstract This paper evaluates the paraglacial evolution of a sediment‐mantled slope in a polar maritime environment. The intensity of paraglacial processes is estimated through quantification of erosion and dating of field sectors with the help of photographic archives. Gully erosion has been estimated using morphometric parameters and by surveys of vegetation cover. The rapid melting of dead‐ice cores controls gully formation. This leads to slope form modification: gully profile gradients are reduced from a mean of 35° to a mean ranging between 10° and 15°. Profile evolution results from the collapse of glacier lateral moraine. All data (mean slope angle of individual gullies, frequency distribution of slope angles, fractional distance to the apex, gullying index, volume of debris mobilized, vertical erosion rate) tend to increase with increasing deglaciation age and the duration of paraglacial activity. Vegetation colonization is a response to stabilization of the ground surface and the drying up of the ground surface due to dead‐ice melting. The full sequence of paraglacial slope adjustment (gully incision‐stabilization) may occur rapidly at the study site, i.e. within two decades. Finally, a lateral morphogenic sequence is proposed showing the importance of paraglacial processes at the onset of the deglaciation. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Article in Journal/Newspaper glacier Kongsfjord* Kongsfjorden Svalbard Spitsbergen Wiley Online Library Colletthøgda ENVELOPE(12.650,12.650,78.900,78.900) Svalbard Earth Surface Processes and Landforms 34 13 1772 1789 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Wiley Online Library |
op_collection_id |
crwiley |
language |
English |
description |
Abstract This paper evaluates the paraglacial evolution of a sediment‐mantled slope in a polar maritime environment. The intensity of paraglacial processes is estimated through quantification of erosion and dating of field sectors with the help of photographic archives. Gully erosion has been estimated using morphometric parameters and by surveys of vegetation cover. The rapid melting of dead‐ice cores controls gully formation. This leads to slope form modification: gully profile gradients are reduced from a mean of 35° to a mean ranging between 10° and 15°. Profile evolution results from the collapse of glacier lateral moraine. All data (mean slope angle of individual gullies, frequency distribution of slope angles, fractional distance to the apex, gullying index, volume of debris mobilized, vertical erosion rate) tend to increase with increasing deglaciation age and the duration of paraglacial activity. Vegetation colonization is a response to stabilization of the ground surface and the drying up of the ground surface due to dead‐ice melting. The full sequence of paraglacial slope adjustment (gully incision‐stabilization) may occur rapidly at the study site, i.e. within two decades. Finally, a lateral morphogenic sequence is proposed showing the importance of paraglacial processes at the onset of the deglaciation. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Mercier, Denis Étienne, Samuel Sellier, Dominique André, Marie‐Françoise |
spellingShingle |
Mercier, Denis Étienne, Samuel Sellier, Dominique André, Marie‐Françoise Paraglacial gullying of sediment‐mantled slopes: a case study of Colletthøgda, Kongsfjorden area, West Spitsbergen (Svalbard) |
author_facet |
Mercier, Denis Étienne, Samuel Sellier, Dominique André, Marie‐Françoise |
author_sort |
Mercier, Denis |
title |
Paraglacial gullying of sediment‐mantled slopes: a case study of Colletthøgda, Kongsfjorden area, West Spitsbergen (Svalbard) |
title_short |
Paraglacial gullying of sediment‐mantled slopes: a case study of Colletthøgda, Kongsfjorden area, West Spitsbergen (Svalbard) |
title_full |
Paraglacial gullying of sediment‐mantled slopes: a case study of Colletthøgda, Kongsfjorden area, West Spitsbergen (Svalbard) |
title_fullStr |
Paraglacial gullying of sediment‐mantled slopes: a case study of Colletthøgda, Kongsfjorden area, West Spitsbergen (Svalbard) |
title_full_unstemmed |
Paraglacial gullying of sediment‐mantled slopes: a case study of Colletthøgda, Kongsfjorden area, West Spitsbergen (Svalbard) |
title_sort |
paraglacial gullying of sediment‐mantled slopes: a case study of colletthøgda, kongsfjorden area, west spitsbergen (svalbard) |
publisher |
Wiley |
publishDate |
2009 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/esp.1862 https://api.wiley.com/onlinelibrary/tdm/v1/articles/10.1002%2Fesp.1862 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1002/esp.1862 |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(12.650,12.650,78.900,78.900) |
geographic |
Colletthøgda Svalbard |
geographic_facet |
Colletthøgda Svalbard |
genre |
glacier Kongsfjord* Kongsfjorden Svalbard Spitsbergen |
genre_facet |
glacier Kongsfjord* Kongsfjorden Svalbard Spitsbergen |
op_source |
Earth Surface Processes and Landforms volume 34, issue 13, page 1772-1789 ISSN 0197-9337 1096-9837 |
op_rights |
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/termsAndConditions#vor |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1002/esp.1862 |
container_title |
Earth Surface Processes and Landforms |
container_volume |
34 |
container_issue |
13 |
container_start_page |
1772 |
op_container_end_page |
1789 |
_version_ |
1802644566546841600 |