Re: Avalanches in southern SN
Posted: Sun Mar 24, 2019 11:15 am
Just skimming through stuff and way, way late on this one. Interesting topic. I've skied pretty extensively from Yosemite south. Did snow surveys for a few years. There's zillions of avalanche paths though narrowing to slides to ground is interesting and more rare. An avalanche requires a "slab" -- some sort of cohesive layer of snow -- and something for that to slide on. Often that's a layer of what's called depth hoar, unconsolidated crystalline snow. Spring avalanches will do that, not because they're sliding from the ground layer (usually) but a layer will sometimes become lubricated by melt, or the density above becomes great enough to release on a lower, weaker layer. There's such a mass of heavy snow that it'll sometimes slide to ground from the sheer mass and force. Surfaces that slide in spring are usually bare granite with water running underneath. You'll see that a lot in the dome areas of Yosemite and, especially, above the Tioga road at Olmstead Pt. when it's undercut by snowplows.
But, if you haven't already thought of it, there's an even better study area available. If you look at, say, Harlen's photo of the north slope of Mt. Tyndall, notice the pronounced gullies towards the ridge and the smoother slopes below the gullies. The dividing line is the difference between the older larger glaciations and the more recent smaller late Pleistocene one.
The most recent glaciers of the late Pleistocene were smaller than earlier glaciations of the Sierra. Because they were more recent, there's been less erosion on the surfaces they left. The older -- larger -- glaciations mostly filled the entire canyons. Those older longer-exposed surfaces would have the greatest erosion after tens of thousands of years. The lower slopes would have been recently excavated by glaciers up to roughly their retreat about 10,000 years ago, plus or minus. So, although now also exposed, there hasn't been as much erosion, deepening the gullies, which are more pronounced on the upper slopes over a much, much longer period of time.
There would also be an interesting study area on the west facing slope of Mt. Whitney. The summit and slopes immediately below are completely unglaciated and without gullying. As you go down the slope, gullies begin to form in the areas of maximum glaciation, and are reduced when the come into the zone of recent glaciation.
Oh, also, I've often wondered about the maximum of the Little Ice Age (ca 1650 - 1850) and it's erosional effect. I think it was mostly in the gullies you see. There's a lot of terminal and recessional moraines on mostly north facing slopes. They would have contributed to erosion of those gullies as well, which might confuse the picture of just avalanches, wind, and water on exposed non-glaciated surfaces above the recent glacial maxim.
I would think someone's looked at this. It would be a good way to measure differential erosion over time (hundreds of thousands of years) on Sierra slopes. Original poster is probably long gone, but it seems a great line of research.
But, if you haven't already thought of it, there's an even better study area available. If you look at, say, Harlen's photo of the north slope of Mt. Tyndall, notice the pronounced gullies towards the ridge and the smoother slopes below the gullies. The dividing line is the difference between the older larger glaciations and the more recent smaller late Pleistocene one.
The most recent glaciers of the late Pleistocene were smaller than earlier glaciations of the Sierra. Because they were more recent, there's been less erosion on the surfaces they left. The older -- larger -- glaciations mostly filled the entire canyons. Those older longer-exposed surfaces would have the greatest erosion after tens of thousands of years. The lower slopes would have been recently excavated by glaciers up to roughly their retreat about 10,000 years ago, plus or minus. So, although now also exposed, there hasn't been as much erosion, deepening the gullies, which are more pronounced on the upper slopes over a much, much longer period of time.
There would also be an interesting study area on the west facing slope of Mt. Whitney. The summit and slopes immediately below are completely unglaciated and without gullying. As you go down the slope, gullies begin to form in the areas of maximum glaciation, and are reduced when the come into the zone of recent glaciation.
Oh, also, I've often wondered about the maximum of the Little Ice Age (ca 1650 - 1850) and it's erosional effect. I think it was mostly in the gullies you see. There's a lot of terminal and recessional moraines on mostly north facing slopes. They would have contributed to erosion of those gullies as well, which might confuse the picture of just avalanches, wind, and water on exposed non-glaciated surfaces above the recent glacial maxim.
I would think someone's looked at this. It would be a good way to measure differential erosion over time (hundreds of thousands of years) on Sierra slopes. Original poster is probably long gone, but it seems a great line of research.