Permafrost as a first order control on long-term rock-slope deformation in (Sub-)Arctic Norway
Assessing initiation of rock-slope deformation and paleo-slip rates of rockslides is important to understand the impact of climate variability - in particular permafrost changes - on rockslide activity. Norway, with 6–6.5% permafrost cover today, continues to experience spatial and temporal variatio...
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Online Access: | https://hdl.handle.net/11250/2728958 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quascirev.2020.106718 |
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ftntnutrondheimi:oai:ntnuopen.ntnu.no:11250/2728958 2023-05-15T15:00:38+02:00 Permafrost as a first order control on long-term rock-slope deformation in (Sub-)Arctic Norway Hilger, Paula Hermanns, Reginald Czekirda, Justyna Sæterdal, Kristin Myhra Gosse, John C. Etzelmüller, Bernd 2021 application/pdf https://hdl.handle.net/11250/2728958 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quascirev.2020.106718 eng eng Elsevier urn:issn:0277-3791 https://hdl.handle.net/11250/2728958 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quascirev.2020.106718 cristin:1868641 Navngivelse 4.0 Internasjonal http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/deed.no CC-BY 251 Quaternary Science Reviews Peer reviewed Journal article 2021 ftntnutrondheimi https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quascirev.2020.106718 2021-02-24T23:34:39Z Assessing initiation of rock-slope deformation and paleo-slip rates of rockslides is important to understand the impact of climate variability - in particular permafrost changes - on rockslide activity. Norway, with 6–6.5% permafrost cover today, continues to experience spatial and temporal variations in permafrost. We assess the timing of deformation initiation and potential late Pleistocene and Holocene sliding rates for six active gradually deforming rockslides in Norway using terrestrial cosmogenic nuclide dating. We evaluate the timing and rates of deformation considering a possible climate control by modelling the permafrost evolution since deglaciation for three rockslide locations: Mannen, Revdalsfjellet and Gamanjunni 3. Deformation at these sites started during or at the end of the Holocene Thermal Maximum (HTM), between 8 and 4.5 ka when permafrost in those regions was mostly degraded. At two low elevation sites, Oppstadhornet and Skjeringahaugane in western Norway, where permafrost remained absent during the Holocene, deformation started shortly after deglaciation. The timings suggest that the presence of permafrost in Norwegian rock slopes had a stabilizing effect over several millennia after deglaciation. Vertical transects of exposure ages along outcropping sliding surfaces indicate that pre-historical sliding rates seem to have decreased throughout the Holocene at all analysed rock-slope instabilities. However, modern measured sliding rates at four sites indicate a moderate to strong acceleration, compared to previous deformation rates. Three of these sites are located above or at the lower limit of alpine permafrost, where recent permafrost degradation may enhance slope destabilisation. The implication is that slope failures may become more frequent during accelerated warming in the Arctic and Subarctic. publishedVersion © 2020 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). Article in Journal/Newspaper Arctic permafrost Subarctic NTNU Open Archive (Norwegian University of Science and Technology) Arctic Mannen ENVELOPE(13.520,13.520,68.204,68.204) Norway Norwegian Rock ENVELOPE(73.317,73.317,-53.033,-53.033) Oppstadhornet ENVELOPE(6.841,6.841,62.699,62.699) Revdalsfjellet ENVELOPE(20.417,20.417,69.474,69.474) Quaternary Science Reviews 251 106718 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
NTNU Open Archive (Norwegian University of Science and Technology) |
op_collection_id |
ftntnutrondheimi |
language |
English |
description |
Assessing initiation of rock-slope deformation and paleo-slip rates of rockslides is important to understand the impact of climate variability - in particular permafrost changes - on rockslide activity. Norway, with 6–6.5% permafrost cover today, continues to experience spatial and temporal variations in permafrost. We assess the timing of deformation initiation and potential late Pleistocene and Holocene sliding rates for six active gradually deforming rockslides in Norway using terrestrial cosmogenic nuclide dating. We evaluate the timing and rates of deformation considering a possible climate control by modelling the permafrost evolution since deglaciation for three rockslide locations: Mannen, Revdalsfjellet and Gamanjunni 3. Deformation at these sites started during or at the end of the Holocene Thermal Maximum (HTM), between 8 and 4.5 ka when permafrost in those regions was mostly degraded. At two low elevation sites, Oppstadhornet and Skjeringahaugane in western Norway, where permafrost remained absent during the Holocene, deformation started shortly after deglaciation. The timings suggest that the presence of permafrost in Norwegian rock slopes had a stabilizing effect over several millennia after deglaciation. Vertical transects of exposure ages along outcropping sliding surfaces indicate that pre-historical sliding rates seem to have decreased throughout the Holocene at all analysed rock-slope instabilities. However, modern measured sliding rates at four sites indicate a moderate to strong acceleration, compared to previous deformation rates. Three of these sites are located above or at the lower limit of alpine permafrost, where recent permafrost degradation may enhance slope destabilisation. The implication is that slope failures may become more frequent during accelerated warming in the Arctic and Subarctic. publishedVersion © 2020 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Hilger, Paula Hermanns, Reginald Czekirda, Justyna Sæterdal, Kristin Myhra Gosse, John C. Etzelmüller, Bernd |
spellingShingle |
Hilger, Paula Hermanns, Reginald Czekirda, Justyna Sæterdal, Kristin Myhra Gosse, John C. Etzelmüller, Bernd Permafrost as a first order control on long-term rock-slope deformation in (Sub-)Arctic Norway |
author_facet |
Hilger, Paula Hermanns, Reginald Czekirda, Justyna Sæterdal, Kristin Myhra Gosse, John C. Etzelmüller, Bernd |
author_sort |
Hilger, Paula |
title |
Permafrost as a first order control on long-term rock-slope deformation in (Sub-)Arctic Norway |
title_short |
Permafrost as a first order control on long-term rock-slope deformation in (Sub-)Arctic Norway |
title_full |
Permafrost as a first order control on long-term rock-slope deformation in (Sub-)Arctic Norway |
title_fullStr |
Permafrost as a first order control on long-term rock-slope deformation in (Sub-)Arctic Norway |
title_full_unstemmed |
Permafrost as a first order control on long-term rock-slope deformation in (Sub-)Arctic Norway |
title_sort |
permafrost as a first order control on long-term rock-slope deformation in (sub-)arctic norway |
publisher |
Elsevier |
publishDate |
2021 |
url |
https://hdl.handle.net/11250/2728958 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quascirev.2020.106718 |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(13.520,13.520,68.204,68.204) ENVELOPE(73.317,73.317,-53.033,-53.033) ENVELOPE(6.841,6.841,62.699,62.699) ENVELOPE(20.417,20.417,69.474,69.474) |
geographic |
Arctic Mannen Norway Norwegian Rock Oppstadhornet Revdalsfjellet |
geographic_facet |
Arctic Mannen Norway Norwegian Rock Oppstadhornet Revdalsfjellet |
genre |
Arctic permafrost Subarctic |
genre_facet |
Arctic permafrost Subarctic |
op_source |
251 Quaternary Science Reviews |
op_relation |
urn:issn:0277-3791 https://hdl.handle.net/11250/2728958 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quascirev.2020.106718 cristin:1868641 |
op_rights |
Navngivelse 4.0 Internasjonal http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/deed.no |
op_rightsnorm |
CC-BY |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quascirev.2020.106718 |
container_title |
Quaternary Science Reviews |
container_volume |
251 |
container_start_page |
106718 |
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1766332721948262400 |