Climatic Zonality of Periglacial Landforms in Mountain Areas

• Published in: ARCTIC
• Main Author: Harris, Stuart A.
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: The Arctic Institute of North America 1994
• Subjects: Climatology; Creep; Mountains; Periglacial landforms; Plants (Biology); Rock glaciers; Alaska Range; Brooks Range; Alaska; China; Dempster Highway region; N.W.T./Yukon; Rocky Mountains; Alberta; Top of the World Highway region; Yukon; alaska range; Arctic; glaciers; permafrost; pergélisol
• Online Access: https://journalhosting.ucalgary.ca/index.php/arctic/article/view/64343

The alpine periglacial areas of the world can be divided into three distinctive landscape types dominated by one of the following: active rock glaciers, active block streams, or gelifluction landforms. These also correspond to distinct climates, the active rock glaciers occurring under cold, humid conditions; the active block streams in cold, dry climates; and gelifluction-dominated landforms occurring in warmer areas. These have distinct ranges of mean annual temperature and precipitation, which can be used in interpreting climatic changes based on distribution of fossil landforms.Key words: alpine permafrost, block streams, rock glaciers, gelifluction On peut diviser les régions périglaciaires alpines du globe en trois types de paysages distincts, dominés par un des éléments suivants: glaciers rocheux actifs, coulées de pierres actives ou reliefs de gélifluxion. Ces éléments correspondent aussi à des climats distincts, les glaciers rocheux existant dans des conditions de froid et d'humidité; les coulées de pierres actives sous des climats froids et secs; et les reliefs de gélifluxion dans des régions plus tempérées. Ces paysages ont des gammes différentes de moyennes annuelles de températures et de précipitations, qui peuvent servir à interpréter les changements climatiques fondés sur la distribution des reliefs fossiles.Mots clés : pergélisol alpin, coulées de pierre, glaciers rocheux, gélifluxion