Phillips Marcia

Rock slope failure in a recently deglaciated permafrost rock wall at Piz Kesch (Eastern Swiss Alps)

Project Number: CH-7302

Project Type:	Research_Project
Project Duration:	01/01/2014 - 07/12/2016 project completed
Funding Source:	other ,
Leading Institution:	WSL Institute for Snow and Avalanche Research SLF, Davos
Project Leader:	Dr. Marcia Phillips Schnee und Permafrost: Permafrost Institut für Schnee- und Lawinenforschung, SLF WSL Flüelastrasse 11 7260 Davos Dorf Phone: +41 (0) 81 417 02 18 ; +41 (0) 81 417 01 11 FAX: +41 (0) 81 417 01 10 e-Mail: phillips(at)slf.ch http://www.slf.ch/

related to this project.

for which the project has a relevance.

Disciplines:

hydrology, limnology, glaciology

Abstract:
In February 2014, a rock pillar with a volume of around 150 000 m3 collapsed at Piz Kesch in the Eastern Swiss Alps. A reconstruction of the conditions prior to the event and of the event itself is presented on the basis of different sources of data. The methods applied include photogrammetry, terrestrial laser scanning, structural geological analysis, examination of meteorological data, carbon-14 (14C) dating of organic material in permafrost ice from a tension crack and numerical modelling of likely modes of failure. Despite a complete lack of in situ measurements in the rock wall prior to the event and of direct observations during the event, the available data allow the determination of the approximate timing of the event as well as the structural predisposition, the probable mode of failure and the timescale of several millennia involved in the triggering of the failure of the rock pillar. The in- terdisciplinary analysis of this event contributes towards understanding the complex interaction of processes involved in large rock slope failures currently occurring in warming mountain permafrost regions.

Publications:
Phillips, M., Wolter, A., Lüthi, R., Amann, F., Kenner, R., and Bühler, Y. ( 2017) Rock slope failure in a recently deglaciated permafrost rock wall at Piz Kesch (Eastern Swiss Alps), February 2014. Earth Surf. Process. Landforms, 42: 426 438.
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Last update: 7/27/22
Source of data: ProClim- Research InfoSystem (1993-2024)
Update the data of project: CH-7302

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