The influence of contributing area parameters on the size of rock glaciers in the Southern Carpathian Mountains

The paper aims to determine to what extent the size of the rock glaciers (RG) in the Southern Carpathians (Romania) is influenced by their contributing area (CA) parameters. Simple linear regression (LR) and generalized linear models (GLM) were used to meet this goal, considering as independent vari...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Geographical phorum 2017-06, Vol.XVI (1), p.5-11
Main Authors: Magori, Brigitte, Onaca, Alexandru, Urdea, Petru
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Generalized linear models
Glaciers
Independent variables
Landforms
Mountains
Parameters
Regression analysis
Rock glaciers
Rocks
Statistical models
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Summary:The paper aims to determine to what extent the size of the rock glaciers (RG) in the Southern Carpathians (Romania) is influenced by their contributing area (CA) parameters. Simple linear regression (LR) and generalized linear models (GLM) were used to meet this goal, considering as independent variables the main morphometric characteristics of the contributing area. The LR coefficients revealed that the most influential variables were the width (R2=0.57) and the size of the CA (R2=0.51). Based on the best GLM results the size of the rock glaciers can be statistically explained quite well (R2=0.58) by a combination of three variables: CA length, CA width, and the minimum altitude of the CA. Rock glaciers are thus complex landforms resulting from a combination of many variables (climatic, topographic and geologic) including contributing area parameters. Both LR and GLM analysis revealed that the size of the rock glaciers can only be partly explained by the characteristics of the CA. The study revealed that GLM are powerful analytical tools which give reasonable results when analysing the role of rock glaciers developmental controls.
ISSN:1583-1523
2067-4635
DOI:10.5775/fg.2017.101.i