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- Title
Nivation forms and processes in unconsolidated sediments, NE Greenland
- Authors
Christiansen, Hanne Hvidtfeldt
- Abstract
In the periglacial unconsolidated sediment landscape of Zackenberg in High Arctic NE Greenland, perennial and seasonal snowpatches dominate the geomorphological development in large areas and control the distribution of the vegetation. The existence and distribution of snowpatches and their associated landforms are mainly controlled by the dominating winter wind direction and the amount of snow precipitation, with aspect exerting much less influence. This makes them an important source of information on past environmental change, and knowledge of the combination of geomorphological processes and forms that resultfrom their existence is thus essential. The main nivation processes are backwall failure, sliding and flow, niveo-aeolian sediment transport, supra- and ennival sediment flows, niveo-fluvial erosion, development of pronival stone pavements, accumulation of alluvial fans and basins, and pronival solifluction. The importance of failure, slidingand flow in the continuous retrogressive extension of nivation hollows and niches is emphasized under the term backwall failure. A morphological assemblage of landforms clearly demonstrates the direct nivalsediment transfer link between the eroded nivation hollows, their associated meltwater eroded channels and the pronival alluvial fans or basins. All landform elements and their formative processes are integrated into a comprehensive model.
- Subjects
GEOMORPHOLOGY; SNOW; EROSION
- Publication
Earth Surface Processes & Landforms, 1998, Vol 23, Issue 8, p751
- ISSN
0197-9337
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1002/(SICI)1096-9837(199808)23:8<751::AID-ESP886>3.0.CO;2-A