Molards as an indicator of permafrost degradation and landslide processes
Molards have been defined in the past as conical mounds of debris that can form part of a landslide's deposits. We present the first conclusive evidence that molards in permafrost terrains are cones of loose debris that result from thawing of frozen blocks of ice-rich sediments mobilised by a l...
Published in: | Earth and Planetary Science Letters |
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Online Access: | https://hdl.handle.net/11577/3481424 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.epsl.2019.03.040 |
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ftunivpadovairis:oai:www.research.unipd.it:11577/3481424 2024-04-14T08:12:55+00:00 Molards as an indicator of permafrost degradation and landslide processes Morino C. Conway S. J. Saemundsson Th. Kristinn Helgason J. Hillier J. Butcher F. E. G. Balme M. R. Jordan C. Argles T. Morino, C. Conway, S. J. Saemundsson, Th. Kristinn Helgason, J. Hillier, J. Butcher, F. E. G. Balme, M. R. Jordan, C. Argles, T. 2019 https://hdl.handle.net/11577/3481424 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.epsl.2019.03.040 eng eng Elsevier B.V. info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/wos/WOS:000470047100011 volume:516 firstpage:136 lastpage:147 numberofpages:12 journal:EARTH AND PLANETARY SCIENCE LETTERS https://hdl.handle.net/11577/3481424 doi:10.1016/j.epsl.2019.03.040 info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/scopus/2-s2.0-85064312954 info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess Iceland landslide Mar molard permafrost info:eu-repo/semantics/article 2019 ftunivpadovairis https://doi.org/10.1016/j.epsl.2019.03.040 2024-03-21T18:43:28Z Molards have been defined in the past as conical mounds of debris that can form part of a landslide's deposits. We present the first conclusive evidence that molards in permafrost terrains are cones of loose debris that result from thawing of frozen blocks of ice-rich sediments mobilised by a landslide, and hence propose a rigorous definition of this landform in permafrost environments. We show that molards can be used as an indicator of permafrost degradation, and that their morphometry and spatial distribution give valuable insights into landslide dynamics in permafrost environments. We demonstrate that molards are readily recognisable not only in the field, but also in remote sensing data; surveys of historic aerial imagery allow the recognition of relict molards, which can be used as an indicator of current and past permafrost conditions. The triggering of landslides as a result of permafrost degradation will arguably occur more often as global atmospheric temperatures increase, so molards should be added to our armoury for tracking climate change, as well as helping us to understand landslide-related hazards. Finally, we have also identified candidate molards on Mars, so molards can inform about landscape evolution on Earth and other planetary bodies. Article in Journal/Newspaper Ice Iceland permafrost Padua Research Archive (IRIS - Università degli Studi di Padova) Earth and Planetary Science Letters 516 136 147 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Padua Research Archive (IRIS - Università degli Studi di Padova) |
op_collection_id |
ftunivpadovairis |
language |
English |
topic |
Iceland landslide Mar molard permafrost |
spellingShingle |
Iceland landslide Mar molard permafrost Morino C. Conway S. J. Saemundsson Th. Kristinn Helgason J. Hillier J. Butcher F. E. G. Balme M. R. Jordan C. Argles T. Molards as an indicator of permafrost degradation and landslide processes |
topic_facet |
Iceland landslide Mar molard permafrost |
description |
Molards have been defined in the past as conical mounds of debris that can form part of a landslide's deposits. We present the first conclusive evidence that molards in permafrost terrains are cones of loose debris that result from thawing of frozen blocks of ice-rich sediments mobilised by a landslide, and hence propose a rigorous definition of this landform in permafrost environments. We show that molards can be used as an indicator of permafrost degradation, and that their morphometry and spatial distribution give valuable insights into landslide dynamics in permafrost environments. We demonstrate that molards are readily recognisable not only in the field, but also in remote sensing data; surveys of historic aerial imagery allow the recognition of relict molards, which can be used as an indicator of current and past permafrost conditions. The triggering of landslides as a result of permafrost degradation will arguably occur more often as global atmospheric temperatures increase, so molards should be added to our armoury for tracking climate change, as well as helping us to understand landslide-related hazards. Finally, we have also identified candidate molards on Mars, so molards can inform about landscape evolution on Earth and other planetary bodies. |
author2 |
Morino, C. Conway, S. J. Saemundsson, Th. Kristinn Helgason, J. Hillier, J. Butcher, F. E. G. Balme, M. R. Jordan, C. Argles, T. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Morino C. Conway S. J. Saemundsson Th. Kristinn Helgason J. Hillier J. Butcher F. E. G. Balme M. R. Jordan C. Argles T. |
author_facet |
Morino C. Conway S. J. Saemundsson Th. Kristinn Helgason J. Hillier J. Butcher F. E. G. Balme M. R. Jordan C. Argles T. |
author_sort |
Morino C. |
title |
Molards as an indicator of permafrost degradation and landslide processes |
title_short |
Molards as an indicator of permafrost degradation and landslide processes |
title_full |
Molards as an indicator of permafrost degradation and landslide processes |
title_fullStr |
Molards as an indicator of permafrost degradation and landslide processes |
title_full_unstemmed |
Molards as an indicator of permafrost degradation and landslide processes |
title_sort |
molards as an indicator of permafrost degradation and landslide processes |
publisher |
Elsevier B.V. |
publishDate |
2019 |
url |
https://hdl.handle.net/11577/3481424 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.epsl.2019.03.040 |
genre |
Ice Iceland permafrost |
genre_facet |
Ice Iceland permafrost |
op_relation |
info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/wos/WOS:000470047100011 volume:516 firstpage:136 lastpage:147 numberofpages:12 journal:EARTH AND PLANETARY SCIENCE LETTERS https://hdl.handle.net/11577/3481424 doi:10.1016/j.epsl.2019.03.040 info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/scopus/2-s2.0-85064312954 |
op_rights |
info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.epsl.2019.03.040 |
container_title |
Earth and Planetary Science Letters |
container_volume |
516 |
container_start_page |
136 |
op_container_end_page |
147 |
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1796310762721902592 |