Geometry and paleo-ice content of rock glaciers in the southeastern Alps (NE Italy – NW Slovenia)

Figures & data

Figure 1. Study area, highlighted with the red square, within the northern Mediterranean – Alpine region.

Figure 2. (a) The extent of Brica (n. 47 in the Main Map), del Cason (n. 45) and dell’Inferno (n. 46) rock glaciers as seen from the shaded relief projected on the 1 m cell size DTM in 3D view, (b) vegetation cover as seen from the ortophoto projected on the shaded relief in 2D view, and (c) their typical morphology resembling the lava flow shown on the shaded relief in 2D view.

Table 1. Field-based observations of ice content (%) by rock glacier volume reported in the literature.

Ice content (%) by volume	Study area	Methods	Reference
40–60	European Alps (Austria)	Geophysical investigation	Hausmann, Krainer, Bruckl, and Ullrich (2012)
45–60	European Alps (Austria)	Geophysical investigation	Hausmann et al., 2007
50–60	European Alps (Switzerland)	Borehole	Barsch (1977); Haeberli et al. (2006)
50–70	European Alps (Switzerland)	Borehole	Barsch et al., (1979); Haeberli et al. (2006)
40–70	European Alps (Switzerland)	Borehole	Arenson 2002)
55.7	Andes (Argentina)	Geophysical investigation	Croce and Milana (2002)
∼65	Andes (Argentina)	Geophysical investigation, borehole	Arenson et al. (2010)
15–30	Andes (Chile)	Geophysical investigation, borehole	Monnier and Kinnard (2013)
35–40	European Alps (Italy)	Borehole	Krainer et al. (2015)

Figure 3. 3D image of Tiarfin rock glacier (n. 23 in the Main Map) realized by projecting the 2008 ortophoto on the 1 m cell size DTM. Details of different parts of this landform are highlighted in the Squares: (a) protalus ramparts located at the highest elevation of the rock glacier complex; (b) the central part where several ridges and furrows are clearly visible also from the field; (c) small dolines over the rock glacier surface likely due to thermokarst activity or suffosion; (d) the vegetated frontal part of the rock glacier with small Larix and Pinus mugo.

Table 2. Some statistics of the studied rock glaciers, including estimations of their paleo-ice volume and paleo-water volume equivalent.

Number	Name	Altitude			Area	Length	Width	Mean thickness	Volume	Paleo RG’s ice volume (40–60%)	Paleo RG's water volume equivalent (40-60%)	Activity degree	Geometry
		[m a.s.l.]			[km^2]	[m]	[m]	[m]	[10^−3 km^3]	[10^−3 km^3]	[10^−3 km^3]
		MAX	min	mean
1	Rioda	1890	1816	1858	0.057677	174	331	28.3	1.63	0.81 ± 0.16	0.73 ± 0.29	relict	lobate
2	Oberkofel	1832	1745	1782	0.025767	152	131	24.1	0.62	0.31 ± 0.06	0.28 ± 0.11	relict	tongue shaped
3	Morganlaite	1732	1659	1699	0.103006	235	574	31.7	3.27	1.63 ± 0.33	1.47 ± 0.59	relict	lobate
4	Malins	1760	1729	1748	0.018998	119	155	22.6	0.43	0.21 ± 0.04	0.19 ± 0.08	relict	lobate
5	dell'Agriturismo	1800	1645	1718	0.208541	797	288	36.5	7.62	3.81 ± 0.76	3.43 ± 1.37	relict	tongue shaped
6	204–3c	1837	1674	1727	0.068599	656	129	29.3	2.01	1.00 ± 0.20	0.90 ± 0.36	relict	tongue shaped
7	Vinadia	1808	1736	1775	0.0550656	324	128	27.5	1.39	0.70 ± 0.14	0.63 ± 0.25	relict	tongue shaped
8	Ba	1791	1708	1752	0.042571	253	226	26.6	1.13	0.57 ± 0.11	0.51 ± 0.20	relict	tongue shaped
9	Esse	1814	1727	1774	0.019911	152	164	22.8	0.45	0.23 ± 0.05	0.20 ± 0.08	relict	lobate
10	Ta	1778	1724	1751	0.011384	132	100	20.4	0.23	0.12 ± 0.02	0.10 ± 0.04	relict	tongue shaped
11	S. Pietro	1748	1654	1688	0.052790	177	493	27.8	1.47	0.73 ± 0.15	0.66 ± 0.26	relict	lobate
12	Pieltinis	1793	1708	1755	0.091017	150	731	31	2.82	1.41 ± 0.28	1.27 ± 0.51	relict	lobate
13	Torondon	1809	1656	1730	0.055888	467	132	28.1	1.57	0.78 ± 0.16	0.71 ± 0.28	relict	tongue shaped
14	Crostis	1980	1920	1946	0.033688	241	147	25.4	0.85	0.43 ± 0.09	0.38 ± 0.15	relict	tongue shaped
15	Dimon	1742	1635	1698	0.054216	188	223	27.9	1.51	0.76 ± 0.15	0.68 ± 0.27	relict	lobate
16	dell'Amicizia	1857	1771	1816	0.145258	417	517	34	4.94	2.47 ± 0.49	2.22 ± 0.89	relict	lobate
17	Rosskofel	1751	1638	1697	0.045530	184	314	27	1.23	0.61 ± 0.12	0.55 ± 0.22	relict	lobate
18	Vršič 3	1199	1153	1177	0.010605	112	92	20.1	0.21	0.11 ± 0.02	0.10 ± 0.04	relict	tongue shaped
19	Vršič 1	1115	1004	1044	0.053522	267	214	27.8	1.49	0.75 ± 0.15	0.67 ± 0.27	relict	tongue shaped
20	Vršič 2	1104	996	1044	0.025222	289	100	24	0.6	0.30 ± 0.06	0.27 ± 0.11	relict	tongue shaped
21	di Razzo	2078	2038	2054	0.005410	49	94	17.6	0.1	0.05 ± 0.01	0.04 ± 0.02	relict	lobate
22	Tudaio	2041	1998	2024	0.012066	77	139	20.7	0.25	0.12 ± 0.02	0.11 ± 0.04	relict	lobate
23	Tiarfin	2275	2080	2148	0.142836	1092	135	33.9	4.84	2.42 ± 0.48	2.18 ± 0.87	uncertain	tongue shaped
24	Piova	1924	1859	1896	0.064682	228	245	28.9	1.87	0.94 ± 0.19	0.84 ± 0.34	relict	lobate
25	Tartoi	1923	1883	1896	0.007372	83	67	18.7	0.14	0.07 ± 0.01	0.06 ± 0.02	relict	tongue shaped
26	Casera Tragonia	2113	1897	2025	0.064910	558	130	28.9	1.88	0.94 ± 0.19	0.85 ± 0.34	relict	tongue shaped
27	CHIARAnda	2012	1842	1925	0.127010	367	322	33.1	4.2	2.10 ± 0.42	1.89 ± 0.76	relict	tongue shaped
28	Sella Nevea	1234	1107	1177	0.483944	505	1471	43.2	20.93	10.46 ± 2.09	9.42 ± 3.77	relict	lobate
29	7 Triglav lakes Valley 3	1823	1744	1789	0.070142	145	833	29.4	2.06	1.03 ± 0.21	0.93 ± 0.37	relict	lobate
30	7 Triglav lakes Valley 2	1777	1701	1743	0.057968	141	503	28.3	1.64	0.82 ± 0.16	0.74 ± 0.30	relict	lobate
31	7 Triglav lakes Valley 1	1776	1679	1711	0.077690	180	591	30	2.33	1.17 ± 0.23	1.05 ± 0.42	relict	lobate
32	Orlice 1	1886	1847	1872	0.010259	73	145	20	0.21	0.10 ± 0.02	0.09 ± 0.04	relict	lobate
33	Vrtača	1843	1808	1824	0.004042	56	121	16.6	0.07	0.03 ± 0.01	0.03 ± 0.01	relict	lobate
34	Skuta	2076	2020	2052	0.017214	91	178	22.2	0.38	0.19 ± 0.04	0.17 ± 0.07	relict	lobate
35	Veliki Zvoh	1688	1657	1669	0.009755	58	197	19.8	0.19	0.10 ± 0.02	0.09 ± 0.03	relict	lobate
36	dei Cadorini	1740.7	1565.9	1665.8	0.063103	436	148	28.8	1.82	0.91 ± 0.18	0.82 ± 0.33	relict	tongue shaped
37	di Giaf	1844	1639	1749	0.208567	269	845	36.5	7.62	3.81 ± 0.76	3.43 ± 1.37	uncertain	lobate
38	Urtisiel	1524	1370	1459	0.051371	309	172	27.6	1.42	0.71 ± 0.14	0.64 ± 0.26	relict	tongue shaped
39	367	1810	1710	1759	0.013245	127	105	21.1	0.28	0.14 ± 0.03	0.13 ± 0.05	relict	tongue shaped
40	di Lavinal	1954	1794	1881	0.077547	170	467	30	2.33	1.16 ± 0.23	1.05 ± 0.42	uncertain	lobate
41	Valbinon	1915	1784	1842	0.125230	356	370	33	4.13	2.07 ± 0.41	1.86 ± 0.74	uncertain	lobate
42	degli Sfiniti	1915	1842	1868	0.033291	218	154	25.3	0.84	0.42 ± 0.08	0.38 ± 0.15	relict	tongue shaped
43	di Canpuròs	1998	1917	1962	0.024438	219	128	23.8	0.58	0.29 ± 0.06	0.26 ± 0.10	uncertain	tongue shaped
44	della Cresta	1851	1728	1798	0.052554	365	164	27.7	1.46	0.73 ± 0.15	0.66 ± 0.26	uncertain	tongue shaped
45	del Cason	1813	1740	1778	0.022491	132	154	23.4	0.53	0.26 ± 0.05	0.24 ± 0.09	relict	lobate
46	dell'Inferno	1920	1812	1861	0.061749	235	188	28.6	1.77	0.88 ± 0.18	0.80 ± 0.32	relict	tongue shaped
47	di Brica	1991	1784	1896	0.145614	907	178	34	4.95	2.48 ± 0.50	2.23 ± 0.89	relict	tongue shaped
48	Cassiopea	1824	1784	1801	0.008959	173	72	19.5	0.17	0.09 ± 0.02	0.08 ± 0.03	relict	tongue shaped
49	di Suola	1976	1947	1963	0.013169	131	152	21	0.28	0.14 ± 0.03	0.12 ± 0.05	relict	lobate
50	Monte Pramaggiore	2084	1909	2021	0.069653	341	170	29.3	2.04	1.02 ± 0.20	0.92 ± 0.37	relict	tongue shaped
51	Casera Pramaggiore	1990	1829	1902	0.062867	416	191	28.8	1.81	0.90 ± 0.18	0.81 ± 0.33	relict	tongue shaped
52	Rua	1925	1813	1874	0.034908	236	128	25.6	0.89	0.45 ± 0.09	0.40 ± 0.16	relict	tongue shaped
	mean	1820.8	1719.7	1770.5	0.065363	273.635	272.038	26.9	2.11
	total				3.398902				109.48

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