A prehistoric catastrophic rock avalanche at

• Main Author: Michael Kelly
• Other Authors: The Pennsylvania State University CiteSeerX Archives
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: 1979
• Subjects: Avqutikitsoq; Greenland
• Online Access: http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.586.5226; http://2dgf.dk/xpdf/bull28-03-04-73-79.pdf

The deposits of a rock avalanche have been identified near Holsteinsborg, West Greenland, where they cover about 2 km2 and involve at least 2.8 X 106 m3 of rock debris which has been transported up to 7 km from its source. The possible transport mechanisms responsible for this deposit are discussed by analogy with recent rock avalanches described in the literature. This suggests that the avalanche was a high velocity flow cum slide with a dispersed load of rock debris, snow and ice which was generated by a rock fall from the side of the mountain of Avqutikitsoq. The date of the avalanche is estimated from the somewhat uncertain lichenometrical evidence to be 16th or 17th century.