Earth Surface Dynamics
Earth Surface Dynamics
ESurf
Articles | Volume 14, issue 4
Articles | Volume 14, issue 4
https://doi.org/10.5194/esurf-14-601-2026
© Author(s) 2026. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
https://doi.org/10.5194/esurf-14-601-2026
© Author(s) 2026. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Articles | Volume 14, issue 4
Research article
 | 
05 Aug 2026
Research article |  | 05 Aug 2026

How ice apron loss and permafrost degradation promoted the Platteikogel rock slope failure: a thermo-mechanical reconstruction

Felix Pfluger, Samuel Weber, Natalie Barbosa, Florentin Hofmeister, Johannes Leinauer, Peter Wegmann, and Michael Krautblatter

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Short summary
The 2024 Platteikogel rock slope failure (Tyrol, Austria) highlights how cryospheric changes promote slope failure. We demonstrate how the system feedback of ice apron loss, permafrost warming,  increase in rockfall activity, and changes in groundwater conditions accelerate mechanical destabilization, and as a consequence likely peaked in the observed failure. Today, rapidly vanishing ice aprons potentially mark source zones for future rock slides.
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