Journal
GEOMORPHOLOGY
Volume 105, Issue 3-4, Pages 314-321Publisher
ELSEVIER
DOI: 10.1016/j.geomorph.2008.10.008
Keywords
Glacier hazards; Glacier-debris flow; Modeling; Caucasus Mountains; Glacier instability
Funding
- Science for Peace Program [982143]
- Russian Foundation for Basic Research [06-05-64787, 05-05-64037, 07-05-00172]
- Russian Leading Science Schools Programme [HIII-4861.2006.5, HIII-8306.2006.5]
- ProVention Consortium
- NATO Science Program
Ask authors/readers for more resources
In September 2002, a catastrophic geomorphic event occurred in the Caucasus Mountains, southern Russia. in which almost the entire mass of Kolka Glacier detached from its bed, accelerated to a very high velocity (max. 65-80 m/s), and traveled a total distance of 19 km downstream as a glacier-debris flow. Based on the interpretation of satellite imagery obtained only 8.5 h before the event occurred, the analysis of seismograms from nearby seismic stations, and subsequent detailed field observations and measurements, we suggest that this remarkable event was not a response to impulse loading from a rock avalanche in the mountainside above the glacier, or to glacier surging, but due entirely to the static and delayed catastrophic response of the Kolka glacier to ice and debris loading over a period of months prior to the September 20 detachment. We reconstruct the glacier-debris flow using field observations in conjunction with the interpretation of seismographs from nearby seismic stations and successfully simulate the behaviour (runout, velocity, and deposition) of the post-detachment glacier-debris flow using a three-dimensional analytical model. Our demonstration of a standing-start hypothesis in the 2002 Kolka Glacier detachment has substantial implications for glacier hazard assessment and risk management strategies in valleys downstream from unstable debris-covered glaciers in the mountain regions of the world. (C) 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available