Rock moisture data from the juneau icefield (alaska) and its significance for mechanical weathering studies

• Published in: Permafrost and Periglacial Processes
• Main Author: Hall, Kevin
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Wiley 1991
• Subjects: Earth-Surface Processes; Permafrost and Periglacial Processes; Alaska
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/ppp.3430020407; https://api.wiley.com/onlinelibrary/tdm/v1/articles/10.1002%2Fppp.3430020407; https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1002/ppp.3430020407

Abstract Information was obtained regarding rock moisture content from nunataks along a west to east transect across the Juneau Icefield in Alaska. The data, together with rock temperatures and general climatic information, were collected for east‐, west‐, north‐ and south‐facing samples. For one day data were collected every hour. The resulting information indicates the spatial and temporal variability that can exist over both short distances and short time‐spans. It is suggested that this variability can have important repercussions with respect to weathering processes. The number of wetting and drying cycles monitored greatly depends upon the level of sample saturation that is considered significant. Available information suggests that wetting and drying can be operating at more than one level within the rock and that this will result in different weathering products. Wetting and drying may be more important than has been previously thought, both in terms of a weathering agent in its own right and as one that interacts with other processes, thereby speeding up their effect upon the rock.