Geophysical signature of a World War I tunnel-like anomaly in the Forni Glacier (Punta Linke, Italian Alps)

• Published in: Journal of Glaciology
• Main Authors: R. G. Francese, A. Bondesan, M. Giorgi, S. Picotti, J. Carcione, M. C. Salvatore, F. Nicolis, C. Baroni
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Cambridge University Press 2019-10-01
• Subjects: Glacier decay; GPR; Italian Alps; military geosciences; numerical modeling; seismic; white war; World War I
• Online Access: https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S0022143019000595/type/journal_article
• ISSN: 0022-1430; 1727-5652

Global warming and the associated glacier retreat recently revealed the entrance to an ice–rock tunnel, at an altitude of ~3600 m a.s.l., in the uppermost portion of the Forni Glacier in the Central Italian Alps. The tunnel served as an entrance to an Austro-Hungarian cableway station excavated in the rocks during the Great War just behind the frontline. A comprehensive geophysical survey, based on seismic and ground-penetrating radar profiling, was then undertaken to map other possible World War I (WWI) remains still embedded in the ice. The ice–rock interface was reconstructed over the entire saddle and in the uppermost portion of the glacier. A prominent linear reflector was surprisingly similar to the common response of buried pipes. The reflector orientation, almost longitudinal to the slope, does not seem to be compatible with a glacial conduit or with other natural features. Numerical simulations of a series of possible targets constrained interpretation to a partly water-filled rounded shape cavity. The presence of a preserved WWI tunnel connecting Mount Vioz and Punta Linke could be considered a realistic hypothesis. The Forni glacier could be still considered polythermal and comprised of cold ice without basal sliding in its top portion.