Quantification of permafrost creep provides kinematic evidence for classifying a puzzling periglacial landform

Mechanical processes operating on the slope surface or at depth control the dynamics of alpine landforms and hold critical information of their geomorphological characteristics, yet they often lack systematic quantification and in-depth interpretation. This study aims to address a long-standing issue concerning geomorphological classification from a kinematic perspective. A group of periglacial landforms consisting of several lobes were discovered in the East Kunlun Mountains of China 30 years ago but were ambiguously classified as rock glaciers and later as gelifluction deposits. Here, we use satellite Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar to quantitatively characterize the spatial and temporal changes of the surface movement of these landforms. We observe that: (1) its 17 lobes show a pattern of landform-scale and uniform surface movement, especially during May to October; (2) the lobes move at a spatial mean downslope velocity of 10 to 60 cm/yr and a maximum velocity as high as 100 cm/yr in summer; (3) the landforms are nearly inactive from winter to late spring. Based on these observations, we postulate that the movement of the lobes are driven by deep-seated permafrost creep which typically occurs in rock glaciers. The debris of Lobe No.4 is composed of both boulders and pebbles supported by fine-grained matrix generated from the in situ weathering process. It develops a talus-like oversteepened front around 40 degrees and a convex transverse profile perpendicular to the creep direction, which are also characteristic features of a rock glacier. Piecing these observations together, we identify Lobe No.4 as a debris-mantled-slope-connected rock glacier, with the gelifluction process occurring on the surface as small-scale and discrete events. (c) 2020 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Automated summary

This study quantitatively characterized the spatial and temporal changes of a group of periglacial landforms in the East Kunlun Mountains of China using satellite Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar. The results show that these landforms are debris-mantled-slope-connected rock glaciers, driven by deep-seated permafrost creep, and exhibit activity mainly from May to October with surface movement patterns consistent with typical rock glaciers.