The influence of aspect and altitude on the size, shape and spatial distribution of glacial cirques in the High Tatras (Slovakia, Poland)

Glacial cirques in the southern side of the cantabrian mountains of southwestern europe

“…The influence of altitude on cirque shape and size is very different in the two areas studied. In the Upper Sil River basin, altitude exerts an important morphological control: cirques carved into the higher ridges have endured a longer period of glaciation and are longer and wider, and increased depth is less evident, which is consistent with the allometric growth pattern observed by some authors (Olyphant ; Evans and Cox ; Evans , , ; Křížek and Mida ). It is likely that the limited cirque depth in this area is due to the ancient character of the topography, consisting of relatively smooth divides, and therefore limited relief.…”

“…Indeed, orientation of cirques to the N is the general pattern in the northern hemisphere (Evans and Cox ; Federici and Spagnolo ; Chueca and Julián , Evans ; López‐Moreno et al . ; Stauch and Lehmkuhl ; Křížek, and Mida ). Florineth and Schlüter () and Kuhlemann et al .…”

A critical appraisal of allometric growth among alpine cirques based on multivariate statistics and spatial analysis

“…Applying the principles of static allometry to infer the processes responsible for cirque excavation thus relies also on the assumption that the volume of a cirque basin is exclusively ascribable to cold-climate processes. Accordingly, research on cirque features has so far emphasized climatic controls, mainly expressed through (i) cirque floor elevation as a proxy for the Pleistocene equilibrium line altitude (ELA) and thus paleotemperature (e.g., Meierding, 1982;Benn and Lehmkuhl, 2000;Porter, 2001); and (ii) cirque aspect as an indicator of snow accumulation on leeward slopes (Mîndrescu et al, 2010;Křížek and Mida, 2013;Delmas et al, 2014) and as an index of morning-afternoon radiation contrasts in mid-latitudes (Andrews and Dugdale, 1971;Trenhaile, 1976;Olyphant, 1977;Embleton and Hamann, 1988;Garcίa-Ruiz et al, 2000). The influence of nonclimatic controls such as lithology, structure, and preglacial topography on cirque development has also been recognized (Battey, 1960;Haynes, 1968;Peterson and Robinson, 1969;Olyphant, 1981a, b;Turnbull and Davies, 2006;Hughes et al, 2007).…”

ACME, a GIS tool for Automated Cirque Metric Extraction

“…Aspect in itself can be analysed to understand past patterns in solar radiation and, specifically, differential cloudiness between morning and afternoon (Evans, 1977(Evans, , 2006. It is also an important metric to understand the impact of prevailing wind directions (Křížek and Mida, 2013) and the extent of former glaciations (Nelson and Jackson, 2003). Plan closure (Plan_clos) can be used to evaluate cirque development, with the assumption that a less enclosed cirque (i.e.…”