Uncovering a 70-year-old permafrost degradation induced disaster in the Arctic, the 1952 Niiortuut landslide-tsunami in central West Greenland
International audience On December 15th 1952, at approximately 14:00 local time a mass of 5.9 × 106 m3 of permafrozen talus deposits failed in a landslide close to the Niiortuut mountain on the south coast of the Nuussuaq peninsula, central West Greenland. Between 1.8 and 4.5 × 106 m3 of the materia...
Published in: | Science of The Total Environment |
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Online Access: | https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-03846381 https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-03846381/document https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-03846381/file/1-s2.0-S0048969722072102-main.pdf https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.160110 |
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ftunivnantes:oai:HAL:hal-03846381v1 2023-05-15T14:54:18+02:00 Uncovering a 70-year-old permafrost degradation induced disaster in the Arctic, the 1952 Niiortuut landslide-tsunami in central West Greenland Svennevig, Kristian Keiding, Marie Korsgaard, Niels, Lucas, Antoine Owen, Matthew Poulsen, Majken, Priebe, Janina Sørensen, Erik, Morino, Costanza Institut de Physique du Globe de Paris (IPGP (UMR_7154)) Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Université de La Réunion (UR)-Institut de Physique du Globe de Paris (IPG Paris)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Université Paris Cité (UPCité) Environnements, Dynamiques et Territoires de la Montagne (EDYTEM) Université Savoie Mont Blanc (USMB Université de Savoie Université de Chambéry )-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) 2022-11-06 https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-03846381 https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-03846381/document https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-03846381/file/1-s2.0-S0048969722072102-main.pdf https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.160110 en eng HAL CCSD Elsevier info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/doi/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.160110 hal-03846381 https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-03846381 https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-03846381/document https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-03846381/file/1-s2.0-S0048969722072102-main.pdf doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.160110 info:eu-repo/semantics/OpenAccess ISSN: 0048-9697 EISSN: 1879-1026 Science of the Total Environment https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-03846381 Science of the Total Environment, 2022, pp.160110. ⟨10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.160110⟩ [SDE.MCG]Environmental Sciences/Global Changes info:eu-repo/semantics/article Journal articles 2022 ftunivnantes https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.160110 2022-12-07T00:25:34Z International audience On December 15th 1952, at approximately 14:00 local time a mass of 5.9 × 106 m3 of permafrozen talus deposits failed in a landslide close to the Niiortuut mountain on the south coast of the Nuussuaq peninsula, central West Greenland. Between 1.8 and 4.5 × 106 m3 of the material entered the sea and generated a tsunami that propagated through the Vaigat strait (Sullorsuaq). Here we describe this catastrophic event for the first time by analysis of historical material supplemented by recent fieldwork and discuss the implications for the state of contemporary permafrozen slopes. The tsunami killed a fisherman working on the shore of southern Nuussuaq, 10 km south-east of the landslide. In the mining town of Qullissat, 30 km south of the landslide, it had a runup height of 2.2–2.7 m and caused minor material damage. Morphological evidence show that the basal surface of rupture was 80 m inside the permafrost cemented talus slope, whose degradation was a dynamic conditioning factor for the landslide. The 1952 Niiortuut landslide is the first historically recorded event of permafrost degradation induced landslide-tsunamis in the Arctic. We infer that the landslide and its cascading consequences occurred due to the early-twentieth century warming that started in the late 1910's in the Arctic. Warming is now increasingly affecting this region, as shown by an enhanced recent landslide activity. Article in Journal/Newspaper Arctic Greenland Nuussuaq permafrost Université de Nantes: HAL-UNIV-NANTES Arctic Greenland Nuussuaq ENVELOPE(-51.918,-51.918,66.626,66.626) Qullissat ENVELOPE(-53.017,-53.017,70.083,70.083) Vaigat ENVELOPE(-52.947,-52.947,70.200,70.200) Science of The Total Environment 859 160110 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Université de Nantes: HAL-UNIV-NANTES |
op_collection_id |
ftunivnantes |
language |
English |
topic |
[SDE.MCG]Environmental Sciences/Global Changes |
spellingShingle |
[SDE.MCG]Environmental Sciences/Global Changes Svennevig, Kristian Keiding, Marie Korsgaard, Niels, Lucas, Antoine Owen, Matthew Poulsen, Majken, Priebe, Janina Sørensen, Erik, Morino, Costanza Uncovering a 70-year-old permafrost degradation induced disaster in the Arctic, the 1952 Niiortuut landslide-tsunami in central West Greenland |
topic_facet |
[SDE.MCG]Environmental Sciences/Global Changes |
description |
International audience On December 15th 1952, at approximately 14:00 local time a mass of 5.9 × 106 m3 of permafrozen talus deposits failed in a landslide close to the Niiortuut mountain on the south coast of the Nuussuaq peninsula, central West Greenland. Between 1.8 and 4.5 × 106 m3 of the material entered the sea and generated a tsunami that propagated through the Vaigat strait (Sullorsuaq). Here we describe this catastrophic event for the first time by analysis of historical material supplemented by recent fieldwork and discuss the implications for the state of contemporary permafrozen slopes. The tsunami killed a fisherman working on the shore of southern Nuussuaq, 10 km south-east of the landslide. In the mining town of Qullissat, 30 km south of the landslide, it had a runup height of 2.2–2.7 m and caused minor material damage. Morphological evidence show that the basal surface of rupture was 80 m inside the permafrost cemented talus slope, whose degradation was a dynamic conditioning factor for the landslide. The 1952 Niiortuut landslide is the first historically recorded event of permafrost degradation induced landslide-tsunamis in the Arctic. We infer that the landslide and its cascading consequences occurred due to the early-twentieth century warming that started in the late 1910's in the Arctic. Warming is now increasingly affecting this region, as shown by an enhanced recent landslide activity. |
author2 |
Institut de Physique du Globe de Paris (IPGP (UMR_7154)) Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Université de La Réunion (UR)-Institut de Physique du Globe de Paris (IPG Paris)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Université Paris Cité (UPCité) Environnements, Dynamiques et Territoires de la Montagne (EDYTEM) Université Savoie Mont Blanc (USMB Université de Savoie Université de Chambéry )-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Svennevig, Kristian Keiding, Marie Korsgaard, Niels, Lucas, Antoine Owen, Matthew Poulsen, Majken, Priebe, Janina Sørensen, Erik, Morino, Costanza |
author_facet |
Svennevig, Kristian Keiding, Marie Korsgaard, Niels, Lucas, Antoine Owen, Matthew Poulsen, Majken, Priebe, Janina Sørensen, Erik, Morino, Costanza |
author_sort |
Svennevig, Kristian |
title |
Uncovering a 70-year-old permafrost degradation induced disaster in the Arctic, the 1952 Niiortuut landslide-tsunami in central West Greenland |
title_short |
Uncovering a 70-year-old permafrost degradation induced disaster in the Arctic, the 1952 Niiortuut landslide-tsunami in central West Greenland |
title_full |
Uncovering a 70-year-old permafrost degradation induced disaster in the Arctic, the 1952 Niiortuut landslide-tsunami in central West Greenland |
title_fullStr |
Uncovering a 70-year-old permafrost degradation induced disaster in the Arctic, the 1952 Niiortuut landslide-tsunami in central West Greenland |
title_full_unstemmed |
Uncovering a 70-year-old permafrost degradation induced disaster in the Arctic, the 1952 Niiortuut landslide-tsunami in central West Greenland |
title_sort |
uncovering a 70-year-old permafrost degradation induced disaster in the arctic, the 1952 niiortuut landslide-tsunami in central west greenland |
publisher |
HAL CCSD |
publishDate |
2022 |
url |
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-03846381 https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-03846381/document https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-03846381/file/1-s2.0-S0048969722072102-main.pdf https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.160110 |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(-51.918,-51.918,66.626,66.626) ENVELOPE(-53.017,-53.017,70.083,70.083) ENVELOPE(-52.947,-52.947,70.200,70.200) |
geographic |
Arctic Greenland Nuussuaq Qullissat Vaigat |
geographic_facet |
Arctic Greenland Nuussuaq Qullissat Vaigat |
genre |
Arctic Greenland Nuussuaq permafrost |
genre_facet |
Arctic Greenland Nuussuaq permafrost |
op_source |
ISSN: 0048-9697 EISSN: 1879-1026 Science of the Total Environment https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-03846381 Science of the Total Environment, 2022, pp.160110. ⟨10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.160110⟩ |
op_relation |
info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/doi/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.160110 hal-03846381 https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-03846381 https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-03846381/document https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-03846381/file/1-s2.0-S0048969722072102-main.pdf doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.160110 |
op_rights |
info:eu-repo/semantics/OpenAccess |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.160110 |
container_title |
Science of The Total Environment |
container_volume |
859 |
container_start_page |
160110 |
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1766326022094979072 |