A new rock glacier inventory of the Lombardy, Central Alps, Italy

• Main Authors: Scotti R, Brardinoni F, Alberti S, Frattini P, Crosta GB
• Other Authors: Scotti R, Brardinoni F, Alberti S, Frattini P, Crosta GB
• Format: Conference Object
• Language: English
• Published: 2012
• Subjects: ROCK GLACIER; PERIGLACIAL LANDFORMS; REMOTE SENSING INVENTORY; GEOMORPHOLOGY; New Rock; permafrost
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/11585/631663

The Lombardy Alps, with a surface of 2148 km2 above 2000 m a.s.l. (9% of the total) represents an important portion of the southern side of the orogen. For encompassing a variety of tectonic and climatic regimes, they represent an interesting area to examine environmental controls on periglacial processes. Today, technological developments in remote sensing techniques allow us to study periglacial landforms with increasing detail. We present a new inventory for the whole Lombardy Alps in which we identify and classify rock glaciers and protalus ramparts. The inventory has been conducted by combining a number of remotely-sensed images with field traverses. Specifically, the interpretation of high-resolution (0.5 x 0.5 m) digital aerial photos (2000, 2003, 2007) and a 2 m*2 m Digital Surface Model that cover the whole region has allowed inventorying a greater number of relevant landforms when compared to prior regional efforts. Measurements and photographs taken during fieldwork provided critical ground control for the validation of data extracted from remotely-based analysis. Rock glaciers have been mapped in GIS polygons. The inventory follows the specifics detailed by Scapozza and Mari (2010), with some additional information adapted from the PermaNET evidences guidelines (Cremonese et al., 2011). Landform attributes include, geographic coordinates, mountain sector, type, activity, area, elevation (min, max and mean), slope gradient, slope aspect, dominant lithology, vegetation at the front, and upstream presence/absence of a glacier. In total, we identify 1734 periglacial landforms covering a surface of 81,5 km2 (0,34% of the region). In terms of activity, the inventory includes 673 (39%) intact classified and 1061 (61%) relict landforms. The most common landform typology is the talus-lobate (931, 54%) followed by talus tongue-shaped (436, 25%) and protalus ramparts (232, 13%). Minimum elevation, often considered a good approximation of discontinuous permafrost lower limit, sets respectively at 2590 m a.s.l. ...