Geomorphology 28 1999.

309328

Rockfall activity from an alpine cliff during thawing periods

Norikazu Matsuoka
b

a, )

, Hiroaki Sakai

b,1

a Institute of Geoscience, Uniersity of Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-8571, Japan Graduate School of Enironmental Earth Science, Hokkaido Uniersity, Sapporo 060-0810, Japan

Received 14 September 1998; received in revised form 1 December 1998; accepted 3 December 1998

Abstract Rockfall activity during thawing periods was investigated by collecting rockfall debris fallen on the snow-covered talus slope in a cirque in the Japanese Alps. Near-surface rock temperature was also monitored on the cirque wall. Maximum rockfall activity occurs on average about 10 days after the meltout of the cirque wall. The intensive activity is rarely associated with precipitation events or diurnal frost cycles on the rockface. A thermal conduction model suggests that rockfalls at this site occur most frequently when the seasonal thawing front penetrates to a depth of about 1 m in the bedrock. While the freezethaw penetration controls the maximum dimensions of detachable rock mass, joint spacing on the rockface affects the size distribution of rockfall debris. Boulder falls resulting from seasonal frost weathering are considered to be the most important process responsible for the contemporary modification of the cirque wall. The rockfall volume during a thawing period is usually 13 m3, which is equivalent to the rate of cirque wall retreat of the order of 0.01 mm yeary1. However, big boulder falls that occur once per decade can increase the retreat rate significantly. q 1999 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.
Keywords: rockfalls; frost action; physical weathering; joints; mountains

1. Introduction Rockfalls are one of the major geomorphic processes acting on steep mountain slopes e.g., Whalley, 1984.. The role of rockfalls in the total denudation of mountain slopes is significant in cold mountains where vegetation is sparse and frost action is active e.g., Rapp, 1960.. Previous studies have addressed the timing and frequency of rockfalls e.g., Luckman, 1976; Gardner, 1980., the origin and kiCorresponding author. Fax: q81-298-51-9764; E-mail: matsuoka@atm.geo.tsukuba.ac.jp 1 Current address: Muroran Fire Department, Muroran 0500082, Japan.
)

netics of rockfalls e.g., Statham, 1976; Fahey and Lefebure, 1988., and the rates of cliff retreat by rockfalls e.g., Rapp, 1960; Barsch, 1977.. Recent advances have been achieved by both physical and historical approaches to rockfall studies. Automatic measurements of rock temperature e.g., Coutard and Francou, 1989; Gardner, 1992. and joint movements e.g., Matsuoka et al., 1997; Kostak et al., 1998. have provided detailed information on rockwall instability, while lichenometry and other dating methods have allowed evaluation of long-term changes in rockfall activity e.g., Luckman and Fiske, 1995; McCaroll et al., 1998.. Several weathering processes may contribute to rockfall generation in cold mountains. A number of

0169-555Xr99r$ - see front matter q 1999 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved. PII: S 0 1 6 9 - 5 5 5 X 9 8 . 0 0 1 1 6 - 0

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studies suggest that many rockfalls originate from thawing of the bedrock fractured during diurnal andror seasonal freezing Rapp, 1960; Church et al., 1979; Douglas, 1980; Fahey and Lefebure, 1988; Matsuoka, 1991., while others highlight rockwall instability resulting from thermal stress in polar desert areas Hall, 1997. or paraglacial unloading in recently deglaciated valleys Luckman and Fiske, 1997.. Despite such numerous studies, the paucity of concurrent observations of rockfall activity and associated climate variables has long prevented the understanding of the connection between climate and rockfalls. The unsolved problems include, e.g., the timelag between freezethaw cycles on bedrock and major rockfall events Rapp, 1960; Lautridou, 1988.. This paper describes observations of rockfall activity in Hosozawa Cirque in the Japanese Alps, from 1984 to 1998. The period includes intensive observations of both rockfalls and rock temperatures for 3 years 19931995.. Rock debris transported onto snow surfaces was measured during seasonal thawing periods. The temporal variation in rockfall

volume was then compared with records of rockwall temperature. Thaw penetration depths were calculated using a thermal conduction model Aldrich, 1956. and correlated with rockfall generation. Based on these analyses, discussion is focused on the mechanism of rockfall generation and controls of the dimension of rockfall debris. 2. The study area Hosozawa Cirque is a relict glacial landform located at the head of an U-shaped valley descending eastward from Mt. Ainodake 3189 m ASL. in the Akaishi Range, southern Japanese Alps Figs. 1 and 2.. The cirque is bounded by a well-defined moraine ridge or, possibly, by the outermost ridge of a relict rock glacier. at 2850 m ASL, which probably formed at the end of the last glacial period. At the maximum glacial limit, ice extended to the lower end of the U-shaped valley at 2300 m ASL. Deglaciation was followed by rockfalls and rockslides that have developed a number of screes under the cirque wall.

Fig. 1. Geomorphological map of Hosozawa Cirque, indicating the monitoring sites for rock temperature H1 to H3.. Contour interval 5 m.

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Fig. 2. Hosozawa Cirque during a thawing period 10 June 1988., areal view from the southeast. While large part of the rockwall is exposed, the whole talus slope still lies under the snow. No rockfall debris can move beyond the terminal ridge TM.. Rock temperature was monitored at H1, H2, H3 and AR sites. The location of AR site is not shown on the photograph.

Although the cirque wall seems to be stable, rockfalls of a variety of scales still occur during thawing periods. At present, snow covers a large part of the cirque in winter, but it disappears completely in late summer. Mt. Ainodake is underlain by Cretaceous sedimentary rocks. The rockwall of Hosozawa Cirque is about 200 m high and composed of sandstone and shale. The intact rock samples have porosities of 0.33.6% and tensile strengths of 1017 MPa, indicating high compaction and hardness. However, the rockwall was highly fractured during the Quaternary crustal movements that have uplifted the mountain range at a rate of 10 0 mm yeary1 . The bedrock fissures, occasional earthquakes and heavy rains combine to result in numerous large rockslides in the Akaishi Range. The entire cirque is located above timberline which is about 2650 m ASL. The cirque wall is vegetation-free except for creeping alpine pines Pinus pumila. growing on ledges. The mean annual air temperature 19941998. is about y28C at 3070

m ASL. Rainfalls occur most frequently between late June and early October, including occasional heavy rains brought by typhoons and the polar front. During the two freezethaw periods which precede and follow this rainy summer, the passage of low pressures brings periodic but less frequent precipitation. Snow conditions in the Mt. Ainodake area are typical of the Pacific side of the Japanese Island. Snow accumulation is rare in early winter, increases from January and reaches a maximum in March to April. The snow fields usually start melting in late April when the mean daily air temperature rises above 08C. Such a seasonal variation favours deep frost penetration in winter and delayed thaw penetration in summer, although rock temperature data suggest that a large part of the rockwalls around Mt. Ainodake lack permafrost Matsuoka, 1990, 1994.. The cirque wall is currently subject to modification due mainly to rockfalls which, in fact, happened many times during our fieldwork. Granular weathering may also contribute to the cirque wall retreat cf. Hinchliffe et al., 1998., and part of its products is

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transported to the talus slope by debris flows in summer, as inferred from the presence of small gullies and debris flow deposits Fig. 1.. During the observation period, we have never witnessed snow avalanches that dislodge rock debris directly from the cirque wall. This is probably because of insufficient snow cover on the cirque wall. 3. Field methodology 3.1. Rockfall actiity Several methods have been used to evaluate rockfall activity in the previous studies. The most common one is audial observations of the timing and frequency of rockfall generation Gardner, 1970, 1980; Luckman, 1976; Church et al., 1979; Akerman, 1984.. Debris detachment from a rockwall has been investigated by a comparison of photographs taken at certain time intervals Suwa and Okuda, 1988; Matsuoka, 1990. or monitoring kinematics of a toppling block Glawe et al., 1993.. Rockfall debris has been collected using artificial traps Church et al., 1979; Douglas, 1980; Fahey and Lefebure, 1988. or natural traps, such as large flat-top boulders Luckman, 1988. and snow fields below rockwalls Rapp, 1960; Gray, 1973; Ono and Watanabe, 1986.. The artificial traps and flat-top boulders may fail to collect infrequent large boulder falls which are volumetrically most important. In contrast, snow fields permit collection of all debris released from the rockwall, though observations are restricted to snow-melting periods. The topography of Hosozawa Cirque is suitable for a natural trap, because no rockfall debris can move beyond the terminal ridge Fig. 2.. Rockfalls in Hosozawa Cirque rarely take place before May because of the snow cover protecting the cirque wall and start with the exposure of the rockface. Rock debris released during thawing periods was measured from early May to early July, during which time the rockwall was being exposed while snow still covered both steep debris slopes and talus slopes see Fig. 1.. After this period, secondary rockfalls released from the exposed debris slopes made the identification of the primary rockfall debris derived from the bedrock difficult. Observations also included the area of exposed rockwall and the loca-

tion, lithology and dimensions of rockfall debris. The exposed area was drawn on a map of 1:5000 scale by sketches and photographs taken from several directions. The ratio of exposed total area of the rockwall was then calculated. During the 1994 thawing period, snow ablation on the cirque floor was measured from 21 May to 15 June at intervals of 24 days using 32 snow sticks. Ablation rate was nearly constant over this period at the average rate of 7.2 cm dayy1 . Lithology and three dimensions, long A., intermediate B . and short C . axis diameters, were determined for all clasts with the A-axis diameter 10 cm or larger lying on the snow. The path of the rock delivery, if it remained on the snow, was also traced on the map. Such a trail clearly indicates new bouncing of the clasts, although the rapid snow ablation can erase the trails of small clasts within a few days. Clasts smaller than 10 cm in the A-axis diameter were only counted. A number of fragments smaller than 5 cm in the A-axis diameter seem to have been missed, but these fragments are assumed to be volumetrically insignificant. Marking the measured clasts avoided double measurement. All of these observations were made at intervals of 1 day to 2 weeks during the thawing periods from 1993 to 1995. Dimensions of all rockfall debris ) 10 cm in the A-axis diameter. were also measured once during late thawing periods in 1984, 1987, 1992, 1996 and 1998, and only the 30 largest clasts were examined once in 1988, 1990 and 1991. No large earthquakes nor heavy rainfalls occurred during the observation periods. Some rockfalls can be generated also by diurnal freezethaw action in early winter and the released rock debris may fall on a veneer of snow cover. This indicates that the rock debris devoid of a trail on snow possibly includes clasts already fallen in early winter and ablating out of the snow in thawing periods. However, most of the trail-free clasts sampled in 19931995 were small enough to be ignored in terms of volume. This is partly because diurnal freezethaw action operates mainly in the outermost 20 cm of rock and rarely produces cobbles or boulders Matsuoka, 1994.. In addition, a large part of the old rockfall debris is unlikely to be exposed on the snow surface until the end of thawing, thus, rarely being counted as new rockfall debris.

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Dimensions of rock debris were translated into volumes. Since the simple product of the three dimensions seriously overestimates the real volumes of a clast, a correction factor is necessary e.g., Luckman, 1988.. For this purpose, 100 clasts with the A-axis diameter of 1050 cm were collected at random from the talus slope. Three dimensions of these clasts were measured. The real volume was determined from a rise in water level, when a clast was submerged in a water-filled box. The real volume Vr was then approximated by the formula: Vr s kABC ,

Following terminology by Rapp 1960., rockfalls were classified in terms of dimensions of individual events into three grades: pebble falls B - 20 cm., small boulder falls 20 F B - 50 cm. and big boulder falls B G 50 cm.. 3.2. Rock joint spacing One of the significant parameters affecting the size of rockfall debris is joint spacing, because a rock block enclosed by intercrossing joints tends to be detached from the rockwall. A window survey e.g., Hencher, 1987. was employed to determine joint spacing. The two dimensions, the long L. and short S . axis diameters, were measured for all blocks enclosed by joint sets within a square of 5 m = 1 m on a rockface. Blocks crossing the margin, but more than half of the area included within the observation window, were measured. The lithology of each block was also investigated. In total, 1034 blocks were measured from 27 windows randomly spaced over the cirque wall. The two dimensions of jointed blocks on rockfaces should be correlated with the three dimensions of rockfall debris. For this purpose, scaling from painted rockfaces was investigated Matsuoka, 1990.. An area of 50 cm = 50 cm was painted on a rockface at 26 localities around Mt. Ainodake. Over 5 years, about 100 painted fragments were collected from the base of the rockwalls, and the axis at right angles to the painted surface, which represents depth from the rockface, was reconstructed for each fragment Fig. 3.. This measurement showed that depth corre-

1.

where A, B and C are, respectively, the A-, B- and C-axes diameter, and k is the correction factor. The mean correction factor was calculated to be 0.45 with the correlation coefficient 0.93 for sandstone and 0.48 with the correlation coefficient 0.92 for shale. The obtained k values are close to the minimum in the previously suggested range 0.420.76 by Luckman, 1988.. The small values probably reflect the tapering shape of clasts derived from the sedimentary rocks. Eq. 1. was applied to estimate the volume of rock debris with the A-axis diameter of 10 cm or greater. The total volume of debris smaller than 10 cm in the A-axis diameter was calculated by multiplying their number by a volume coefficient. Fifty rock fragments with the A-axis diameter smaller than 10 cm were collected at random from the talus slope and their volume was calculated by Eq. 1.. The mean volume was then computed to be 53 cm3 and this value was taken as the volume coefficient.

Fig. 3. The axis of rockfall debris representative of the depth of rockwall i.e., the axis at right angles to the rockface.: A-axis long., B-axis intermediate., C-axis short.. The axis was determined for about 100 clasts fallen from 26 painted squares 50 cm = 50 cm. during a 5-year period.

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sponds to the C-axis diameter by 54% and the B-axis diameter by 32% of the fragments, indicating that depth is mainly reflected in the C- or B-axis of the rockfall debris. 3.3. Rock temperature Rock temperature was monitored at three H1, H2 and H3. sites on the cirque wall and at one AR. site on a large rockslide scar outside the cirque Figs. 1 and 2.. Thermistor probes were installed to record temperatures at the surface, 10 and 40 cm depth. Only surface temperature was monitored at H2 site. Data loggers read temperatures with a resolution of 0.18C and an error of no more than 0.28C. Data were recorded at hourly H1 and AR sites., 2-h H2 site. or 3-h H3 site. intervals. The three measurement sites on the cirque wall face northeast to east but are different in elevation and micro-environments. H1 and H2 sites are located on the upper rockwall at elevations of 3130 m and 3110 m, respectively. H3 site lies on the lower rockwall at an elevation of 2950 m. Both H1 and H3 sites are continuously covered with snow during several months in winter, while H2 site is snow-free during winter because of its crest location and overhanging cliff. The southeast-facing AR site 2910 m ASL. is located 700 m south of the cirque wall. This site represents the southeast-facing portion of the cirque wall because of the similar elevation and lithology. 3.4. Weather conditions In addition to bedrock thermal regimes, moisture may also play a vital role in rockfall activity. Because of the difficulty in direct monitoring, rock moisture was simply estimated from weather conditions. Visual observations indicated the occurrence of snow or rainfall during the intermittent stay in the study area. Weather conditions during other observation periods were evaluated from meteorological data at the Mt. Fuji station 3775 m ASL., located 50 km southeast of Hosozawa Cirque, on the assumption that precipitation was simultaneous between the two sites. A comparison between our visual observations in the study area and data at the Mt. Fuji station provided an empirical rule that snow tends to fall on

Hosozawa Cirque when air temperature at Mt. Fuji is lower than y48C. This rule was applied to infer the type of precipitation rain or snow. in the cirque.

4. Observations 4.1. Rockfall actiity in the intensie obseration period (19931995) Fig. 4 displays the distribution of the rockfall debris fallen before 25 May 1993, together with the exposed rockwall area on 25 May. The rock debris rested over a range of elevations. The rockfalls came from different areas of the rockwall at different times but there were no sites that produced significantly higher numbers of rockfalls. An exception is the thawing period of 1994, when rockfalls prevailed in the central part of the cirque wall. The high activity resulted from a big boulder fall having occurred between 21 and 25 May. The boulder was dislodged from an area about 1 m = 1 m on the rockface and fragmented during bouncing on the snow-covered talus slope. The detachment of the boulder destabilized the adjacent bedrock, from which smaller rockfalls followed for a week.

Fig. 4. The distribution of rockfall debris and exposed rockwall on 25 May 1993. Symbols: 1. exposed rockwall; 2. snow-covered rockwall; 3. location of rockfall debris; 4. trail of rockfall.

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The magnitude of rockfall activity significantly changed within a thawing period. Fig. 5 shows the variations in rockfall volume and exposed area in 1993. Rockfalls dominated between 5 and 15 June. Preceding and following this period, rockfall activity was modest. The volume of rockfall debris during the most active period occupied 58% of the total volume in the observation period. The cirque wall was exposed most rapidly between 25 May and 5 June, namely, 520 days prior to the maximum rockfall activity. Since the talus slope was partially exposed between 15 June and 2 July, some secondary rockfalls may have been included in this period. The total volume of debris fallen before 2 July was 2.79 m3. The rockfall debris, 10 cm or

larger in the A-axis diameter, consisted of 417 shale and 418 sandstone clasts. Both snowmelt and rockfall activity in 1994 began earlier than in 1993 Fig. 6., reflecting higher temperatures in April and May. Rockfall activity reached a maximum between 21 and 30 May, 2 weeks ahead of that in 1993. The volume of rockfall debris during this period, half of which was provided by the boulder fall mentioned above, contributed to 66% of the total volume in the observation period. Fig. 6 demonstrates that the maximum rockfall activity took place while there was little change in the snow cover on the cliff. The most rapid exposure of the cliff occurred between 7 and 21 May, which preceded the maximum rockfall activity by 515

Fig. 5. Rockfall activity and rock temperature at the surface and 40 cm depth. during the thawing period of 1993. The exposed rockwall area is given by the ratio to the total rockwall area. The triangles and quadrangles in the upper graph indicate, respectively, sampling dates for rockfall debris and those for rockwall exposure. The open and solid circles below the upper graph, respectively, indicate snowfall and rainfall.

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Fig. 6. Rockfall activity and rock temperature during the thawing period of 1994. See Fig. 5 for explanation.

days. No part of the debris slope was exposed before 15 June when the final measurement was accomplished. The total volume of debris fallen before 15 June was 2.29 m3. The rockfall debris A G 10 cm. consisted of 1080 shale and 779 sandstone clasts. In 1995, both snowmelt and rockfall activity began earlier than in the preceding 2 years Fig. 7.. The cumulated rockfall volume was already cumulated in 0.35 m3 before 3 May when the first mea-

surement was undertaken. Part of this volume may have been produced between 29 April and 2 May, during which time a combination of rainfalls and positive surface temperatures on the exposed rock is considered to have led to thaw penetration in the bedrock. The volume of rockfall debris increased gradually and reached a maximum between 24 May and 6 June. However, whether rockfalls were still active or inactive after 6 June was unclear because of

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Fig. 7. Rockfall activity and rock temperature during the thawing period of 1995. See Fig. 5 for explanation.

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Table 1 Dimensions and volume of rockfall debris Year Number of measurements 1 1 1 1 1 1 8 12 11 1 1 Final date of measurement 15 June 2 June 11 June 13 June 15 June 15 June 2 July 15 June 6 June 14 June 22 May Number of big bouldersa 4 11 6 3 5 0 8 2 3 1 51 Dimensions of the largest clast A-axis B-axis C-axis cm. cm. cm. 120 155 123 131 120 82 109 90 132 84 192 80 82 67 71 66 42 62 54 62 51 145 60 55 59 60 50 34 52 46 46 40 115 Lithology b ss ss sh ss sh ss ss sh ss ss ss Total volume of rockfall debris m3 . 1.66 4.18 2.53 c 1.75 c 1.91c 0.83 2.79 2.29 1.90 0.52 18.71

N. Matsuoka, H. Sakai r Geomorphology 28 (1999) 309328

1984 1987 1988 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1998
a b

B-axis length 50 cm or greater. ss s sandstone; sh s shale. c Estimated from the total volume of the thirty largest clasts.

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the lack of observation. Timelag between the rockwall exposure and maximum rockfall activity was also unclear. The total volume of debris fallen before 15 June was 1.90 m3. The rockfall debris A G 10 cm. consisted of 627 shale and 609 sandstone clasts. 4.2. Rockfall actiity in other years Table 1 summarizes the total volume of rockfall debris in a thawing period. For the years during which only the 30 largest clasts were measured, the total volume was estimated using the ratio of the total volume of the 30 largest clasts to that of the all debris in the other years. The total volume was usually of the order of 1 m3. Seasonal thawing in 1988 and 1998 triggered a big boulder fall as in 1994, providing numerous fragments on snow surface Fig. 8.. Whereas the boulder fall in 1988 did not increase the total rockfall volume significantly, that in 1998 raised the total volume to 18.7 m3, which was one order of magnitude larger than the total volume in the other years. The big boulder fall in 1998 itself provided a debris volume of at least 8.5 m3, which was estimated from the debris volume involved in the tongue-shaped deposit Fig. 8.. Since the boulder fall is likely to have been followed by numerous smaller rockfalls, of which the largest was 1.5 m3 in volume Fig. 8., the total debris volume associated with the boulder fall must have been slightly larger than 10 m3. The maximum rockfall activity in 19931995 occurred prior to the exposure of two-thirds of the rockface see Fig. 10a.. It is therefore assumed, based on the snow cover of the rockwall at the time of sampling, that the annual measurements from earlier years would also have sampled the period of maximum rockfall activity in those years. The measurement in 1998 was done in late May, but an extraordinary warm April led to snow melting 1 month earlier. Thus, the values listed in Table 1 are likely close to the total volume in spring, unless a big boulder fall happened in the end of the thawing period. 4.3. Bedrock thermal regimes The bedrock thermal regime reflects micro-environments Fig. 9.. The lack of diurnal fluctuation

Fig. 8. A big boulder fall in May 1998. The boulder was detached from the base of the rockwall and fragmented during bouncing. The boulder fall is likely to have induced snow avalanche on the talus slope, producing the tongue-shaped deposit of snow and debris. The arrow indicates the largest clast 192 cm=145 cm = 115 cm., which is considered to have fallen separately, as indicated by the new trail on snow Photo: 22 May 1998..

in surface temperature from December to early June indicates that snow covered the H3 rockwall site for half year. Similarly, H1 site was snowcovered from February to May. In contrast, large diurnal temperature ranges even during midwinter demonstrate that H2 and AR sites were virtually snow-free throughout the year. In response to the long daily exposure to sunshine, the rockface at the southeast-facing AR site experienced frequent diurnal freezethaw cycles from October to May. Sunlight also contributed to high daytime temperatures in early winter at the southeast-facing H1 site, resulting in a number of freezethaw cycles. Despite the absence of snow cover, the east-facing H2 site was shaded by an

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Fig. 9. Annual variations in air temperature top. and rock surface temperatures others., given by daily ranges. Air temperature was observed on the southern slope of Mt. Ainodake. MAAT and MAST, respectively, indicate the mean annual air and surface temperatures.

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overhanging rock and subjected to a limited number of freezethaw cycles from early winter to spring. Thick snow and lack of sunshine combined to produce F 10 freezethaw cycles during early winter at the northeast-facing H3 site. These thermal characteristics indicate that AR site represents a sunny snow-free part of the cirque wall, H1 site a sunny snow-covered part, H2 site a shady snow-free part, and H3 site a shady snow-covered part. The spatial variation in rock surface temperature during snow-free periods see Fig. 9. suggests that the maximum daily temperatures depend largely on the exposure to sunshine, while the minimum temperatures are nearly a simple function of elevation. The difference in the minimum daily temperatures on the snow-free rockface usually lies within 28C over the 200 m high cirque wall. The mean daily rock surface temperatures remained below 08C over 5 to 7 months at all sites, indicating deep seasonal frost penetration during winter. The freezing index at the surface showed considerable intersite and interyear variation, ranging from 300 to 13008C days Table 2.. The mean annual temperatures within the outermost 40 cm of rock were 1 to 38C at three sites H1, H3 and AR., implying the absence of subsurface permafrost unless the observation years were extraordinary warm. In contrast, the shady and snow-free H2 site recorded a subzero value y0.98C. for the mean annual surface temperature, thus, permafrost may underlie part of the shady rockface.

5. Factors controlling rockfall activity In Hosozawa Cirque, the maximum rockfall amounts occurred during 5070% rockwall exposure Fig. 10a.. Such a concentration of rockfalls in a specific period after snowmelt indicates that the activity depends mainly on the thermal or hydrological regime in the bedrock. A possible cause of the timelag between snowmelt and rockfall generation is secondary rockfalls in which rock debris temporally resting on ledges later falls with heavy rain or snowmelt e.g., Whalley, 1984.. However, secondary falls are unlikely to be the major contributor to the maximum rockfall activity in Hosozawa Cirque, because most of the large and volumetrically important rockfalls originated directly from the rockface. This section addresses the environmental factors and weathering processes responsible for the release of rock debris. 5.1. Rainfall The occurrence of precipitation is marked in Figs. 57. Intensive rockfalls in late May 1994 and 1995. or early June 1993. did not accompany precipitation events. In 1994, e.g., no precipitation was recorded within 1 week before the big boulder fall that occurred between 21 and 25 May Fig. 6.. Rainfall happened on 26 and 27 May, but it could explain only part of the maximum rockfall activity between 21 and 30 May. If fact, no obvious relationship is

Table 2 Calculation of seasonal frost depth Site H1 H1 H2 H3 H3 H3 AR AR AR

a b

Year 1993r1994 1994r1995 1994r1995 1992r1993 1993r1994 1994r1995 1992r1993 1993r1994 1994r1995

Mean annual surface temperature 8C. 1.4 1.5 y0.9 1.8 2.0 1.5 2.4 2.9 1.0

Freezing index 8C days. 1182.8 1159.2 1291.2 a 339.4 631.2 863.0 848.1 830.0 1242.2

Maximum frost depth m. 6.0 5.9 6.7 b 3.1 4.1 5.2 4.5 4.2 6.4

Thawing index. Thaw depth.

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Fig. 10. Rockfall rates as a function of rockwall exposure a., thaw penetration b., precipitation c. and freezethaw frequency d. for the 19931995 thawing periods. Each point represents the average during the observation interval between the sampling dates for rockfall debris.. Rockfall rates were determined from a volume increment divided by the interval. The percentages of rockwall exposure are interpolate andror extrapolate values from the Figs. 57. The average thaw penetration was simulated on the assumption that thawing begins when 50% of the rockwall has been exposed. Freezethaw frequency represents the number of temperature oscillations across 08C. Both thaw penetration and freezethaw frequency are based on the rock surface temperature data at AR site.

found between the volume of rockfalls and the number of precipitation events Fig. 10c.. This situation suggests that the maximum rockfall activity originated mainly from processes other than hydrofracturing or alternations of wetting and drying. 5.2. Short-term temperature oscillations Short-term temperature oscillations may affect rock weathering processes responsible for rockfalls. These processes possibly include thermal stress cracking. Rock temperature monitoring has shown that the critical rate of temperature change required

for thermal shock generation ) 28C miny1 . is often exceeded for a few minutes on Antarctic rock surfaces Hall, 1997.. Thermal shocks might also occur briefly on the rockface in Hosozawa Cirque, although short interval measurements have yet to be accomplished. However, it is doubtful that such a brief thermal shock produces a crack reaching several centimetres or deeper and eventually releases volumetrically significant rock debris. Furthermore, thermal shocks must occur over the snow-free period and are unlikely to be concentrated in a certain period after the meltout of rockwall. These conditions do not support the idea that thermal shocks

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induced the maximum rockfall activity during thawing periods. Another important weathering process may be frost weathering. Examination of the data in Figs. 57 suggests that the contribution of diurnal freeze thaw action to rockfall activity changed from year to year according to the interaction between snow and bedrock thermal regimes. Temperature oscillations at the AR rockwall site suggest that a number of diurnal freezethaw cycles occurred on the rockface exposed before late May in 1993, but these diurnal cycles rarely contributed to rockfall activity over the cirque wall Fig. 5.. The inactivity seems to have resulted from the small exposed area and insufficient moisture supply. In early thawing periods, only spurs on the cirque wall are exposed. Diurnal freezethaw action is considered to be ineffective on these spurs that rarely receive meltwater from nearby snow patches. In contrast, the instrument at AR site recorded only two or three diurnal freezethaw cycles in early June 1993 when rockwall activity reached a maximum. Diurnal cycles are unlikely to have occurred frequently during this period even on the uppermost part of the cirque wall, where the minimum daily temperatures are assumed, on the

basis of the elevation difference, to be 28C lower than those at AR site. A similar situation happened during the thawing period in 1994 Fig. 6.. The absence of correlation between the rockfall volume and the number of freezethaw cycles in both 1993 and 1994 is also displayed quantitatively in Fig. 10d, where a freezethaw cycle is simply defined by a temperature oscillation across 08C using the rock surface temperature data at AR site. The 1995 thawing period involved a different situation. Temperature records at both H2 and AR sites indicate that frequent diurnal freezethaw cycles took place over the cirque wall during the maximum rockfall activity from late May to early July Figs. 7 and 10d.. This coincidence implies that diurnal cycles considerably contributed to the debris production during this period. Rockwalls exposed in the later thawing period are located largely in couloirs where copious rain and snowmelt water may percolate into rock so that intense frost weathering can operate Whalley, 1984.. Consequently, diurnal freezethaw cycles are considered to have enhanced rockfall activity only in the 1995 thawing period. Nocturnal frost penetration, however, rarely reached 20 cm or deeper during this period Fig. 11., possi-

Fig. 11. Near-surface isotherms during the thawing period of 1995 at AR site. The temperature scale is indicated at the lower left corner. The subzero temperature is shaded.

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bly having produced mainly pebble falls that do not contribute very much to the volume of rockfall debris.

5.3. Seasonal freezing and thawing The exposure of rockwall is followed by thaw penetration that continues until the melting of seasonal frost is completed. Such a long-term thaw penetration may induce the timelag between the rockwall exposure and rockfall generation e.g., Rapp, 1960.. Freezethaw penetration in bedrock can be dealt with as a problem of thermal conduction accompanied by latent heat exchange e.g., Wegmann et al., 1998.. The modified Berggren equation Aldrich, 1956., a solution of this problem, yields reasonable freezethaw depths in rockwalls around Mt. Ainodake Matsuoka, 1994.. This model assumed that the rock surface is suddenly cooled from an above freezing temperature T0 , which is initially uniform in the rock, to a subzero temperature Ts , then maintained at Ts for t h. The modified Berggren equation is written by the form: Df s l

2 K f Af Lwrd

2.

where Df is the frost depth m., K f is the thermal conductivity of frozen rock J my1 hy 1 Ky 1 ., A f is the surface freezing index s Ts t . K h., L is the latent heat of fusion s 3.34 = 10 5 J kgy 1 ., w is the water content of rock, rd is the dry unit weight of rock kg my3 ., and l is the dimensionless correction factor that depends on T0 , Ts , w and the heat capacity of frozen rock. The correction factor is smaller than unity, and in a special case that T0 equals the freezing point, it becomes unity. The details of the derivation of the parameters w and l are described in Matsuoka 1994.. The thermal conductivity was fixed to be 4.69 W my1 Ky1 , which was determined using rock temperature data at AR site Matsuoka, 1994.. The above model assumes that a rockwall subject to a negative mean annual surface temperature is underlain by permafrost. For such a rockwall H2 site., the thaw depth Dt was calculated by substitut-

ing the thermal conductivity of unfrozen rock K t and the surface thawing index A t for K f and A f in Eq. 2., respectively. Table 2 lists the calculated maximum frost or thaw. depth for each year: note that the temperature and time units are given, respectively, by centigrade and day scales, instead of Kelvin and hour scales. Although there are some spatial and temporal variations, the seasonal frost or thaw. depth in the cirque wall is 5 " 2 m. This value implies the maximum size of detachable rock mass by contemporary frost action, which is equivalent to 10 2 10 3 m3 in volume. The modified Berggren equation also allows the evaluation of the thaw penetration depth at which rockfall activity reached a maximum. Calculation was made for each thawing period to simulate the average thaw penetration after 50% of the rockwall had been exposed. Assumptions include that the near-surface rock temperature lay at y1.08C before exposure, and that the exposed rockwall experienced the same variation in surface temperature as at AR site. Since this condition represents thawing at a sunny location, calculation yields the upper bound of thaw depth. The simulation shows that the thawing front reaches at 1.0 " 0.5 m depth when rockfalls were most active Fig. 10b.. Although more precise simulation requires data on the timing at which the most unstable part of the rockwall is exposed, comparison of Figs. 5, 7 and 10b roughly indicates that a boulder up to about 1 m thick can be released 515 days after the rockwall exposure. The release of a boulder may destabilize many surrounding fragments, and accordingly, a number of smaller rockfalls accompany andror follow. The boulder falls generated in the thawing periods of 1994 and 1998, both of which were followed by the release of many smaller fragments, are thought to be the examples of large events induced by seasonal thawing. Other examples in alpine environments include a big boulder fall about 100 m3 . generated on the north-facing rockwall behind the Murtel rock glacier Swiss Alps., which followed snowmelt with a timelag of 2 weeks Matsuoka, 1998.. Although the simulation predicts that further thaw penetration can produce larger boulder falls, the field data suggest a decline in rockfall activity when the

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thawing front has reached 1.5 m or deeper Fig. 10b.. The lack of such a large event in Hosozawa Cirque may result from the long recurrence perhaps many decades, cf. Gardner, 1980., because a large rock block ) 3 m in diameter. remains stable unless the surrounding smaller blocks have been removed. In fact, a large rockfall 10 3 m3 in volume. was witnessed in early July 1993 in Karasawa Cirque, northern Japanese Alps. Iwafune 1996. attributes the trigger of this block detachment to the combination of rainwater percolation and seasonal thaw penetration, and suggests that the recurrence interval of such a large event is 10 years or more.

6. Factors controlling dimensions of rockfall debris Fig. 12 summarizes the size distribution of all rock debris fallen on snow during the three thawing

periods 19931995.. For both sandstone and shale, more than 95% of the clasts have dimensions smaller than 40 cm = 30 cm = 20 cm, only a few boulders being in excess of 50 cm in the B-axis diameter. Apart from the smallest range - 10 cm., the A-axis diameter of clasts displays a similar distribution to the L-axis diameter of jointed blocks on the rockface. The same relation lies between the B-axis of clasts and the S-axis of jointed blocks. The C-axis of clasts is much smaller than the S-axis of jointed blocks, because the former mainly represents the depth of bedrock Fig. 3.. In terms of lithology, sandstone has slightly wider joint spacing than shale, which is reflected in slightly larger rockfall debris. These relations indicate that size distribution of rockfall debris depends primarily on joint spacing. The discrepancy in the smallest range may arise partly from splitting of debris along invisible fractures during bouncing. Diurnal freezethaw alternations can also contribute to an increase in pebbles.

Fig. 12. Size distribution of rockfall debris collected during the 19931995 thawing periods. Also shown is size distribution of joint spacing on the rockface.

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The annual largest clasts have similar dimensions 120 " 40 cm = 60 " 20 cm = 50 " 10 cm., except in 1998 Table 1.. The dimensions are close to the maximum joint spacing observed within the 5 m = 1 m observation windows see Fig. 12.. Most of these boulders fell during the maximum rockfall activity. Some of the largest boulders in 1988 and 1994. appear to have been detached from a larger rock mass during bouncing, because they are associated with a debris concentration on snow. Others with an isolated trail on snow in 1984, 1987, 1990, 1993, 1995, 1996 and 1998. must have retained the original volume.

7. Rate of rockwall retreat Rates of rockwall retreat have been evaluated by a variety of methods. Many of the computations have used the volume of sediments at the base of a rockwall, thus, giving the long-term average rates e.g., Barsch, 1977; Frich and Brandt, 1985; Ballantyne and Kirkbride, 1987.. Only a few values have originated from direct observations of rockfall volumes e.g., Rapp, 1960; Fahey and Lefebure, 1988.. The retreat rates obtained in periglacial conditions show a large spatial variation, but mainly lie between 10y2 and 10y 1 mm yeary 1 French, 1996.. High retreat rates ) 1 mm yeary1 . are associated with frost-susceptible limestones Pancza and Ozouf, 1988., extremely high joint density or post-glacial stress relaxation Andre, 1997.. The methodology taken here permits only the estimation of the rockwall retreat rate in seasonal thawing periods. Nevertheless, in normal years, seasonal thawing is likely to contribute to more than half of the annual rockfalls from the cirque wall, because during our 20-year investigations in the Mt. Ainodake area, rockfalls have rarely been witnessed except in thawing periods. In contrast, occasional earthquakes and high magnitude rainfall events, whose recurrence interval is in excess of 10 1 years, possibly trigger a large volume of rockfalls. The painted bedrock indeed showed considerable breakage during a summer with a high magnitude rainfall event ) 300 mm., while it was stable during other summers Matsuoka, 1990.. Cyclic seasonal thawing

may also produce a big boulder fall of the order of 10 m3 or more once per decade like in 1998., when the removal of small fragments have eventually destabilized a large block. Such a high-magnitude, low-frequency rockfall would increase the long-term rockwall retreat rate significantly. Additionally, the rockwall retreat can result partly from granular weathering of the rockwall. The calculation based on the rockfall volume during thawing periods thus gives a minimum estimate of the retreat rate. Except for 1998, the total volume of rockfall debris during a thawing period ranged from 0.5 m3 to 4.2 m3, averaging 2.0 m3 Table 1.. Since the total area of the rockface is 7.3 = 10 4 m2 , the debris volume is equivalent to the average retreat of the cirque wall at 0.03 mm per thawing period. The mean annual retreat in normal years must have been slightly larger but unlikely to be in excess of 0.1 mm yeary1 . In contrast, the cirque wall retreated at about 0.3 mm during the 1998 thawing period. The estimated annual retreat in normal years. is rather low in comparison with the long-term rates based on talus morphology in other periglacial conditions, but comparable with the contemporary rates from Scandinavian Mountains Rapp, 1960. and the Alps Becht, 1995.. The reason for the small rate despite densely jointed bedrock is unclear, but at least two factors should be taken into account. First, the cirque wall has been significantly stabilized after deglaciation 1020 ka ago. In fact, the average rockwall retreat in the southern Japanese Alps is believed to be considerably greater than the rate in Hosozawa Cirque, because rockfall activity is highest on the rockslide scars that are destabilized by contemporary valley incision. Second, large rockfalls with recurrence of 10 1 years or more, which may originate from any of cyclic seasonal freezethaw, earthquakes or high magnitude of rainfalls, increase the long-term retreat rate significantly.

8. Conclusions Rockfall activity in Hosozawa Cirque demonstrates a characteristic seasonal variation reaching a maximum 515 days after the meltout of the cirque wall. A few boulder falls, concentrated in this spe-

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cific period, contribute to the rockfall volume significantly. The intense activity does not seem to reflect precipitation events or diurnal freezethaw cycles on the rockface. The thermal conduction model suggests that a lag of 515 days would represent thaw penetration to a depth of about 1 m. The primary factor controlling the retreat of the cirque wall is, thus, considered to be seasonal frost weathering, which is also responsible for the delayed rockfall generation after the exposure of the rockface. The long- and intermediate-axis diameters of rockfall debris display a similar distribution to the long- and short-axis diameters of jointed blocks on the rockface, respectively. These observations indicate that freezethaw depth controls the maximum dimensions of detachable rock mass, while joint spacing determines the size distribution of rockfall debris transported onto snow. The spring thaw rockfall volumes in 19841998 usually amounts to 13 m3, which is equivalent to the rockwall retreat rate of the order of 0.01 mm yeary1 . However, these figures are probably a considerable underestimate because a big boulder fall that occurs once per decade can result in a annual rockfall volume of the order of 10 m3 or more, raising the retreat rate significantly. In fact, a big boulder fall having a volume about 10 m3 occurred once in the observation period. This suggests that short-term - 10 1 years. monitoring tends to underestimate the mean retreat rate and that attention should be paid when comparing the retreat rate derived from the talus volume with that from contemporary rockfall volume. Long-term G 10 1 years. monitoring will be required.

08680184. for Scientific Research from the Ministry of Education, Science and Culture, Japan. References
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Acknowledgements We would like to thank our field assistants, Akira Tanaka, Hiroshi Noda, Naoki Tani and Atsushi Ikeda, who helped the dangerous fieldwork. We are also grateful to Tadashi Fukasawa, the owner of the Mountain Hut Notori, who kindly permitted us to use the hut during the off season. Our special thanks are given to Brian Luckman, who suggested many constructive comments on the manuscript. This study was supported by grants-in-aid 06680157 and

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