Remnants of lithalsas on the Hautes Fagnes plateau (Belgium) are on weathered quartzitic rocks

peer reviewed The ramparted depressions that exist on the Hautes Fagnes Plateau in Belgium, first interpreted in 1956 as the remnants of pingos are best explained as remnants of lithalsas (i.e., mineral palsas), formed from ice segregation within frozen ground (permafrost) of Younger Dryas age. Thes...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Zeitschrift für Geomorphologie
Main Author: Pissart, Albert
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: Gebruder Borntraeger Verlagsbuchhandlung 2010
Subjects:
permafrost
Younger Dryas age
Hautes Fagnes Plateau
Physical
chemical
mathematical & earth Sciences
Earth sciences & physical geography
Physique
chimie
mathématiques & sciences de la terre
Sciences de la terre & géographie physique
Ice
palsas
Online Access:https://orbi.uliege.be/handle/2268/250825
https://orbi.uliege.be/bitstream/2268/250825/1/Remnants_lithalsas_Hautes_Fagnes_Plateau.pdf
https://doi.org/10.1127/0372-8854/2010/0054-0001
Description
Summary:peer reviewed The ramparted depressions that exist on the Hautes Fagnes Plateau in Belgium, first interpreted in 1956 as the remnants of pingos are best explained as remnants of lithalsas (i.e., mineral palsas), formed from ice segregation within frozen ground (permafrost) of Younger Dryas age. These features have only been described previously from Belgium, Wales and Ireland. Their location, above 500 m a.s.l. in Belgium, reflects the cold Younger-Dryas climate that have existed at that altitude but it was unclear why similar features did not form on the adjacent Eifel Plateau at the same altitude. We demonstrate here that lithalsas were formed only on weathered quartzitic rocks of the Cambro-Ordovician massif of Stavelot, and probably are associated with local hydrological conditions.

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