Earth’s Cryosphere, 2010, Vol. XIV, No. 1, p. 69-75

RATES OF MOVEMENTS AND DEFORMATIONS OF ROCK GLACIERS

A.P. Gorbunov, E.V. Severskiy

Permafrost Institute, SB RAS, Kazakhstan Alpine Geocryological Laboratory, 050000, Almaty, P/O box 138, Kazakhstan, permafrost.08@mail.ru

Some active rock glaciers in the Central Asia Mountains are deformed due to various reasons. In some cases, rock glacier body breaks down and its lower part moves independently. In other cases, a rock glacier has big stretching. The deformations occur due to great earthquakes or to the features of the surface on which the rock glacier moves. The technogenic rock glaciers formied in the places of mining as a result of long-term freezing of the dumps are strongly deformed. There is only one technogenic rock glacier at the initial stage of evolution in Tien Shan. Similar rock glaciers in the Kola Peninsula Mountains and in the vicinity of Norilsk city (Russia) showed their ability to the catastrophic movement and transformation into specific landslides and mud-flows. Thirteen rock glaciers are described in this article.

Key words: Active rock glacier, deformations, movement.

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