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Abstract
Polar regions are very sensitive to climate variability. Glacial environments, such as Spitsbergen, respond drastically to climate warming by the disintegration of ice masses, release of huge amounts of free water and rapid evolution of terrestrial landforms. Paraglacial studies have shown that sediment yield decreases with time following a relaxation curve. The study examines the effects of scaling on rhythms of deglaciation and sediment fluxes in a small catchment. It appears that the paraglacial sequence, known as a morphogenic crisis, could be affected by internal small threshold events which are able to mobilize large quantities of sediment. It means that, at small scale, the curve profile is more irregular than suggested by large-scale models.
Acknowledgements
This study is part of the international programme Pr. 400 Geomorphoclim supported by the French Polar Institute Paul-Emile Victor (IPEV). Financial support for several Spitsbergen expeditions was provided also by GEOLAB (UMR-6042 – CNRS, directed by Marie-Françoise André) and the French Arctic Research Group (formerly directed by Thierry Brossard, CNRS-GDR 049, now by Madeleine Griselin, CNRS-GDR 3062). Professor Marie-Françoise André has kindly provided personal photographs of the study area taken during the period 1982–1986. Florence Bonnaud (University of Sorbonne Paris IV) and Andrée Dubois (University of Nantes) have redrawn the figures.