The effects of late Cenozoic climate change on the global distribution of frost cracking
Frost cracking is a dominant mechanical weathering phenomenon facilitating the breakdown of bedrock in periglacial regions. Despite recent advances in understanding frost cracking processes, few studies have addressed how global climate change over the late Cenozoic may have impacted spatial variati...
Published in: | Earth Surface Dynamics |
---|---|
Main Authors: | , , |
Format: | Article in Journal/Newspaper |
Language: | English |
Published: |
Copernicus Publications on behalf of the European Geosciences Union
2022
|
Subjects: | |
Online Access: | https://eprints.gla.ac.uk/309837/ https://eprints.gla.ac.uk/309837/1/309837.pdf |
id |
ftuglasgow:oai:eprints.gla.ac.uk:309837 |
---|---|
record_format |
openpolar |
spelling |
ftuglasgow:oai:eprints.gla.ac.uk:309837 2023-12-24T10:17:14+01:00 The effects of late Cenozoic climate change on the global distribution of frost cracking Sharma, Hemanti Mutz, Sebastian G. Ehlers, Todd A. 2022-10-25 text https://eprints.gla.ac.uk/309837/ https://eprints.gla.ac.uk/309837/1/309837.pdf en eng Copernicus Publications on behalf of the European Geosciences Union https://eprints.gla.ac.uk/309837/1/309837.pdf Sharma, H., Mutz, S. G. <http://eprints.gla.ac.uk/view/author/75407.html> and Ehlers, T. A. <http://eprints.gla.ac.uk/view/author/70959.html> (2022) The effects of late Cenozoic climate change on the global distribution of frost cracking. Earth Surface Dynamics <https://eprints.gla.ac.uk/view/journal_volume/Earth_Surface_Dynamics.html>, 10(5), pp. 997-1015. (doi:10.5194/esurf-10-997-2022 <https://doi.org/10.5194/esurf-10-997-2022>) cc_by_4 Articles PeerReviewed 2022 ftuglasgow https://doi.org/10.5194/esurf-10-997-2022 2023-11-30T23:09:25Z Frost cracking is a dominant mechanical weathering phenomenon facilitating the breakdown of bedrock in periglacial regions. Despite recent advances in understanding frost cracking processes, few studies have addressed how global climate change over the late Cenozoic may have impacted spatial variations in frost cracking intensity. In this study, we estimate global changes in frost cracking intensity (FCI) by segregation ice growth. Existing process-based models of FCI are applied in combination with soil thickness data from the Harmonized World Soil Database. Temporal and spatial variations in FCI are predicted using surface temperature changes obtained from ECHAM5 general circulation model simulations conducted for four different paleoclimate time slices. Time slices considered include pre-industrial (∼ 1850 CE, PI), mid-Holocene (∼ 6 ka, MH), Last Glacial Maximum (∼ 21 ka, LGM), and Pliocene (∼ 3 Ma, PLIO) times. Results indicate for all paleoclimate time slices that frost cracking was most prevalent (relative to PI times) in the middle- to high-latitude regions, as well as high-elevation lower-latitude areas such the Himalayas, Tibet, the European Alps, the Japanese Alps, the US Rocky Mountains, and the Andes Mountains. The smallest deviations in frost cracking (relative to PI conditions) were observed in the MH simulation, which yielded slightly higher FCI values in most of the areas. In contrast, larger deviations were observed in the simulations of the colder climate (LGM) and warmer climate (PLIO). Our results indicate that the impact of climate change on frost cracking was most severe during the PI–LGM period due to higher differences in temperatures and glaciation at higher latitudes. The PLIO results indicate low FCI in the Andes and higher values of FCI in Greenland and Canada due to the diminished extent of glaciation in the warmer PLIO climate. Article in Journal/Newspaper Greenland University of Glasgow: Enlighten - Publications Canada Greenland Earth Surface Dynamics 10 5 997 1015 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
University of Glasgow: Enlighten - Publications |
op_collection_id |
ftuglasgow |
language |
English |
description |
Frost cracking is a dominant mechanical weathering phenomenon facilitating the breakdown of bedrock in periglacial regions. Despite recent advances in understanding frost cracking processes, few studies have addressed how global climate change over the late Cenozoic may have impacted spatial variations in frost cracking intensity. In this study, we estimate global changes in frost cracking intensity (FCI) by segregation ice growth. Existing process-based models of FCI are applied in combination with soil thickness data from the Harmonized World Soil Database. Temporal and spatial variations in FCI are predicted using surface temperature changes obtained from ECHAM5 general circulation model simulations conducted for four different paleoclimate time slices. Time slices considered include pre-industrial (∼ 1850 CE, PI), mid-Holocene (∼ 6 ka, MH), Last Glacial Maximum (∼ 21 ka, LGM), and Pliocene (∼ 3 Ma, PLIO) times. Results indicate for all paleoclimate time slices that frost cracking was most prevalent (relative to PI times) in the middle- to high-latitude regions, as well as high-elevation lower-latitude areas such the Himalayas, Tibet, the European Alps, the Japanese Alps, the US Rocky Mountains, and the Andes Mountains. The smallest deviations in frost cracking (relative to PI conditions) were observed in the MH simulation, which yielded slightly higher FCI values in most of the areas. In contrast, larger deviations were observed in the simulations of the colder climate (LGM) and warmer climate (PLIO). Our results indicate that the impact of climate change on frost cracking was most severe during the PI–LGM period due to higher differences in temperatures and glaciation at higher latitudes. The PLIO results indicate low FCI in the Andes and higher values of FCI in Greenland and Canada due to the diminished extent of glaciation in the warmer PLIO climate. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Sharma, Hemanti Mutz, Sebastian G. Ehlers, Todd A. |
spellingShingle |
Sharma, Hemanti Mutz, Sebastian G. Ehlers, Todd A. The effects of late Cenozoic climate change on the global distribution of frost cracking |
author_facet |
Sharma, Hemanti Mutz, Sebastian G. Ehlers, Todd A. |
author_sort |
Sharma, Hemanti |
title |
The effects of late Cenozoic climate change on the global distribution of frost cracking |
title_short |
The effects of late Cenozoic climate change on the global distribution of frost cracking |
title_full |
The effects of late Cenozoic climate change on the global distribution of frost cracking |
title_fullStr |
The effects of late Cenozoic climate change on the global distribution of frost cracking |
title_full_unstemmed |
The effects of late Cenozoic climate change on the global distribution of frost cracking |
title_sort |
effects of late cenozoic climate change on the global distribution of frost cracking |
publisher |
Copernicus Publications on behalf of the European Geosciences Union |
publishDate |
2022 |
url |
https://eprints.gla.ac.uk/309837/ https://eprints.gla.ac.uk/309837/1/309837.pdf |
geographic |
Canada Greenland |
geographic_facet |
Canada Greenland |
genre |
Greenland |
genre_facet |
Greenland |
op_relation |
https://eprints.gla.ac.uk/309837/1/309837.pdf Sharma, H., Mutz, S. G. <http://eprints.gla.ac.uk/view/author/75407.html> and Ehlers, T. A. <http://eprints.gla.ac.uk/view/author/70959.html> (2022) The effects of late Cenozoic climate change on the global distribution of frost cracking. Earth Surface Dynamics <https://eprints.gla.ac.uk/view/journal_volume/Earth_Surface_Dynamics.html>, 10(5), pp. 997-1015. (doi:10.5194/esurf-10-997-2022 <https://doi.org/10.5194/esurf-10-997-2022>) |
op_rights |
cc_by_4 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.5194/esurf-10-997-2022 |
container_title |
Earth Surface Dynamics |
container_volume |
10 |
container_issue |
5 |
container_start_page |
997 |
op_container_end_page |
1015 |
_version_ |
1786205217456390144 |