A new technique for identifying rock avalanche-sourced sediment in moraines and some paleoclimatic implications

Reznichenko, Natalya V., Davies, Timothy R.H., Shulmeister, James and Larsen, Stuart H. (2012) A new technique for identifying rock avalanche-sourced sediment in moraines and some paleoclimatic implications. Geology, 40 4: 319-322.


Author Reznichenko, Natalya V.
Davies, Timothy R.H.
Shulmeister, James
Larsen, Stuart H.
Title A new technique for identifying rock avalanche-sourced sediment in moraines and some paleoclimatic implications
Journal name Geology  (ERA 2012 Listed)    (ERA 2010 Rank A*)   Check publisher's open access policy
Publication date 2012-04
Sub-type Article
DOI 10.1130/G32684.1
Volume number 40
Issue number 4
ISSN 0091-7613;1943-2682
Start page 319
End page 322
Total pages 4
Place of publication Boulder, CO, United States
Publisher Geological Society of America
Collection year 2013
Language eng
Abstract Moraine chronologies are widely used to infer local climate change events and to correlate these events globally, based on the assumption that moraines always reflect climatic drivers. However, this assumption is unreliable in tectonically active terrain because moraines can also be formed by large landslide (rock avalanche) deposits on glaciers. These can affect glacier motion and cause moraines to form while requiring no climate variation, and can thus cause significant errors in climatic signals extracted from moraine chronologies. To eliminate such errors requires a method for identifying moraines that have been influenced by rock avalanches. Herein we present and test a new diagnostic technique that unambiguously identifies rock avalanche sediments using newly discovered fine-sediment signatures characteristic of rapid, high-stress comminution. We test this technique on Holocene moraines in the Southern Alps, New Zealand, which have previously been interpreted as climatic indicators, and demonstrate that some of them unambiguously contain rock avalanche material; so their climatic significance is questionable.
Keyword Franz-Josef Glacier
New-Zealand
Southern Alps
Northern Pakistan
Landslide Origin
Slope Failures
Alpine Fault
Landscapes
Advance
Rupture
Q-Index Code C1
Q-Index Status Confirmed Code
Institutional Status UQ

Document type: Journal Article
Sub-type: Article
Collections: School of Geography, Planning and Environmental Management Publications
Official 2013 Collection
 
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