Present day glacier reduction in the Alps, estimated from glacier inventories and induced viscoelastic response of a stratified Earth's model, is responsible for sizable uplift rates. Patches of 0.4 - 0.5 mm/yr, due to ice mass loss of largest ice complexes, overprint a characteristic area of slower uplift of 0.1 - 0.2 mm/yr, signature of the phenomenon in the whole Alpine chain. Viscous stress relaxation in the lower crust, due to glacier mass loss after the end of the Little Ice Age, is expected to produce uplift rates of 0.32 mm/yr, leading to a total viscoelastic response up to 0.8 mm/yr. Our predictions in the western Alps show that viscoelastic response to present day glacier shrinkage forms a substantial fraction ( half) of the observed uplift data. Attempts to constrain the contributions arising from active Alpine tectonics and drainage must account for this uplift signal.

Glacier shrinkage and modeled uplift of the Alps / V.R. Barletta, C. Ferrari, G. Diolaiuti, T. Carnielli, R. Sabadini, C. Smiraglia. - In: GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH LETTERS. - ISSN 0094-8276. - 33:14(2006 Jul 25), p. L14307.L14307.

Glacier shrinkage and modeled uplift of the Alps

V.R. Barletta
Primo
;
G. Diolaiuti;T. Carnielli;R. Sabadini
Penultimo
;
C. Smiraglia
Ultimo
2006

Abstract

Present day glacier reduction in the Alps, estimated from glacier inventories and induced viscoelastic response of a stratified Earth's model, is responsible for sizable uplift rates. Patches of 0.4 - 0.5 mm/yr, due to ice mass loss of largest ice complexes, overprint a characteristic area of slower uplift of 0.1 - 0.2 mm/yr, signature of the phenomenon in the whole Alpine chain. Viscous stress relaxation in the lower crust, due to glacier mass loss after the end of the Little Ice Age, is expected to produce uplift rates of 0.32 mm/yr, leading to a total viscoelastic response up to 0.8 mm/yr. Our predictions in the western Alps show that viscoelastic response to present day glacier shrinkage forms a substantial fraction ( half) of the observed uplift data. Attempts to constrain the contributions arising from active Alpine tectonics and drainage must account for this uplift signal.
Settore GEO/10 - Geofisica della Terra Solida
Settore GEO/04 - Geografia Fisica e Geomorfologia
25-lug-2006
http://www.agu.org/journals/gl/gl0614/2006GL026490/
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Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/2434/39055
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