The impact of ground-ice thaw on landslide geomorphology and dynamics: two case studies in northern Iceland

Costanza Morino; Susan J. Conway; Matthew R. Balme; Jón Kristinn Helgason; Þorsteinn Sæmundsson; Colm Jordan; John Hillier; Tom Argles

doi:10.1007/s10346-021-01661-1

The impact of ground-ice thaw on landslide geomorphology and dynamics: two case studies in northern Iceland

Costanza Morino^*, Susan J. Conway, Matthew R. Balme, Jón Kristinn Helgason, Þorsteinn Sæmundsson, Colm Jordan, John Hillier, Tom Argles

^*Corresponding author for this work

Faculty of Life and Environmental Sciences

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

Abstract

As consequence of ongoing climate change, permafrost degradation is thought to be increasingly affecting slope stability in periglacial environments. This is of growing concern in Iceland, where in the last decade, permafrost degradation has been identified among the triggering factors of landslides. The role of ground ice in conditioning the morphology and dynamics of landslides involving loose deposits is poorly understood. We show the geomorphological impact of the Móafellshyrna and Árnesfjall landslides that recently occurred in ice-cemented talus deposits in northern Iceland. Using field and aerial remote-sensing measurements of the morphological and morphometric characteristics of the landslides, we assess the influence of thawing ground ice on their propagation style and dynamics. The two mass movements are complex and are similar to rock- and debris-ice avalanches, changing trajectory and exhibiting evidence of transitioning their style of motion from a dry granular mass to a debris flow-like movement via multiple pulses. We infer that the thawing of ground ice together with the entrainment of saturated material provided the extra fluid causing this change in dynamics. The hazardous consequences of permafrost degradation will increasingly affect mountain regions in the future, and ground-ice thaw in steep terrain is a particularly hazardous phenomenon, as it may induce unexpected long-runout failures and can cause slope instability to continue even after the landslide event. Our study expands our knowledge of how landslides develop in unstable ice-cemented deposits and will aid assessment and mitigation of the hazard that they pose in Iceland and other mountainous periglacial areas.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	2785-2812
Number of pages	28
Journal	Landslides
Volume	18
Issue number	8
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1007/s10346-021-01661-1
Publication status	Published - 4 May 2021

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
This work has been funded by a postgraduate studentship grant (NE/L002493/1) from the CENTA Doctoral Training Partnership funded by the UK Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) and the British Geological Survey University Funding Initiative Studentship (GA/14S/024, Ref: 284); the Agence Nationale de la Recherche in the framework of the project ANR-19-CE01-0010 PERMOLARDS; the Région Pays de la Loire, project GeoPlaNet (convention No 2016-10982).

Funding Information:
This work has been funded by a postgraduate studentship grant (NE/L002493/1) from the CENTA Doctoral Training Partnership funded by the UK Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) and the British Geological Survey University Funding Initiative Studentship (GA/14S/024, Ref: 284). We thank the Natural Environment Research Council Airborne Research Facility (NERC ARF), their Data Analysis Node (NERC-ARF-DAN) and the European Facility for Airborne Research (EUFAR) for air photography and LiDAR data. Thanks go to NERC Geo-physical Equipment Facility (GEF) for the Loans 1048 and 1064 through which differential GPS surveys were possible. C. Morino and S.J. Conway are funded by the Agence Nationale de la Recherche in the framework of the project ANR-19-CE01-0010 PERMOLARDS. We acknowledge the financial support from R?gion Pays de la Loire, project GeoPlaNet (convention No 2016-10982). C. Jordan publishes with permission of the Executive Director of BGS. We gratefully acknowledge the contribution of our field assistants Francesco Giuntoli, Silvia Crosetto and Sydney Gunnarson. We would like to thank two unanimous reviewers, whose comments have greatly improved the quality of the paper.

Funding Information:
This work has been funded by a postgraduate studentship grant (NE/L002493/1) from the CENTA Doctoral Training Partnership funded by the UK Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) and the British Geological Survey University Funding Initiative Studentship (GA/14S/024, Ref: 284). We thank the Natural Environment Research Council Airborne Research Facility (NERC ARF), their Data Analysis Node (NERC-ARF-DAN) and the European Facility for Airborne Research (EUFAR) for air photography and LiDAR data. Thanks go to NERC Geo-physical Equipment Facility (GEF) for the Loans 1048 and 1064 through which differential GPS surveys were possible. C. Morino and S.J. Conway are funded by the Agence Nationale de la Recherche in the framework of the project ANR-19-CE01-0010 PERMOLARDS. We acknowledge the financial support from Région Pays de la Loire, project GeoPlaNet (convention No 2016-10982). C. Jordan publishes with permission of the Executive Director of BGS. We gratefully acknowledge the contribution of our field assistants Francesco Giuntoli, Silvia Crosetto and Sydney Gunnarson. We would like to thank two unanimous reviewers, whose comments have greatly improved the quality of the paper.

Publisher Copyright:
© 2021, The Author(s).

Other keywords

Ground ice
Iceland
Landslides
Permafrost
Risk

Access to Document

10.1007/s10346-021-01661-1

Cite this

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title = "The impact of ground-ice thaw on landslide geomorphology and dynamics: two case studies in northern Iceland",

abstract = "As consequence of ongoing climate change, permafrost degradation is thought to be increasingly affecting slope stability in periglacial environments. This is of growing concern in Iceland, where in the last decade, permafrost degradation has been identified among the triggering factors of landslides. The role of ground ice in conditioning the morphology and dynamics of landslides involving loose deposits is poorly understood. We show the geomorphological impact of the M{\'o}afellshyrna and {\'A}rnesfjall landslides that recently occurred in ice-cemented talus deposits in northern Iceland. Using field and aerial remote-sensing measurements of the morphological and morphometric characteristics of the landslides, we assess the influence of thawing ground ice on their propagation style and dynamics. The two mass movements are complex and are similar to rock- and debris-ice avalanches, changing trajectory and exhibiting evidence of transitioning their style of motion from a dry granular mass to a debris flow-like movement via multiple pulses. We infer that the thawing of ground ice together with the entrainment of saturated material provided the extra fluid causing this change in dynamics. The hazardous consequences of permafrost degradation will increasingly affect mountain regions in the future, and ground-ice thaw in steep terrain is a particularly hazardous phenomenon, as it may induce unexpected long-runout failures and can cause slope instability to continue even after the landslide event. Our study expands our knowledge of how landslides develop in unstable ice-cemented deposits and will aid assessment and mitigation of the hazard that they pose in Iceland and other mountainous periglacial areas.",

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author = "Costanza Morino and Conway, {Susan J.} and Balme, {Matthew R.} and Helgason, {J{\'o}n Kristinn} and {\TH}orsteinn S{\ae}mundsson and Colm Jordan and John Hillier and Tom Argles",

note = "Funding Information: This work has been funded by a postgraduate studentship grant (NE/L002493/1) from the CENTA Doctoral Training Partnership funded by the UK Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) and the British Geological Survey University Funding Initiative Studentship (GA/14S/024, Ref: 284); the Agence Nationale de la Recherche in the framework of the project ANR-19-CE01-0010 PERMOLARDS; the R{\'e}gion Pays de la Loire, project GeoPlaNet (convention No 2016-10982). Funding Information: This work has been funded by a postgraduate studentship grant (NE/L002493/1) from the CENTA Doctoral Training Partnership funded by the UK Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) and the British Geological Survey University Funding Initiative Studentship (GA/14S/024, Ref: 284). We thank the Natural Environment Research Council Airborne Research Facility (NERC ARF), their Data Analysis Node (NERC-ARF-DAN) and the European Facility for Airborne Research (EUFAR) for air photography and LiDAR data. Thanks go to NERC Geo-physical Equipment Facility (GEF) for the Loans 1048 and 1064 through which differential GPS surveys were possible. C. Morino and S.J. Conway are funded by the Agence Nationale de la Recherche in the framework of the project ANR-19-CE01-0010 PERMOLARDS. We acknowledge the financial support from R?gion Pays de la Loire, project GeoPlaNet (convention No 2016-10982). C. Jordan publishes with permission of the Executive Director of BGS. We gratefully acknowledge the contribution of our field assistants Francesco Giuntoli, Silvia Crosetto and Sydney Gunnarson. We would like to thank two unanimous reviewers, whose comments have greatly improved the quality of the paper. Funding Information: This work has been funded by a postgraduate studentship grant (NE/L002493/1) from the CENTA Doctoral Training Partnership funded by the UK Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) and the British Geological Survey University Funding Initiative Studentship (GA/14S/024, Ref: 284). We thank the Natural Environment Research Council Airborne Research Facility (NERC ARF), their Data Analysis Node (NERC-ARF-DAN) and the European Facility for Airborne Research (EUFAR) for air photography and LiDAR data. Thanks go to NERC Geo-physical Equipment Facility (GEF) for the Loans 1048 and 1064 through which differential GPS surveys were possible. C. Morino and S.J. Conway are funded by the Agence Nationale de la Recherche in the framework of the project ANR-19-CE01-0010 PERMOLARDS. We acknowledge the financial support from R{\'e}gion Pays de la Loire, project GeoPlaNet (convention No 2016-10982). C. Jordan publishes with permission of the Executive Director of BGS. We gratefully acknowledge the contribution of our field assistants Francesco Giuntoli, Silvia Crosetto and Sydney Gunnarson. We would like to thank two unanimous reviewers, whose comments have greatly improved the quality of the paper. Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2021, The Author(s).",

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doi = "10.1007/s10346-021-01661-1",

language = "English",

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AU - Morino, Costanza

AU - Conway, Susan J.

AU - Balme, Matthew R.

AU - Helgason, Jón Kristinn

AU - Sæmundsson, Þorsteinn

AU - Jordan, Colm

AU - Hillier, John

AU - Argles, Tom

N1 - Funding Information: This work has been funded by a postgraduate studentship grant (NE/L002493/1) from the CENTA Doctoral Training Partnership funded by the UK Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) and the British Geological Survey University Funding Initiative Studentship (GA/14S/024, Ref: 284); the Agence Nationale de la Recherche in the framework of the project ANR-19-CE01-0010 PERMOLARDS; the Région Pays de la Loire, project GeoPlaNet (convention No 2016-10982). Funding Information: This work has been funded by a postgraduate studentship grant (NE/L002493/1) from the CENTA Doctoral Training Partnership funded by the UK Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) and the British Geological Survey University Funding Initiative Studentship (GA/14S/024, Ref: 284). We thank the Natural Environment Research Council Airborne Research Facility (NERC ARF), their Data Analysis Node (NERC-ARF-DAN) and the European Facility for Airborne Research (EUFAR) for air photography and LiDAR data. Thanks go to NERC Geo-physical Equipment Facility (GEF) for the Loans 1048 and 1064 through which differential GPS surveys were possible. C. Morino and S.J. Conway are funded by the Agence Nationale de la Recherche in the framework of the project ANR-19-CE01-0010 PERMOLARDS. We acknowledge the financial support from R?gion Pays de la Loire, project GeoPlaNet (convention No 2016-10982). C. Jordan publishes with permission of the Executive Director of BGS. We gratefully acknowledge the contribution of our field assistants Francesco Giuntoli, Silvia Crosetto and Sydney Gunnarson. We would like to thank two unanimous reviewers, whose comments have greatly improved the quality of the paper. Funding Information: This work has been funded by a postgraduate studentship grant (NE/L002493/1) from the CENTA Doctoral Training Partnership funded by the UK Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) and the British Geological Survey University Funding Initiative Studentship (GA/14S/024, Ref: 284). We thank the Natural Environment Research Council Airborne Research Facility (NERC ARF), their Data Analysis Node (NERC-ARF-DAN) and the European Facility for Airborne Research (EUFAR) for air photography and LiDAR data. Thanks go to NERC Geo-physical Equipment Facility (GEF) for the Loans 1048 and 1064 through which differential GPS surveys were possible. C. Morino and S.J. Conway are funded by the Agence Nationale de la Recherche in the framework of the project ANR-19-CE01-0010 PERMOLARDS. We acknowledge the financial support from Région Pays de la Loire, project GeoPlaNet (convention No 2016-10982). C. Jordan publishes with permission of the Executive Director of BGS. We gratefully acknowledge the contribution of our field assistants Francesco Giuntoli, Silvia Crosetto and Sydney Gunnarson. We would like to thank two unanimous reviewers, whose comments have greatly improved the quality of the paper. Publisher Copyright: © 2021, The Author(s).

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N2 - As consequence of ongoing climate change, permafrost degradation is thought to be increasingly affecting slope stability in periglacial environments. This is of growing concern in Iceland, where in the last decade, permafrost degradation has been identified among the triggering factors of landslides. The role of ground ice in conditioning the morphology and dynamics of landslides involving loose deposits is poorly understood. We show the geomorphological impact of the Móafellshyrna and Árnesfjall landslides that recently occurred in ice-cemented talus deposits in northern Iceland. Using field and aerial remote-sensing measurements of the morphological and morphometric characteristics of the landslides, we assess the influence of thawing ground ice on their propagation style and dynamics. The two mass movements are complex and are similar to rock- and debris-ice avalanches, changing trajectory and exhibiting evidence of transitioning their style of motion from a dry granular mass to a debris flow-like movement via multiple pulses. We infer that the thawing of ground ice together with the entrainment of saturated material provided the extra fluid causing this change in dynamics. The hazardous consequences of permafrost degradation will increasingly affect mountain regions in the future, and ground-ice thaw in steep terrain is a particularly hazardous phenomenon, as it may induce unexpected long-runout failures and can cause slope instability to continue even after the landslide event. Our study expands our knowledge of how landslides develop in unstable ice-cemented deposits and will aid assessment and mitigation of the hazard that they pose in Iceland and other mountainous periglacial areas.

AB - As consequence of ongoing climate change, permafrost degradation is thought to be increasingly affecting slope stability in periglacial environments. This is of growing concern in Iceland, where in the last decade, permafrost degradation has been identified among the triggering factors of landslides. The role of ground ice in conditioning the morphology and dynamics of landslides involving loose deposits is poorly understood. We show the geomorphological impact of the Móafellshyrna and Árnesfjall landslides that recently occurred in ice-cemented talus deposits in northern Iceland. Using field and aerial remote-sensing measurements of the morphological and morphometric characteristics of the landslides, we assess the influence of thawing ground ice on their propagation style and dynamics. The two mass movements are complex and are similar to rock- and debris-ice avalanches, changing trajectory and exhibiting evidence of transitioning their style of motion from a dry granular mass to a debris flow-like movement via multiple pulses. We infer that the thawing of ground ice together with the entrainment of saturated material provided the extra fluid causing this change in dynamics. The hazardous consequences of permafrost degradation will increasingly affect mountain regions in the future, and ground-ice thaw in steep terrain is a particularly hazardous phenomenon, as it may induce unexpected long-runout failures and can cause slope instability to continue even after the landslide event. Our study expands our knowledge of how landslides develop in unstable ice-cemented deposits and will aid assessment and mitigation of the hazard that they pose in Iceland and other mountainous periglacial areas.

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KW - Risk

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ER -

The impact of ground-ice thaw on landslide geomorphology and dynamics: two case studies in northern Iceland

Abstract

Bibliographical note

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