Paraglacial Rock Slope Adjustment Beneath a High Mountain Infrastructure—The Pilatte Hut Case Study (Écrins Mountain Range, France)
Landslides triggered by shrinking glaciers are an expected outcome of global climate change and they pose a significant threat to inhabitants and infrastructure in mountain valleys. In this study we document the rock slope movement that has affected the Pilatte hut (2,572 m a.s.l.) in the Écrins ran...
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doaj-e3bb29c5156241e6ae6397f5e7ab38af2020-11-25T02:27:44ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Earth Science2296-64632018-07-01610.3389/feart.2018.00094369591Paraglacial Rock Slope Adjustment Beneath a High Mountain Infrastructure—The Pilatte Hut Case Study (Écrins Mountain Range, France)Pierre-Allain Duvillard0Pierre-Allain Duvillard1Ludovic Ravanel2Ludovic Ravanel3Philip Deline4Laurent Dubois5Univ. Grenoble Alpes, Univ. Savoie Mont Blanc, CNRS, EDYTEM, Chambéry, FranceIMSRN, Parc Pré Millet, Montbonnot, FranceUniv. Grenoble Alpes, Univ. Savoie Mont Blanc, CNRS, EDYTEM, Chambéry, FranceScientific Council of the Fédération Française des Clubs Alpins et de Montagne, Paris, FranceUniv. Grenoble Alpes, Univ. Savoie Mont Blanc, CNRS, EDYTEM, Chambéry, FranceCEREMA, Direction territoriale Centre-Est, RRMS/Risques, Bron, FranceLandslides triggered by shrinking glaciers are an expected outcome of global climate change and they pose a significant threat to inhabitants and infrastructure in mountain valleys. In this study we document the rock slope movement that has affected the Pilatte hut (2,572 m a.s.l.) in the Écrins range (French alps) since the 1980s. We reconstructed the geometry of the unstable rock mass using Terrestrial Laser Scanning and quantified the unstable volume (~400,000 m3). Field observations and annual crack surveys have been used to identify the dynamics of past movements. These movements initiated in the late 1980s and have accelerated since 2000. The current trend seems to be toward a relative stabilization. Reconstruction of the glacier surface using past images taken since 1960 and “Structure from Motion” photogrammetry showed that the glacier probably applied stresses to the rock slope during its short-lived advance during the 1980s, followed by debuttressing caused by rapid surface lowering until the present day. The relationship between observed crack propagation and glacier surface change suggests that the rock slope instability is a paraglacial response to glacier surface changes, and highlights that such responses can occur within a decade of glacier change.https://www.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/feart.2018.00094/fullrock slideparaglacial processesglacier retreatTerrestrial Laser Scanningcrack-metershigh mountain infrastructure |
collection |
DOAJ |
language |
English |
format |
Article |
sources |
DOAJ |
author |
Pierre-Allain Duvillard Pierre-Allain Duvillard Ludovic Ravanel Ludovic Ravanel Philip Deline Laurent Dubois |
spellingShingle |
Pierre-Allain Duvillard Pierre-Allain Duvillard Ludovic Ravanel Ludovic Ravanel Philip Deline Laurent Dubois Paraglacial Rock Slope Adjustment Beneath a High Mountain Infrastructure—The Pilatte Hut Case Study (Écrins Mountain Range, France) Frontiers in Earth Science rock slide paraglacial processes glacier retreat Terrestrial Laser Scanning crack-meters high mountain infrastructure |
author_facet |
Pierre-Allain Duvillard Pierre-Allain Duvillard Ludovic Ravanel Ludovic Ravanel Philip Deline Laurent Dubois |
author_sort |
Pierre-Allain Duvillard |
title |
Paraglacial Rock Slope Adjustment Beneath a High Mountain Infrastructure—The Pilatte Hut Case Study (Écrins Mountain Range, France) |
title_short |
Paraglacial Rock Slope Adjustment Beneath a High Mountain Infrastructure—The Pilatte Hut Case Study (Écrins Mountain Range, France) |
title_full |
Paraglacial Rock Slope Adjustment Beneath a High Mountain Infrastructure—The Pilatte Hut Case Study (Écrins Mountain Range, France) |
title_fullStr |
Paraglacial Rock Slope Adjustment Beneath a High Mountain Infrastructure—The Pilatte Hut Case Study (Écrins Mountain Range, France) |
title_full_unstemmed |
Paraglacial Rock Slope Adjustment Beneath a High Mountain Infrastructure—The Pilatte Hut Case Study (Écrins Mountain Range, France) |
title_sort |
paraglacial rock slope adjustment beneath a high mountain infrastructure—the pilatte hut case study (écrins mountain range, france) |
publisher |
Frontiers Media S.A. |
series |
Frontiers in Earth Science |
issn |
2296-6463 |
publishDate |
2018-07-01 |
description |
Landslides triggered by shrinking glaciers are an expected outcome of global climate change and they pose a significant threat to inhabitants and infrastructure in mountain valleys. In this study we document the rock slope movement that has affected the Pilatte hut (2,572 m a.s.l.) in the Écrins range (French alps) since the 1980s. We reconstructed the geometry of the unstable rock mass using Terrestrial Laser Scanning and quantified the unstable volume (~400,000 m3). Field observations and annual crack surveys have been used to identify the dynamics of past movements. These movements initiated in the late 1980s and have accelerated since 2000. The current trend seems to be toward a relative stabilization. Reconstruction of the glacier surface using past images taken since 1960 and “Structure from Motion” photogrammetry showed that the glacier probably applied stresses to the rock slope during its short-lived advance during the 1980s, followed by debuttressing caused by rapid surface lowering until the present day. The relationship between observed crack propagation and glacier surface change suggests that the rock slope instability is a paraglacial response to glacier surface changes, and highlights that such responses can occur within a decade of glacier change. |
topic |
rock slide paraglacial processes glacier retreat Terrestrial Laser Scanning crack-meters high mountain infrastructure |
url |
https://www.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/feart.2018.00094/full |
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