Articles | Volume 18, issue 6
https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-18-2847-2024
https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-18-2847-2024
Research article
 | 
20 Jun 2024
Research article |  | 20 Jun 2024

Quantifying frost-weathering-induced damage in alpine rocks

Till Mayer, Maxim Deprez, Laurenz Schröer, Veerle Cnudde, and Daniel Draebing

Related authors

Geology and vegetation control landsliding on forest-managed slopes in scarplands
Daniel Draebing, Tobias Gebhard, and Miriam Pheiffer
Earth Surf. Dynam., 11, 71–88, https://doi.org/10.5194/esurf-11-71-2023,https://doi.org/10.5194/esurf-11-71-2023, 2023
Short summary
Identification of rock and fracture kinematics in high alpine rockwalls under the influence of elevation
Daniel Draebing
Earth Surf. Dynam., 9, 977–994, https://doi.org/10.5194/esurf-9-977-2021,https://doi.org/10.5194/esurf-9-977-2021, 2021
Short summary

Related subject area

Discipline: Frozen ground | Subject: Mountain Processes
Rapid warming and degradation of mountain permafrost in Norway and Iceland
Bernd Etzelmüller, Ketil Isaksen, Justyna Czekirda, Sebastian Westermann, Christin Hilbich, and Christian Hauck
The Cryosphere, 17, 5477–5497, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-5477-2023,https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-5477-2023, 2023
Short summary
Mountain permafrost in the Central Pyrenees: insights from the Devaux ice cave
Miguel Bartolomé, Gérard Cazenave, Marc Luetscher, Christoph Spötl, Fernando Gázquez, Ánchel Belmonte, Alexandra V. Turchyn, Juan Ignacio López-Moreno, and Ana Moreno
The Cryosphere, 17, 477–497, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-477-2023,https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-477-2023, 2023
Short summary
Glacier–permafrost relations in a high-mountain environment: 5 decades of kinematic monitoring at the Gruben site, Swiss Alps
Isabelle Gärtner-Roer, Nina Brunner, Reynald Delaloye, Wilfried Haeberli, Andreas Kääb, and Patrick Thee
The Cryosphere, 16, 2083–2101, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-16-2083-2022,https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-16-2083-2022, 2022
Short summary
Brief communication: The influence of mica-rich rocks on the shear strength of ice-filled discontinuities
Philipp Mamot, Samuel Weber, Maximilian Lanz, and Michael Krautblatter
The Cryosphere, 14, 1849–1855, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-14-1849-2020,https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-14-1849-2020, 2020
Short summary
Resolving the influence of temperature forcing through heat conduction on rock glacier dynamics: a numerical modelling approach
Alessandro Cicoira, Jan Beutel, Jérome Faillettaz, Isabelle Gärtner-Roer, and Andreas Vieli
The Cryosphere, 13, 927–942, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-13-927-2019,https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-13-927-2019, 2019
Short summary

Cited articles

Amitrano, D., Gruber, S., and Girard, L.: Evidence of frost-cracking inferred from acoustic emissions in a high-alpine rock-wall, Earth Planet. Sc. Lett., 341–344, 86–93, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.epsl.2012.06.014, 2012. 
Anderson, R. S.: Near-surface thermal profiles in alpine bedrock: Implications for the frost weathering of rock, Arct. Alp. Res., 30, 362–372, https://doi.org/10.2307/1552008, 1998. 
Bazant, Z. P. and Planas, J.: Fracture and Size Effect in Concrete and Other Quasibrittle Materials 1st, New York, https://doi.org/10.1201/9780203756799, 1998. 
Carloni, C., Santandrea, M., and Baietti, G.: Influence of the width of the specimen on the fracture response of concrete notched beams, Eng. Fract. Mech., 216, 106465, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.engfracmech.2019.04.039, 2019. 
Cermák, V. and Rybach, L.: Thermal conductivity and specific heat of minerals and rocks, in: Landolt–Börnstein Zahlenwerte and Funktionen aus Naturwissenschaften und Technik, Neue Serie, Physikalische Eigenschaften der Gesteine (V/1a), edited by: Angeneister, G., Springer, Berlin, 305–343, 1982. 
Download
Short summary
Frost weathering drives rockfall and shapes the evolution of alpine landscapes. We employed a novel combination of investigation techniques to assess the influence of different climatic conditions on high-alpine rock faces. Our results imply that rock walls exposed to freeze–thaw conditions, which are likely to occur at lower elevations, will weather more rapidly than rock walls exposed to sustained freezing conditions due to winter snow cover or permafrost at higher elevations.