Abstract
This article shows monthly, annual and multiannual response of two rock permafrost systems with and without hydraulic interconnectivity. It is hypothesized, that interconnective systems with cleft water percolation from glacierets close to 0°C are high-entropy systems that balance rock masses at 0°C and prevent cooling but are not effective in excessive melting, as thermal conduction away from water pathways into compact rock is a function of sensitive temperature gradients. This was tested using static (permafrost distribution in 2005) and dynamic (permafrost aggradation 2005–2007) performance of two adjacent north-exposed transects with similar geometries, geology and discontinuity patterns. Transect NW is only affected by heat transfer from the rock surface. Transect NE conducts hydraulic heat transfer with glacierets by meltwater seepage. Electrical resistivity tomography (ERT) time-sections and mean apparent resistivity – median depth of investigation (AR/DOI) gradients of steep sections (> 60°) were analysed from 2005–2007. (i) In 2005, a body in a transitory (0°C) resistivity range (< 20 kΩm) was developed in Transect NE. Transect NW indicated a deeply frozen body (> 40 kΩm) of several meters diameter. (ii) Negative AR/DOI surface gradients indicate a pronounced short-term response of surface resistivities in Transect NW to surface chilling (August 13, 2007: –3.3 kΩm/m) and cool pulse propagation whereas Transect NE is well buffered (August 13, 2007: –0.1 kΩm/m). (iii) Cool mid-summer conditions in 2005 and 2006 initiated permafrost aggradation in both transects. In Transect NW, ERT displays resistivity increases by more than 70%, a spatially aggrading permafrost body and the formation of a new perennially frozen rock body. Resistivity in Transect NE increases 10–30% in the transitory body. (iv) In Transect NW, the AR/DOI gradient increased from 5 kΩm/m in August 2005 to 11 kΩm/m in August 2007, indicating significant permafrost aggradation and cooling. In Transect NE, AR/DOI increased from 0.6 kΩm/m in August 2005 to 1.0 kΩm/m in August 2007 but resistivities still do not exceed the initial freezing range significantly at any depth of investigation. Data reliability of both transects is assessed in terms of uncertainty and relative sensitivity plots.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Alumbaugh, D.L. and Newman, G.A., 2000. Image appraisal for 2-D and 3-D electromagnetic inversion. Geophysics, 65(5): 1455–1467.
Barker, R.D., 1977. Depth of investigation of collinear symmetrical four-electrode arrays. Geophysics, 54(8):1031–1037.
Blaschek, R., Hördt, A. and Kemna, A., 2008. A new sensitivity-controlled focusing regularization scheme for the inversion of induced polarization data based on the minimum gradient support. Geophysics, 73(2): F45–F54.
Edwards, L.S., 1977. A modified pseudosection for resistivity and IP. Geophysics, 42(5): 1020–1036.
Gruber, S. and Haeberli, W., 2007. Permafrost in steep bedrock slopes and its temperature-related destabilization following climate change. J. Geophys. Res.Earth Surf, 112(F2): F02S13.
Gruber, S. and Hoelzle, M., 2001. Statistical modelling of mountain permafrost distribution: Local calibration and incorporation of remotely sensed data. Permafrost Periglac. Process., 12(1): 69–77.
Gruber, S., Hoelzle, M. and Haeberli, W., 2004. Permafrost thaw and destabilization of Alpine rock walls in the hot summer of 2003. Geophys. Res. Lett., 31(13): L15054.
Haeberli, W., 1992. Construction, environmental problems and natural hazards in periglacial mountain belts. Permafrost Periglacial Processes, 3: 111–124.
Haeberli, W., 2005. Investigating glacier-permafrost relationships in high-mountain area: historical background, selected examples and research needs. In: C. Harris and J.B. Murton (Editors), Cryospheric Systems: Glaciers and Permafrost. Geological Society Special Publication, London, pp. 29–37.
Haeberli, W. et al., 2003. Permafrost conditions in the starting zone of the Kolka-Kamadon rock/ice-slide of the 20th September 2002 in North Osetia (Russian Caucasus). . In: W. Haeberli and D. Brandova (Editors), ICOP 2003 Permafrost: Extended Abstracts, Zürich, pp. 49–50.
Harris, C., Davies, M.C.R. and Etzelmüller, B., 2001. The assessment of potential geotechnical hazards associated with mountain permafrost in a warming global climate. Permafrost Periglacial Processes, 12(1): 145–156.
Hauck, C., 2001. Geophysical methods for detecting permafrost in high mountains. Mitt.Versuchsanst. Wasserbau, Hydrologie und Glaziologie, PhD-thesis ETH Zürich, 171: 1–204.
Hauck, C., 2002. Frozen ground monitoring using DC resistivity tomography. Geophys. Res. Lett., 29, 2016, doi: 10.1029/2002GL014995: 12-1.
Kääb, A. et al., 2003. Rapid aster imaging facilitates timely assessments of glacier hazards and disasters. EOS, 13(84): 117, 121.
Krautblatter, M. and Hauck, C., 2007. Electrical resitivity tomography monitoring of permafrost in solid rock walls. J. Geophys. Res. Earth Surf, 112. doi:10.1029/2006JF000546.
Krautblatter, M., Hauck, C. and Wolf, S., 2007. Geophysical 2D and 3D-monitoring of permafrost in rock walls. Geophys. Res. Abstr., 9: A-09884.
Krautblatter, M. and Verleysdonk, S., 2008. Rock wall permafrost monitoring with high-resolution 2D-ERT: lessons learnt from error estimates and a comparison of Wenner, Schlumberger, Gradient and Dipole-type arrays. Geophys. Res. Abstr., 10: A-10383.
Linde, N., 2005. Characterization of Hydrogeological Media using electromagnetic geophysics. Digital Summaries of the Uppsala Dissertations from the Faculty if Science and Technology, 86: 65.
Loke, M.H. and Barker, R.D., 1996. Rapid least-squares inversion of apparent resistivity pseudosections by a quasi-Newton method. Geophys. Prospecting, 44(1): 131–152.
McGinnis, L.D., Nakao, K. and Clark, C.C., 1973. Geophysical identification of frozen and unfrozen ground, Antarctica, 2nd Int. Conf. on Permafrost, Yakutsk, Russia, pp. 136–146.
Sass, O., 2003. Moisture distribution in rockwalls derived from 2D-resistivity measurements. Z. Geomorph. N.F., Suppl.-Bd. 132(51–69).
Sass, O., 2004. Rock moisture fluctuations during freeze-thaw cycles: Preliminary results from electrical resistivity measurements. Polar Geography, 28(1): 13–31.
Sass, O., 2005. Rock moisture measurements: Techniques, results, and implications for weathering. Earth Surf. Process. Landforms, 30(3): 359–374.
Schoeneich, P. et al., 2004. A new Alpine rockfall inventory, Swiss Geoscience Meeting, Lausanne.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2009 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg
About this paper
Cite this paper
Krautblatter, M. (2009). Patterns of Multiannual Aggradation of Permafrost in Rock Walls with and Without Hydraulic Interconnectivity (Steintälli, Valley of Zermatt, Swiss Alps). In: Otto, JC., Dikau, R. (eds) Landform - Structure, Evolution, Process Control. Lecture Notes in Earth Sciences, vol 115. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-75761-0_13
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-75761-0_13
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg
Print ISBN: 978-3-540-75760-3
Online ISBN: 978-3-540-75761-0
eBook Packages: Earth and Environmental ScienceEarth and Environmental Science (R0)