Snow-Avalanche Impact Landforms in Breheimen, Southern Norway: Origin, Age, and Paleoclimatic Implications

Abstract

Twelve snow-avalanche ramparts in Jostedalen and Sprongdalen (Breheimen, southern Norway) are investigated to elucidate processes of formation, the history of avalanche activity, and their potential for paleoclimatic reconstruction. Variation in the form of these riverbank boulder ramparts reflects local patterns of avalanche impact. Differences in clast roundness between ramparts, avalanche tracks, and river beds indicate that, on average, 50 to 60% of the clasts in the ramparts originate from river bedload as opposed to avalanche source areas or tracks. Rampart clasts increase in roundness downstream over a distance of 12 km, and the contribution from the river bed varies from 26 to 80% depending on local factors.

Conventional lichenometric dating suggests ages for the initiation of rampart formation of 250 to 2000 yr, but they probably have a much longer history. Lichen-size frequency distributions, using the largest lichen from each of n boulders, reflect the age-frequency of surface boulders, providing a record of late Holocene avalanche activity. A simulation model suggests that maximum avalanche activity affected nine of the ramparts during the 19th century, after the peak of the Little Ice Age. The pattern of avalanche activity differs from the pattern of glacier variations but is in close agreement with that of debris-flow activity. The ramparts may yield a valuable proxy record of winter snowfall.