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Lookup NU author(s): Dr Stuart DunningORCiD
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC 4.0).
Rock avalanches are a form of hazardous long-runout landslide and leave fragmented deposits of complex sedimentology that, if studied in detail, can provide insight into their emplacement processes. Complexity arises due to the myriad overlapping factors known to contribute to the final deposit fabric, such as source structures, lithology (i.e. material properties), topographic feedback, substrate interaction and emplacement processes (i.e. internal factors), as well as our reliance on (un)suitable exposures. Herein, we present sedimentological data from two carbonate rock avalanche deposits (Tschirgant in Austria and Flims in Switzerland), where changes in lithology can be eliminated from the causal equation due to their largely mono-mineralic composition. We further eliminated the effects of external influences such as topography or substrate interactions by detailed facies mapping of the deposit interior. Since sedimentary properties locally vary within less than 1-m2 outcrop area, emplacement processes are the only causes that remain to explain the different fabrics. Characteristic (fractal) grain size distributions of three distinctive sub-facies in the interior of these, and other, rock avalanche deposits—jigsaw-fractured, fragmented, and shear zone facies—can be linked to specific processes acting during emplacement. We suggest that a heterogeneously distributed and progressively increasing particle breakage in the moving granular mass best explains the ranges of fractal dimensions and associated features for the respective sub-facies, from simple breakage along pre-existing planes, through dynamic fragmentation which locally minimises coordination number, to zones of shear concentration. No exotic emplacement mechanisms (such as air-layer lubrication or fluidised substrates) are required to produce these features; continued, heterogeneous degrees of fragmentation of an initially intact source rock best explains the sedimentary record of rock avalanches.
Author(s): Dufresne A, Dunning SA
Publication type: Article
Publication status: Published
Journal: Landslides
Year: 2017
Volume: 14
Issue: 5
Pages: 1555-1563
Print publication date: 01/10/2017
Online publication date: 27/02/2017
Acceptance date: 13/02/2017
Date deposited: 26/05/2017
ISSN (print): 1612-510X
ISSN (electronic): 1612-5118
Publisher: Springer
URL: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10346-017-0806-y
DOI: 10.1007/s10346-017-0806-y
Notes: Article also available to read via: http://rdcu.be/pH1L
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