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Dynamics of an active rock glacier (Ötztal Alps, Austria)

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Jana Berger ,
Karl Krainer  and
Wolfram Mostler
Jana Berger*
Affiliation:
Amandastraße 85c, 20357 Hamburg, Germany
Karl Krainer*
Affiliation:
Institute for Geology and Paleontology, University of Innsbruck, A-6020 Innsbruck, Austria
Wolfram Mostler*
Affiliation:
Institute for Geology and Paleontology, University of Innsbruck, A-6020 Innsbruck, Austria
*
1Tel.: +49 40 43910910; fax: +49 40 43910833.
2Tel.: +43 512 5075585.
2Tel.: +43 512 5075585.
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Abstract

The rock glacier Innere Ölgrube, located in a small side valley of the Kauner Valley (Ötztal Alps, Austria), consists of two separate, tongue-shaped rock glaciers lying next to each other. Investigations indicate that both rock glaciers contain a core of massive ice. During winter, the temperature at the base of the snow cover (BTS) is significantly lower at the active rock glacier than on permafrost-free ground adjacent to the rock glacier. Discharge is characterized by strong seasonal and diurnal variations, and is strongly controlled by the local weather conditions. Water temperature of the rock glacier springs remains constantly low, mostly below 1°C during the whole melt season. The morphology of the rock glaciers and the presence of meltwater lakes in their rooting zones as well as the high surface flow velocities of >1 m/yr point to a glacial origin. The northern rock glacier, which is bounded by lateral moraines, evolved from the debris-covered tongue of a small glacier of the Little Ice Age with its last highstand around A.D. 1850. Due to the global warming in the following decades, the upper parts of the steep and debris-free ice glacier melted, whereas the debris-covered glacier tongue transformed into an active rock glacier. Due to this evolution and due to the downslope movement, the northern rock glacier, although still active, at present is cut off from its ice and debris supply. The southern rock glacier has developed approximately during the same period from a debris-covered cirque glacier at the foot of the Wannetspitze massif.

Keywords

Active rock glacierÖtztal AlpsDischargeWater temperatureThermal regimeBTS-methodFlow velocitiesIce-cored rock glacier
Type
Research Article
Information
Quaternary Research , Volume 62 , Issue 3 , November 2004 , pp. 233 - 242
Copyright
University of Washington

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