Relationship between ground ice and solifluction: Field measurements in the Daisetsu Mountains, northern Japan

• Published in: Permafrost and Periglacial Processes
• Main Authors: Matsumoto, Hotaka, Yamada, Shuji, Hirakawa, Kazuomi
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Wiley 2010
• Subjects: Permafrost and Periglacial Processes
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/ppp.675; https://api.wiley.com/onlinelibrary/tdm/v1/articles/10.1002%2Fppp.675; https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1002/ppp.675

Abstract Soil temperature, surface heave and downslope movements were monitored continuously for one year (1998–99) within a solifluction lobe developed on seasonally frozen ground in the Daisetsu Mountains, northern Japan. Observations were also made of soil moisture and ice segregation. Seasonal freeze‐thaw cycles produced both frost creep and gelifluction. In layers shallower than 60 cm, ice segregation during the freezing season induced seasonal frost heave, and ice melt at the same depths during the thaw season promoted gelifluction as well as seasonal frost creep. At greater depths, gelifluction did not occur even when the thaw plane reached the ice‐rich layers. The results at the study site demonstrate that segregated ice plays an important role in gelifluction, but only at shallower depths. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.