Diachronous Talus Surfaces in the Southern Alps, New Zealand, and Their Implications to Talus Accumulation

Surface color and weathering-rind thickness of boulders on four taluses, and a reconnaissance survey elsewhere in the Craigieburn Range, New Zealand, show that talus-surface age increases downslope, indicating a decrease in probability of disturbance in this direction. Most fresh material is deposit...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Arctic and alpine research 1983-02, Vol.15 (1), p.53-64
Main Authors: Whitehouse, I. E., McSaveney, M. J.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Avalanches
Boulders
Grain size
Landslides
Moraines
Rocks
Sandstones
Snow
Talus slopes
Tarsus
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Summary:Surface color and weathering-rind thickness of boulders on four taluses, and a reconnaissance survey elsewhere in the Craigieburn Range, New Zealand, show that talus-surface age increases downslope, indicating a decrease in probability of disturbance in this direction. Most fresh material is deposited on the upper slopes of rockfall taluses. Material may be redistributed over the middle and lower slopes by dry avalanching. The observed surface-age distributions do not support talus-accumulation models that presume addition of wedges or sheets that sequentially cover all of the surface. The presence of an older basal fringe of large boulders around taluses developed by rockfall and by snow avalanching conflicts with models predicting greatest accumulation at the talus base. Age-distributions on debris-flow taluses indicate irregular episodic accumulation of lobate debris flows, with intervening smoothing by snow glide and snow avalanching.
ISSN:0004-0851
2325-5153
DOI:10.1080/00040851.1983.12004328