Rates and extent of solifluction are strongly influenced by local factors of topography, petrography and vegetation cover. These factors control the ground thermal regime, the development and melting of ground ice, and therefore the hydraulic soil conditions, which are regarded to be the crucial point for the understanding of solifluction.

We set up a field station in the central Austrian Alps to investigate the quantitative dependency of solifluction on ground thermal and hydraulic regime in detail. The measurement site is located in the periglacial altitudinal belt of the Hohe Tauern mountain range, about 2650m a.s.l.. It is known from long-term observations of solifluction rates at the soil surface, which are continued.

Devices were installed that continuously measure solifluction rates at five levels in the soil, as well as frost heave. At the same plot, soil temperature and soil moisture to a depth of one meter are permanently recorded on a data logger, using thermistors, tensiometers and TDR. We measure temperature and moisture profiles on various additional spots with differing solifluction movements, record weather data and the duration of snow cover, and map the vegetation in order to get informations about controlling external factors.

Movement rates of more than 50 cm at the surface and the exact timing of solifluction at the end of snowmelt could be observed. Interrelations between solifluction and the dynamics of ground ice and water as influenced by external factors will be demonstrated.

Corresponding author:
Philipp Jaesche
Soil Physics Group
University of Bayreuth
D-95440 Bayreuth
GERMANY
phone +49-921-55 21 87
fax +49 921 55 2246
email jaesche@uni-bayreuth.de