Frost-cracking control on catchment denudation rates: Insights from in situ produced 10Be concentrations in stream sediments (Ecrins–Pelvoux massif, French Western Alps)

Delunel, Romain; Beek, Peter van der; Carcaillet, Julien; Bourlès, Didier; Valla, Pierre G.

doi:10.1016/j.epsl.2010.02.020

Cited by 123 publications

(164 citation statements)

References 67 publications

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“…Considering the frost-cracking as homogeneous and deriving the potential of damage from calculation based on the air temperature only (e.g. Hales and Roering, 2007;Delunel et al, 2010), could lead to poor estimates of weathering. Another important point for the evolution of the morphology in mountain areas is that fractured zones appears more prone to frost-cracking.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Evidence of frost-cracking inferred from acoustic emissions in a high-alpine rock-wall

Amitrano

Gruber

Girard

2012

Earth and Planetary Science Letters

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Ice formation within rock is known to be an important driver of near-surface frost weathering as well as of rock damage at the depth of several meters, which may play a crucial role for the slow preconditioning of rock fall in steep permafrost areas. This letter reports results from an experiment where acoustic emission monitoring was used to investigate rock damage in a high-alpine rock-wall induced by natural thermal cycling and freezing/thawing. The analysis of the large catalog of events obtained shows (i) robust power-law distributions in the time and energy domains, a footprint of rock micro-fracturing activity induced by stresses arising from thermal variations and associated freezing/ thawing of rock; (ii) an increase in AE activity under sub-zero rock-temperatures, suggesting the importance of freezing-induced stresses. AE activity further increases in locations of the rock-wall that are prone to receiving melt water. These results suggest that the framework of further modeling studies (theoretical and numerical) should include damage, elastic interaction and poro-mechanics in order to describe freezing-related stresses. Keywords: frost-cracking acoustic emission mechanical weathering scaling properties a b s t r a c t Ice formation within rock is known to be an important driver of near-surface frost weathering as well as of rock damage at the depth of several meters, which may play a crucial role for the slow preconditioning of rock fall in steep permafrost areas. This letter reports results from an experiment where acoustic emission monitoring was used to investigate rock damage in a high-alpine rock-wall induced by natural thermal cycling and freezing/thawing. The analysis of the large catalog of events obtained shows (i) robust power-law distributions in the time and energy domains, a footprint of rock micro-fracturing activity induced by stresses arising from thermal variations and associated freezing/ thawing of rock; (ii) an increase in AE activity under sub-zero rock-temperatures, suggesting the importance of freezing-induced stresses. AE activity further increases in locations of the rock-wall that are prone to receiving melt water. These results suggest that the framework of further modeling studies (theoretical and numerical) should include damage, elastic interaction and poro-mechanics in order to describe freezing-related stresses.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Evidence of frost-cracking inferred from acoustic emissions in a high-alpine rock-wall

Amitrano

Gruber

Girard

2012

Earth and Planetary Science Letters

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“…In fact, we found that published values of ELAs from the same ranges can differ by as much as 1000 m, mostly because of the climate characteristics, the hypsometry, and the orientation of the glaciated basins [Allen, 1998;Flint, 1971;Gilbert, 1904;Huybers and Roe, 2009]. Hence we are forced to use a less direct measure of glaciation, but one that takes into account other periglacial processes, such as frost shattering [Delunel et al, 2010;Hales and Roering, 2009], which may affect topography at high latitude/high elevation. Note that when coslat increases, the latitude decreases.…”

Section: Climate Variablesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Tectonics, climate, and mountain topography

et al. 2012

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[1] By regressing simple, independent variables that describe climate and tectonic processes against measures of topography and relief of 69 mountain ranges worldwide, we quantify the relative importance of these processes in shaping observed landscapes. Climate variables include latitude (as a surrogate for mean annual temperature and insolation, but most importantly for the likelihood of glaciation) and mean annual precipitation. To quantify tectonics we use shortening rates across each range. As a measure of topography, we use mean and maximum elevations and relief calculated over different length scales. We show that the combination of climate (negative correlation) and tectonics (positive correlation) explain substantial fractions (>25%, but <50%) of mean and maximum elevations of mountain ranges, but that shortening rates account for smaller portions, <25%, of the variance in most measures of topography and relief (i.e., with low correlations and large scatter). Relief is insensitive to mean annual precipitation, but does depend on latitude, especially for relief calculated over small ($1 km) length scales, which we infer to reflect the importance of glacial erosion. Larger-scale (averaged over length scales of $10 km) relief, however, correlates positively with tectonic shortening rate. Moreover, the ratio between small-scale and large-scale relief, as well as the relative relief (the relief normalized by the mean elevation of the region) varies most strongly with latitude (strong positive correlation). Therefore, the location of a mountain range on Earth with its corresponding climatic conditions, not just tectonic forcing, appears to be a key factor in determining its shape and size. In any case, the combination of tectonics and climate, as quantified here, can account for approximately half of the variance in these measures of topography. The failure of present-day shortening rates to account for more than 25% of most measures of relief raises the question: Is active tectonics overrated in attempts to account for present-day relief and exhumation rates of high terrain?

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“…This production rate, recently used by Molliex et al, (2013) in the same area is based from weighted mean of the most recently calibrated production rates in the Northern Hemisphere (Northeastern North America (Balco et al, 2009), Northern Norway (Fenton et al, 2011), Southern Norway and Greenland (Briner et al, 2012). The production rate is calculated for each cells of the present-day DEM constituting the catchment and the mean catchment production rate value is calculated by averaging the values of quartz-producing rocks areas following the method described by Delunel et al, (2010) and using the script of Balco (2001) for the calculation of the shielding factor. We assumed that the mean production rate is constant through time since the Pliocene.…”

Section: Origin Of the Olistostrome: Some Impact Of The Messinian Evementioning

confidence: 99%

The Roussillon Basin (S. France): A case-study to distinguish local and regional events between 6 and 3 Ma

Clauzon

Strat²,

Duvail³

et al. 2015

Marine and Petroleum Geology

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The Roussillon Basin is a non-silled Miocene sedimentary basin filling a late Oligocene-early Miocene graben. The basin was intensively impacted by the 2 Messinian fluvial erosion, as evidenced in exposed sections, in seismic profiles and in deep boreholes drilled for hydrocarbon exploration. As the basin was open to the Mediterranean Sea, the huge drop in sea level at the peak of the Messinian Salinity Crisis is clearly recorded, along with the subsequent sudden marine reflooding and the resulting prograding sedimentary filling, particularly in Gilbert-type fan deltas. Here, the Messinian Erosional Surface (MES) is accurately mapped in a high-resolution document, which corrects the confusion resulting from the set of 1:50,000 scale regional maps. Aim of the 3D reconstruction of the MES is to modernize geological mapping, a crucial challenge for Mediterranean and peripheral areas. Thanks to a reliable chronostratigraphy provided by planktonic foraminifers, calcareous nannofossils, micro-and macro-mammal remains, paleomagnetism and a 10 Be cosmogenic nuclide-derived study, our reconstruction is one of the most comprehensive models of changes in sea level from 6 to 3 Ma. After the marine reflooding of the Mediterranean Basin at 5.46 Ma, the fluctuations in sea level recorded in the Roussillon Basin were forced by global changes. Following reflooding, the Prades large olistostrome collapsed prepared by the previous exhumation along the Canigou fault. The olistostrome is a good example of a local accident resulting from Messinian events. The exceptional changes in sea level at the peak of the Messinian Salinity Crisis deeply marked the Roussillon Basin, momentarily overprinting the Pyrenean orogenesis.

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Frost-cracking control on catchment denudation rates: Insights from in situ produced 10Be concentrations in stream sediments (Ecrins–Pelvoux massif, French Western Alps)

Cited by 123 publications

References 67 publications

Evidence of frost-cracking inferred from acoustic emissions in a high-alpine rock-wall

Evidence of frost-cracking inferred from acoustic emissions in a high-alpine rock-wall

Tectonics, climate, and mountain topography

The Roussillon Basin (S. France): A case-study to distinguish local and regional events between 6 and 3 Ma

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