Geophysical signature of a World War i tunnel-like anomaly in the Forni Glacier (Punta Linke, Italian Alps)
Global warming and the associated glacier retreat recently revealed the entrance to an ice-rock tunnel, at an altitude of similar to 3600 m a.s.l., in the uppermost portion of the Forni Glacier in the Central Italian Alps. The tunnel served as an entrance to an Austro-Hungarian cableway station exca...
Published in: | Journal of Glaciology |
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Main Authors: | , , , , , , , |
Other Authors: | , , , , , , , |
Format: | Article in Journal/Newspaper |
Language: | English |
Published: |
2019
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Subjects: | |
Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/11381/2866345 https://doi.org/10.1017/jog.2019.59 https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/journal-of-glaciology/all-issues |
Summary: | Global warming and the associated glacier retreat recently revealed the entrance to an ice-rock tunnel, at an altitude of similar to 3600 m a.s.l., in the uppermost portion of the Forni Glacier in the Central Italian Alps. The tunnel served as an entrance to an Austro-Hungarian cableway station excavated in the rocks during the Great War just behind the frontline. A comprehensive geophysical survey, based on seismic and ground-penetrating radar profiling, was then undertaken to map other possible World War I (WWI) remains still embedded in the ice. The ice-rock interface was reconstructed over the entire saddle and in the uppermost portion of the glacier. A prominent linear reflector was surprisingly similar to the common response of buried pipes. The reflector orientation, almost longitudinal to the slope, does not seem to be compatible with a glacial conduit or with other natural features. Numerical simulations of a series of possible targets constrained interpretation to a partly water-filled rounded shape cavity. The presence of a preserved WWI tunnel connecting Mount Vioz and Punta Linke could be considered a realistic hypothesis. The Forni glacier could be still considered polythermal and comprised of cold ice without basal sliding in its top portion. |
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