Hydrology of Active Rock Glaciers: Examples from the Austrian Alps

Krainer, Karl; Mostler, Wolfram

doi:10.2307/1552465

Cited by 52 publications

(99 citation statements)

References 15 publications

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“…Slope angles in the initiation zones reach 27-41 (mean 32.6 ). Permafrost in the loose sediment of the eight catchments under investigation forms an impermeable layer which promotes drainage along preferential paths [Krainer and Mostler, 2002]. During rainstorms, water (and ice melt) is released to a torrent along the contact with the permafrost body.…”

Section: Study Regionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Hydrometeorological triggers of periglacial debris flows in the Zermatt valley (Switzerland) since 1864

Schneuwly-Bollschweiler

Stoffel

2012

J. Geophys. Res.

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The triggering of debris flows depends on a critical combination of available unconsolidated material and water supply. In periglacial environments, debris flows are generally triggered by liquefaction of loose material in a channel, or by progressive erosion during a large release of water. Here, we link an unusually dense and highly resolved database on periglacial debris flows with meteorological records dating back to AD 1864 to reconstruct ∼150 yr of rainstorms that triggered debris flows at high‐elevation sites (source area elevations ranging from 2000 to 4545 m a.s.l.) in the Swiss Alps. Analysis is based on a tree ring‐derived frequency series of debris flows from eight torrents, as well as on daily records from three meteorological stations and runoff data from four river gauging stations. Results show that the debris‐flow season at these high‐altitude sites now is much longer (May to October) than it used to be in the late nineteenth century when activity was limited to June–September. Debris flows early in the season are generally triggered by lower rainstorm totals (<20 mm/day) than those occurring later in the season because early season snowmelt adds considerable amounts of water to the system and therefore facilitates debris‐flow formation. Debris flows in May, June, July, and August are triggered primarily by short‐duration high‐intensity rainstorms (local thunderstorms) whereas late season (September, October) debris flows are commonly related to longer‐lasting advective rainstorms.

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Section: Study Regionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Hydrometeorological triggers of periglacial debris flows in the Zermatt valley (Switzerland) since 1864

Schneuwly-Bollschweiler

Stoffel

2012

J. Geophys. Res.

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“…The insulating effects of the coarse debris cover of rock glaciers make them more resilient to climate warming compared to terrains overlain by more common fine-grained sediments and glaciers (Burger, Degenhardt, & Giardino, 1999;Harris & Pedersen, 1998;Scherler, Hauck, Hoelzle, & Salzmann, 2013). The discharge at the outlet of rock glaciers is typically characterized by low temperatures (e.g., <3°C) due to the low ground temperatures common to rock glaciers and the snowmelt-dominated hydrological regimes common in alpine areas where rock glaciers are present (e.g., Krainer & Mostler, 2002). Other coarse surficial deposits found in alpine areas, such as proglacial moraines and talus slopes, can have similarly low discharge temperatures (Clow et al, 2003;Millar, Westfall, & Delany, 2013;Roy & Hayashi, 2009;Roy, Zaitlin, Hayashi, & Watson, 2011).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Recent studies have reported the temperature of rock glacier outflows (Geiger, Daniels, Miller, & Nicholas, 2014;Krainer & Mostler, 2002;Millar et al, 2013;Williams, Knauf, Caine, Liu, & Verplanck, 2006;Winkler et al, 2016) but have not assessed these in the context of the catchment stream temperature. The overall purpose of this research is to evaluate the effects of rock glacier groundwater discharge on stream temperature and the associated implications for cold-water fish habitat.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Influence of a rock glacier spring on the stream energy budget and cold‐water refuge in an alpine stream

Harrington

Kurylyk

2017

Hydrological Processes

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The thermal regimes of alpine streams remain understudied and have important implications for cold‐water fish habitat, which is expected to decline due to climatic warming. Previous research has focused on the effects of distributed energy fluxes and meltwater from snowpacks and glaciers on the temperature of mountain streams. This study presents the effects of the groundwater spring discharge from an inactive rock glacier containing little ground ice on the temperature of an alpine stream. Rock glaciers are coarse blocky landforms that are ubiquitous in alpine environments and typically exhibit low groundwater discharge temperatures and resilience to climatic warming. Water temperature data indicate that the rock glacier spring cools the stream by an average of 3 °C during July and August and reduces maximum daily temperatures by an average of 5 °C during the peak temperature period of the first two weeks in August, producing a cold‐water refuge downstream of the spring. The distributed stream surface and streambed energy fluxes are calculated for the reach along the toe of the rock glacier, and solar radiation dominates the distributed stream energy budget. The lateral advective heat flux generated by the rock glacier spring is compared to the distributed energy fluxes over the study reach, and the spring advective heat flux is the dominant control on stream temperature at the reach scale. This study highlights the potential for coarse blocky landforms to generate climatically resilient cold‐water refuges in alpine streams.

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“…While the hydrogeology of moraines, talus and hillslope aquifers has been the subject of intensive investigations (e.g., Clow et al 2003;Roy and Hayashi 2009;Muir et al 2011), knowledge about the hydraulic behavior and storage capacities of rock glaciers is sparse (Krainer and Mostler 2002;Krainer et al 2007;Millar et al 2013;Winkler et al 2016a). Nevertheless, rock glaciers are common landforms all around the globe in mountainous areas and at high latitudes-for instance, in the Austrian Alps, KellererPirklbauer et al (2012) and Krainer and Ribis (2012) have identified a total of 4,792 rock glaciers covering an area of about 286 km 2 .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Investigating groundwater flow components in an Alpine relict rock glacier (Austria) using a numerical model

Pauritsch¹,

Wagner

Winkler

et al. 2016

Hydrogeol J

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Relict rock glaciers are complex hydrogeological systems that might act as relevant groundwater storages; therefore, the discharge behavior of these alpine landforms needs to be better understood. Hydrogeological and geophysical investigations at a relict rock glacier in the Niedere Tauern Range (Austria) reveal a slow and fast flow component that appear to be related to the heterogeneous structure of the aquifer. A numerical groundwater flow model was used to indicate the influence of important internal structures such as layering, preferential flow paths and aquifer-base topography. Discharge dynamics can be reproduced reasonably by both introducing layers of strongly different hydraulic conductivities or by a network of highly conductive channels within a low-conductivity zone. Moreover, the topography of the aquifer base influences the discharge dynamics, which can be observed particularly in simply structured aquifers. Hydraulic conductivity differences of three orders of magnitude are required to account for the observed discharge behavior: a highly conductive layer and/or channel network controlling the fast and flashy spring responses to recharge events, as opposed to less conductive sediment accumulations sustaining the long-term base flow. The results show that the hydraulic behavior of this relict rock glacier and likely that of others can be adequately represented by two aquifer components. However, the attempt to characterize the two components by inverse modeling results in ambiguity of internal structures when solely discharge data are available.

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Hydrology of Active Rock Glaciers: Examples from the Austrian Alps

Cited by 52 publications

References 15 publications

Hydrometeorological triggers of periglacial debris flows in the Zermatt valley (Switzerland) since 1864

Hydrometeorological triggers of periglacial debris flows in the Zermatt valley (Switzerland) since 1864

Influence of a rock glacier spring on the stream energy budget and cold‐water refuge in an alpine stream

Investigating groundwater flow components in an Alpine relict rock glacier (Austria) using a numerical model

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