Mass balance of gravitational mass movements in proglacial systems

• Applicant: Professor Dr. Joachim Rohn
• Subject Area: Physical Geography ; Palaeontology
• Term: from 2011 to 2018
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 209752768

TP2 investigates and accounts mass movements in the Upper Kauner valley. The investigated processes are ranging from small-scale joint formation and joint apertures on proglacial rock walls due to cold-climate weathering processes, over low- and mid-magnitude rockfalls, to large-scale rockslides which affect the rock slope stability in the study area. During three years of field work, direct quantification of mass movements were carried out by seven rockfall collector nets, fourteen natural sediment traps and by tape dilatometer measurements along more than 100 transects with an entire length of 1250 m. Large rockfalls and deeper seated gravitational slope displacements were also accounted directly by employing multi-temporal terrestrial and airborne LiDAR data and DEM analysis. Furthermore, the study area was geotechnical mapped, with a main focus on the rock mass quality. For an exact quantification of the displacement rates at all larger scale rock slide processes and the accounting of rockfall activity in the inaccessible regions of the study area, further ALS-data is required. So, during the required further project time, the failed ALS-flight campaigns will be carried out as they are essential to complete the rockfall and rockslide sediment budget. The ALS-data will be analyzed by TP2 regarding the following research tasks: 1. Large rockfalls which are released in the higher parts of the study area were accounted with the ALS-data from 2015 and 2016 to add the higher, but more infrequent magnitudes to the rockfall sediment budget. 2. The displacement rates at the highly active 'Schwarze Wand' will be monitored further on. 3. The process rates of the slow rockslide processes and deep seated rock slope deformations, which are already mapped, can be assessed by analyzing the ALS-data from 2015 and 2016 and comparing them with the ALS-data from 2012.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants