Slope instability in relation to glacial debuttressing in alpine areas (Upper Durance catchment, southeastern France):: Evidence from field data and 10Be cosmic ray exposure ages

The Upper Durance catchment is an area prone to rock-slope failures. Such failures reflect the combination of high relief, litho-structural controls and paraglacial stress release. The aim of this study is to determine the role of deglacial unloading and resulting paraglacial stress release in conditioning or triggering slope failure. Former dimensions of the Durance glacier are reconstructed; then combined with Digital Elevation Model data in a raster Geographic Information System to quantify the spatial pattern of stresses associated with glacial loading at the Last Glacial Maximum. Preliminary calculations suggest that major rock falls and rock avalanches are associated with areas subject to the highest decompression stresses. Focus on two case studies allows the consequences of paraglacial stress release on slope instability to be evaluated. Description of slope failure runout deposits allows reconstruction of the nature of slope failure. Surface exposure dates based on concentration of cosmogenic Be-10 allows the timing of both deglaciation and that of post-glacial rock-slope failures to be established. It is shown that rock-slope failures are concentrated on lower valley-side slopes within the area occupied by ice at the Last Glacial Maximum, and that their locations coincide with zones of inferred high glacial loading stress, consistent with interpretation of both bedrock disruption and large-scale rock-slope failures as paraglacial phenomena induced by stress release following deglaciation. Timing of initial rock avalanche runout deposition at one site is consistent with this conclusion, though later instability episodes at the same site may have occurred independent of the influence of paraglacial stress release. (C) 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.