Ground penetrating radar survey and stratigraphic interpretation of the Plan du Lac rock glaciers, Vanoise Massif, northern French Alps

• Published in: Permafrost and Periglacial Processes
• Main Authors: Monnier, Sébastien, Camerlynck, Christian, Rejiba, Fayçal
• Other Authors: Laboratoire de géographie physique : Environnements Quaternaires et Actuels (LGP), Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne (UP1)-Université Paris-Est Créteil Val-de-Marne - Paris 12 (UPEC UP12)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Structure et fonctionnement des systèmes hydriques continentaux (SISYPHE), Université Pierre et Marie Curie - Paris 6 (UPMC)-École Pratique des Hautes Études (EPHE), Université Paris Sciences et Lettres (PSL)-Université Paris Sciences et Lettres (PSL)-Mines Paris - PSL (École nationale supérieure des mines de Paris), Université Paris Sciences et Lettres (PSL)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: HAL CCSD 2008
• Subjects: rock glaciers; ground‐penetrating radar; stratigraphy; surface morphology; [SDU.ENVI]Sciences of the Universe [physics]/Continental interfaces; environment; [SDU.STU.GL]Sciences of the Universe [physics]/Earth Sciences/Glaciology; [SDU.STU.GP]Sciences of the Universe [physics]/Earth Sciences/Geophysics [physics.geo-ph]; Permafrost and Periglacial Processes
• Online Access: https://normandie-univ.hal.science/hal-01740114; https://doi.org/10.1002/ppp.610

International audience Internal boundaries of the Plan du Lac rock glaciers in the northern French Alps were investigated using ground‐penetrating radar (GPR) and were correlated with the surface morphology. Data collected using 50 MHz antennae along three profiles were processed in a novel manner by applying modulated automatic gain control to discriminate reflection events according to coherence and continuity patterns. Based on the GPR and morphological analyses, the stratigraphy appears complex, with prominent internal boundaries dividing the features into several depositional units, interpreted as sequential creeping or thrusting events.