Articles | Volume 13, issue 1
https://doi.org/10.5194/esurf-13-41-2025
https://doi.org/10.5194/esurf-13-41-2025
Research article
 | 
16 Jan 2025
Research article |  | 16 Jan 2025

Massive permafrost rock slide under a warming polythermal glacier deciphered through mechanical modeling (Bliggspitze, Austria)

Felix Pfluger, Samuel Weber, Joseph Steinhauser, Christian Zangerl, Christine Fey, Johannes Fürst, and Michael Krautblatter

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This preprint is open for discussion and under review for Earth Surface Dynamics (ESurf).
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Cited articles

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Short summary
Our study explores permafrost–glacier interactions with a focus on their implications for preparing or triggering high-volume rock slope failures. Using the Bliggspitze rock slide as a case study, we demonstrate a new type of rock slope failure mechanism triggered by the uplift of the cold–warm dividing line in polythermal alpine glaciers, a widespread and currently under-explored phenomenon in alpine environments worldwide.
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