An Evaluation of Dendroecological Indicators of Snow Avalanches in the Swiss Alps

Casteller, Alejandro; Stöckli, Veronika; Villalba, Ricardo; Mayer, Andrea Corinna

doi:10.1657/1523-0430(2007)39[218:aeodio]2.0.co;2

Cited by 65 publications

(33 citation statements)

References 13 publications

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“…Recent dendrogeomorphological works on snow avalanches continue to use these features to date events (e.g. Jenkins and Hebertson, 2003;Dubé et al, 2004;Germain et al, 2005;Stoffel et al, 2006;Casteller et al, 2007;Mundo et al, 2007;Reardon et al, 2008).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Reconstructing snow avalanches in the Southeastern Pyrenees

Muntán

Garcı́a²,

Oller³

et al. 2009

Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci.

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Abstract.A regional study of snow avalanche processes was undertaken in the SE Pyrenees. Dendrogeomorphology was used to date and reconstruct large-scale snow avalanche events that occurred in the last four decades. Dendrochronological analyses yielded the dates of nine winters when avalanches occurred in the recent past in six studied avalanche paths. Some of these avalanches were already known, but others had not been documented. In one case, the existing avalanche path map was improved with the dendrogeomorphological information of a larger past event. As a result of the dendrogeomorphological analyses, evidence for three regional-scale major avalanche years was identified in the SE

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Reconstructing snow avalanches in the Southeastern Pyrenees

Muntán

Garcı́a²,

Oller³

et al. 2009

Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci.

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“…Tilted trees are quite a common sight in areas affected by geomorphic processes (Fig. 3a) and have therefore been used in many dendrogeomorphological studies to date previous events (e.g., Clague and Souther, 1982;Braam et al, 1987a, b;Fantucci and Sorriso-Valvo, 1999;Casteller et al, 2007). .…”

Section: Tilting Of Stemsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Tree-ring analysis in natural hazards research – an overview

Stoffel

Bollschweiler

2008

Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci.

402

207

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Abstract. The understanding of geomorphic processes and knowledge of past events are important tasks for the assessment of natural hazards. Tree rings have on varied occasions proved to be a reliable tool for the acquisition of data on past events. In this review paper, we provide an overview on the use of tree rings in natural hazards research, starting with a description of the different types of disturbances by geomorphic processes and the resulting growth reactions. Thereafter, a summary is presented on the different methods commonly used for the analysis and interpretation of reactions in affected trees. We illustrate selected results from dendrogeomorphological investigations of geomorphic processes with an emphasis on fluvial (e.g., flooding, debris flows) and mass-movement processes (e.g., landslides, snow avalanche), where lots of data have been generated over the past few decades. We also present results from rockfall and permafrost studies, where data are much scarcer, albeit data from tree-ring studies have proved to be of great value in these fields as well.Most studies using tree rings have focused on alpine environments in Europe and North America, whereas other parts of the world have been widely neglected by dendrogeomorphologists so far. We therefore challenge researchers to focus on other regions with distinct climates as well, to look on less frequently studied processes as well and to broaden and improve approaches and methods commonly used in tree-ring research so as to allow a better understanding of geomorphic processes, natural hazards and risk.

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“…In the following spring, the survivors can use more of the local resources because of the decrease in competition pressure. As a result, a sudden increase in tree-ring width occurs (Stoffel et al, 2005a(Stoffel et al, , 2005bCasteller et al, 2007;Šilhán and Pánek, 2008). Other ways in which a mass-movement event can induce wider tree-ring formation are, for example, the accumulation of fertile soil near trees (Gärtner, 2007a) or the increase in water content in accumulated layers (Fantucci and Sorriso-Valvo, 1999).…”

Section: Abrupt Growth Changesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…However, since the turn of the millennium, attention has also been aimed at other mountains, e.g., the Alps (Casteller et al, 2007;Corona et al, 2010), the Pyrenees (Muntán et al, 2009) and the Andes (Mundo et al, 2007;Casteller et al, 2011).…”

Section: Snow Avalanchesmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Meta-analysis of dendrochronological dating of mass movements

Tumajer

Treml

2012

Geochronometria

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Absolute dating of mass movements is crucial for disentangling possible release factors and determining the frequency of events. Here, we present an overview of a recent approach to dendrochronological dating of rockfalls, flows, landslides and avalanches. The results, based on 69 casestudies, show that methodological approaches to sampling and material processing differ considerably for different types of mass movements. Landslides are usually detected through abrupt growth changes and changes in stem eccentricity, whereas high-energy events as avalanches and flows are mostly identified by the formation of traumatic resin ducts, reaction wood, growth injuries and eccentricity changes. Cross-dating of dead wood is applicable as well. The dating of most mass movements except landslides is common, even with sub-annual resolution. In comparison to other methods of absolute dating, the main benefit of dendrochronology still lies in the high temporal resolution of the results. If living material is accessible, on-going research progress makes absolute dating of most mass-wasting events possible with sub-annual precision.

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An Evaluation of Dendroecological Indicators of Snow Avalanches in the Swiss Alps

Cited by 65 publications

References 13 publications

Reconstructing snow avalanches in the Southeastern Pyrenees

Reconstructing snow avalanches in the Southeastern Pyrenees

Tree-ring analysis in natural hazards research – an overview

Meta-analysis of dendrochronological dating of mass movements

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