1999/10/01 by H. M. French, Hugh M. French, Mauro Guglielmin +1 · 3 citations
Environmental Science · Earth and Planetary Sciences · #Polar Research and Ecology #Geology and Paleoclimatology Research #Cryospheric studies and observations
paper · doi:10.1002/(sici)1099-1530(199910/12)10:4<331::aid-ppp328>3.0.co;2-a
The ice-free areas of the Northern Foothills, Antarctica, represent an ice-marginal, high-latitude periglacial environment. In addition to extreme cold and aridity, they are characterized by exceptionally strong winds. The effectiveness of traditional freeze–thaw and mass-wasting (solifluction) processes are limited because of the lack of moisture and the shallow active layer. Mass wasting mainly occurs through in situ rock disintegration and associated gravity processes. Bare rectilinear bedrock slopes are the result and reflect a balance between debris production and debris removal. The most active landscape-modifying processes appear to be (1) wind erosion and (2) taffoni and honeycomb weathering. Ventifacts are used to suggest a very tentative rate of wind abrasion of approximately 0.10–0.30 cm per 1000 years. Rates of taffoni and honeycomb weathering appear to be an order of magnitude greater, estimated to be between 2–3 and 8–10 cm per 1000 years. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.