Rates and processes of periglacial solifluction: an experimental approach

✍ Scribed by Harris, Charles; Davies, Michael C. R.; Coutard, Jean-Pierre

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1997
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 945 KB
• Volume: 22
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0360-1269
• DOI: 10.1002/(sici)1096-9837(199709)22:9<849::aid-esp784>3.0.co;2-u

✦ Synopsis

Cold room physical modelling of periglacial solifluction processes on an experimental slope of 12° is described, and data on soil temperatures, surface frost heave, thaw consolidation, downslope soil movement and porewater pressures over seven freeze-thaw cycles are presented. These data are analyzed in the context of laboratory determination of the rheometry of the experimental soils at high moisture contents. It is concluded that the observed thaw-induced solifluction represents prefailure soil shear strain and results from loss of strength due to the combined effects of raised porewater pressures during thaw consolidation and upward seepage pressures as water flows towards the surface away from the thaw front. An investigation of the rheometry of thawing soils offers the prospect of an analytical model to predict rates and depths of periglacial solifluction.