Mechanisms of Landslide Destabilization Induced by Glacier-Retreat on Tungnakvíslarjökull Area, Iceland

• Published in: Geophysical Research Letters
• Main Authors: Lacroix, Pascal, Belart, Joaquin M. C., Berthier, Etienne, Sæmundsson, Dorsteinn, Jónsdóttir, Kristín.
• Other Authors: Institut des Sciences de la Terre (ISTerre), Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Université Savoie Mont Blanc (USMB Université de Savoie Université de Chambéry )-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Université Gustave Eiffel-Université Grenoble Alpes (UGA), Laboratoire d'études en Géophysique et océanographie spatiales (LEGOS), Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD)-Université Toulouse III - Paul Sabatier (UT3), Université de Toulouse (UT)-Université de Toulouse (UT)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Observatoire Midi-Pyrénées (OMP), Université de Toulouse (UT)-Université de Toulouse (UT)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Centre National d'Études Spatiales Toulouse (CNES)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Météo-France-Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Centre National d'Études Spatiales Toulouse (CNES)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Météo-France-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: HAL CCSD 2022
• Subjects: landslide; glacier-retreat; remote-sensing; kinematics; seismology; asperity; [SDU]Sciences of the Universe [physics]; [SDU.STU]Sciences of the Universe [physics]/Earth Sciences; glacier; Iceland
• Online Access: https://insu.hal.science/insu-03861045; https://insu.hal.science/insu-03861045/document; https://insu.hal.science/insu-03861045/file/Geophysical%20Research%20Letters%20-%202022%20-%20Lacroix%20-%20Mechanisms%20of%20Landslide%20Destabilization%20Induced%20by%20Glacier%25u2010Retreat%20on.pdf; https://doi.org/10.1029/2022GL098302

International audience The massive worldwide deglaciation leads to more frequent slope instabilities in mountainous terrains. The physical processes leading to such destabilizations are poorly constrained due to little monitoring of dynamic parameters at the local scale. Here we study a very large slow-moving landslide (∼0.8 km 2 ), on the flank of Tungnakvíslarjökull glacier in Iceland. Based on a combination of remote sensing images, we monitor the landslide and glacier kinematics over 75 years, with a focus over the period 1999-2019 when rapid glacier wastage has been observed. The landslide accelerates from 2 to 45 m/yr in the 6 years following a sudden increase in glacier mass loss. This acceleration coincides with intense quake activity (Mℓ < 2.8), recorded by a regional seismic network. We show that this seismicity is caused by the landslide sliding on a rough surface. The evolution of the quake magnitudes suggests a progressive segmentation of the landslide mass during its acceleration.