Alberto Carton

Current Behaviour and Dynamics of the Lowermost Italian Glacier (Montasio Occidentale, Julian Alps)

Abstract Smaller glaciers (<0.5 km2) react quickly to environmental changes and typically show a large scatter in their individual response. Accounting for these ice bodies is essential for assessing regional glacier change, given their high number and contribution to the total loss of glacier area in mountain regions. However, studying small glaciers using traditional techniques may be difficult or not feasible, and assessing their current activity and dynamics may be problematic. In this paper, we present an integrated approach for characterizing the current behaviour of a small, avalanche‐fed glacier at low altitude in the talian lps, combining geomorphological, geophysical and high‐resolution geodetic surveying with a terrestrial laser scanner. The glacier is still active and shows a detectable mass transfer from the accumulation area to the lower ablation area, which is covered by a thick debris mantle. The glacier owes its existence to the local topo‐climatic conditions, ensured by high rock walls which enhance accumulation by delivering avalanche snow and reduce ablation by providing topographic shading and regulating the debris budget of the glacier catchment. In the last several years the glacier has displayed peculiar behaviour compared with most glaciers of the uropean lps, being close to equilibrium conditions in spite of warm ablation seasons. Proportionally small relative changes have also occurred since the Little Ice Age maximum. Compared with the majority of other Alpine glaciers, we infer for this glacier a lower sensitivity to air temperature and a higher sensitivity to precipitation, associated with important feedback from increasing debris cover during unfavourable periods.

Reconstructing Fluctuations of La Mare Glacier (Eastern Italian Alps) in the Late Holocene: New Evidence for a Little Ice Age Maximum Around 1600 AD

Abstract Field observations, old terrestrial photographs and maps, aerial orthophotos and detailed geomorphological mapping were used for compiling and validating a 119‐year cumulative record of terminus changes for a are lacier, astern talian lps. ate olocene glacier maxima preceding direct observations were reconstructed by applying age dating techniques (radiocarbon and lichenometry) to glacial deposits in the proglacial area of the glacier. Results show that the glacier reached its maximal position around 1600 ad, followed by smaller advances in the eighteenth century, while in the nineteenth century it did not reach or overrun these positions. A similar behaviour for neighbouring glaciers was reported by previous works, documenting absolute ate olocene maxima in the seventeenth or eighteenth centuries. By contrast, multi‐century reconstructions available for the north‐western lps show that in the nineteenth century, glaciers were at their maximum or very close to previous maxima achieved in the first half of the seventeenth century. Climatic causes for these discrepancies have been examined, analyzing multi‐proxy climatic reconstructions starting in 1500 ad, but also morphodynamic processes linked to the bedrock characteristics of a are lacier could have played a role in modulating its response to climatic changes.

A regional rockfall database: the Eastern Alps test site

Landslide databases are essential tools for risk assessment. In the Italian portion of the South-Eastern Alps these archives are managed by the Veneto Region and by the provinces of Bolzano and Trento, as part of the Italian Inventory of Landslides. About 750 rockfall events recorded in these archives were checked, put together and completed to create a new integrated database. Information on 24 new rockfalls were added from different research sources. Descriptive statistic shows that the most affected slopes with the highest frequency of rockfall are the southern ones. The distribution of rockfalls during the year presents three peaks in March, June and November. The most commonly affected lithologies are massive dolomites, effusive rocks and mica schists. Roads proved to be the most commonly involved feature. The hypsographic curves obtained from the DEMs of the provinces of Belluno, Bolzano and Trento have shown that the different areas potentially affected by periglacial processes experience rockfalls during summer and autumn, thus representing a risk to tourists and hikers. This study is the first attempt to collate and extend the available information in the various rockfall databases in the Eastern Italian Alps, with the aim at creating uniform data collection for the whole Alpine range.

Large Ancient Landslides in Trentino, Northeastern Alps, as Evidence of Postglacial Dynamics

The mountain landscape of Trentino (northeastern Italy) is characterized by the presence of a series of large-scale landslides locally known as marocche . Remarkable examples are represented by the so-called Lavini di Marco , Marocche di Dro and Marocche di Molveno. Various hypotheses have been suggested regarding the origin of these landslides. Some authors have proposed a glacial rather than a gravitational origin. Other authors maintained that marocche should be referred to rock avalanches which occurred in glacial conditions and whose accumulations must have been distributed by glacial processes. The latter interpretation cannot be accepted since the largest landslide is far more recent than Late-Glacial Age. Many concordant chronological data tend to ascribe them to the Holocene, between 3000 and 1000 years BP.

The Adamello-Presanella and Brenta Massifs, Central Alps: Contrasting High-Mountain Landscapes and Landforms

Adamello-Presanella and Brenta massifs are two distinct and adjacent mountain groups divided by an Alpine structural alignment which separates the Southern Alps into two distinct blocks characterized by different rock types. The Adamello-Presanella Massif is made up of intrusive igneous rocks and shows typical landscapes of high-mountain environments modelled prevalently by the action of glaciers. In the Brenta Massif limestones and dolostones crop out extensively which have been shaped into steeples, pinnacles, vertical rock faces and ledges by selective erosion. In this mountain group subsurface and surface karst landscapes have also developed. Owing to its extraordinary interest and geological-geomorphological value, these massifs are included in the European Geoparks Network and in the World Global UNESCO Network of Geoparks.

Leo Handl and the Ice City (Marmolada Glacier, Italy)

Mt. Marmolada is the highest relief of the Dolomites, having its top at Punta Penia at 3343 m a.s.l.; it hosts a large glacier on the northern slope. During the First World War, the summit of Mt. Marmolada was the site of fighting in the years 1916 and 1917. Thanks to the initiative of an Austrian official, Lieutenant Leo Handl, the troops opened underground passages inside the glacier allowing the soldiers to carry supplies to advanced positions without being exposed to enemy fire. Quickly, several large shelters and 12 km of tunnels were excavated giving rise to the Eisstadt (Ice City). During the war, tunnels were deformed by the glacier dynamics, which was more active than at present. In November 1917 the Ice City was abandoned.