ON THE MECHANISM OF NIVAL PROCESSES

• Main Author: Lyubimov,B. P.
• Other Authors: COLD REGIONS RESEARCH AND ENGINEERING LAB HANOVER N H
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: 1970
• Subjects: Geology; Geochemistry and Mineralogy; Snow; Ice and Permafrost; (*SNOW; *EROSION); FREEZING; PERMAFROST; MELTING; DEPOSITS; PENETRATION; FROST HEAVE; ROCK; TRANSPORT PROPERTIES; TERRAIN; USSR; SLOPES; GEOMORPHOLOGY; TRANSLATIONS; Ice; permafrost
• Online Access: http://www.dtic.mil/docs/citations/AD0711879; http://oai.dtic.mil/oai/oai?&verb=getRecord&metadataPrefix=html&identifier=AD0711879

The 'nivation' concept ('nivation' from the Latin root 'nix' = snow) is understood as the geomorphological process of the formation of corrie-like recesses on the slopes in the places of occurrence of firns as a result of the disruption of rocks along the edges of the firns under the effect of physical erosion and the subsequent removal of the material with the aid of fine streams of meltwater. The first combines the processes of disruption in continuity of the rocks and the active preparation of the material for displacement. The first group includes the following processes: (1) microclimatic: the development of a low-temperature zone under the firn, with the retention of a layer of seasonally frozen ground and the upheaval of the cover of ever-frozen rocks. The second group of the processes combines the processes of transporting and depositing the material; as a result, we have the formation of nival deposits and nival relief forms. (Author) Trans. of Podzemnyi Led (USSR) pt3 n3 p158-175 1967.