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The Holocene
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A twentieth-century neoparaglacial rock topple on a glacier foreland, Ö tztal Alps, Austria

John A. Matthews

j.a.matthews{at}swansea.ac.uk

Richard A. Shakesby

Holocene Research Group, Department of Geography, University of Wales Swansea, Singleton Park, Swansea SA2 8PP, Wales, UK

A small-scale rock-slope failure firmly dated by historical photographic evidence, supported by lichenometry, to between ad 1977 and 1991 is described from the glacier foreland of Marzellferner and Schalf ferner, Ö tztal Alps, Austria. There was a timelag of 90–100 years between deglacierization of the site around ad 1890 and slope failure. An extreme rainfall event in ad 1987 is suggested as the most likely trigger factor affecting a rock slope weakened by several possible processes including debuttressing (producing dilation joints), fluctuating cleft-water pressure, and permafrost aggradation and degradation. The rock topple is considered to represent an example of subaerial geomorphological processes conditioned by‘Little Ice Age’ glacierization; similar neoparaglacial effects can be expected to follow other neoglacial events.

Key Words: Mass movement • rock-slope failure • topple • ‘Little Ice Age’ • neoglaciation • paraglacial • neoparaglacial • glacier foreland • deglacierization • deglaciation • late Holocene • Ö tztal Alps • Austria

The Holocene, Vol. 14, No. 3, 454-458 (2004)
DOI: 10.1191/0959683604hl706rr
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