Development of the critical zone environment in the highly dynamic landscape of the Forni Glacier forefield: Winds, tree vegetation, pedogenesis and surface waters after glacier retreat

Abstract

The expansion of glacier‐free forelands after glacier retreat is emerging as a typical climate change‐dependent feature that is widely studied for assessing biogeomorphic feedbacks and analysing the vertical processes and changes occurring in the critical zone (CZ). However, the horizontal processes occurring in the CZ environment are still poorly understood. Here, we comprehensively analyse the development of the CZ environment over time in the Forni Glacier forefield, Italian Alps, since the end of the Little Ice Age (LIA) by considering different sectors (air, forest, water and soil) in two portions of the glacier forefield: the lower portion, which occurs below the glacier‐forefield treeline (GFT), where a fully functioning CZ environment has developed, and the upper portion, which occurs above the GFT, in the proglacial area (PA), where only an incipient CZ exists. The early stages of CZ development in the PA are highly influenced by katabatic winds, which impact the colonisation patterns of saplings and young trees, and characterised by high‐energy geomorphic processes that cause sediment reworking and initial stages of soil development. Below the GFT, the minimum tree ecesis interval after glacier retreat reaches a median value of 38 years (n = 8), and the fully developed CZ environment (with trees reaching at least 2 m in height after 20 years) formed after ~60 years following glacier retreat and is characterised by forest cover, soils organised in a chronosequence and contrasting isotopic signatures of surface and running waters. The correlation with the isotopic signatures of tree rings allowed us to estimate a groundwater flow period of approximately 2 months from the slopes into the CZ of the valley floor. By analysing the horizontal processes driving the geomorphic and biotic evolution patterns of a glacier forefield, this work introduces a novel approach for assessing the development of the CZ environment over time.