Cave mountain permafrost environments in Picos de Europa and their implications
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.17735/cyg.v35i3-4.89377Keywords:
Ice caves; permafrost environment; cave mountain permafrost; Little Ice Age; Picos de EuropaAbstract
The thermal definition of permafrost can be attributed to a wide diversity of periglacial environments, one of which is ice caves. This study analyzes ice caves in relation to the thermal aspect of permafrost with the aim of describing ice caves with permafrost in the temperate high mountain of the Picos de Europa and their implications in the interpretation of ice caves as permafrost indicators. Ice caves provide the environmental conditions of mountain permafrost, with annual mean temperatures below 0ºC over several consecutive years and multiple perennial cryomorphologies. Ice caves are not found at sites where surface environments have permafrost, however endoclimatic features and cryomorphological elements indicate environments with permafrost in the upper part of the cavities currently entirely unrelated to surface climatic conditions. Based on endoclimate data and on landform types and cryomorphic processes, a classification is established unrelated to surface permafrost environments: cave mountain permafrost environment.
References
Andrejchuk, V. (2009). Cryomineral formations from Kungur ice cave (Russia). In: Proceedings of the 15th International Congress of Speleology, (White W.B., ed.). Texas, National Speleological Society, USA, 277-282.
Balch, E.S. (1900). Glacières or Freezing Caverns. Allen, Lane and Scott, Philadelphia, 337 pp. https://doi.org/10.2307/196910
Bella, P. (2006). Morphology of ice surface in Dobšiná ice cave. In: Proceedings 2nd International Workshop on Ice Cave (Turri S, Zelinka J. eds.). Demänovská Dolina, Slovak Republic, 15-23.
Citterio, M., Turri, S. (eds.). (2004). 1st International Workshop on Ice Cave. Abstracts Volume. Căpuş and Scărişoara, Romania.
Colucci, R.R., Fontana, D., Forte, E., Potleca, M., Guglielmin, M. (2016). Response of ice caves to weather extremes in the southeastern Alps, Europe. Geomorphology, 261, 1-11. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geomorph.2016.02.017
Dublyansky, Y., Kadebskaya, O., Luetscher M., Cheng, H., Koltai G., Spötl, C. (2016). Tracking the southern boundary of the Late Pleistocene permafrost in the Ural Mountains using cryogenic cave carbonates: A feasibility study. In: Proceedings of the XI International Conference on Permafrost (F. Günther, A. Morgenstern, eds.), Postdam, 139 pp.
Dysli, M., Lüetscher, M. (2003). Les glaciers du Jura. Un phénomène peu connu. Les Alpes, 7, 38-41.
Eraso, A., Pulina, M. (1994). Cuevas en hielo y ríos bajo glaciares. McGraw-Hill, Madrid.
Ford, D.C., Williams, P. (2007). Karst hydrogeology and geomorphology. John Wiley & Sons, Chichester. https://doi.org/10.1002/9781118684986
French, H. (2007). The periglacial environment. John Wiley & Sons, Chichester. https://doi.org/10.1002/9781118684931
Gómez-Lende, M. (2015). Las cuevas heladas en Picos de Europa: clima, morfologías y dinámicas. PhD. Thesis, Universidad de Valladolid, Valladolid.
Gómez-Lende, M. (2016). Cuevas heladas en el Parque Nacional Picos de Europa. Fronteras subterráneas del hielo en el Macizo Central. OAPN, Ministerio de Agricultura, Alimentación y Medio Ambiente, Madrid, 254 pp.
Gómez-Lende, M., Serrano, E., Berenguer, F. (2011). Cuevas heladas en Picos de Europa. Primeros estudios en Verónica, Altáiz y Peña Castil. Karaitza, 19, 56-61.
Gómez-Lende, M., Sánchez-Fernández, M. (2018). Cryomorphological topographies in the study of ice caves. Geosciences, 8(8), 274. https://doi.org/10.3390/geosciences8080274
Gómez-Lende, M., Serrano, E. (2018a). Ice morphologies classification in ice caves of Picos de Europa (northern Spain). In: Proceedings of the 8th International Workshop on Ice Caves, Potes, Picos de Europa, 49.
Gómez-Lende, M., Serrano, E. (2018b). Ice caves inventory in Cantabrian Mountains (Northern Spain). In: Proceedings of the 8th International Workshop on Ice Caves, Potes, Picos de Europa, 47.
González Trueba, JJ. (2007). La Pequeña Edad del Hielo en los Picos de Europa. Análisis y reconstrucción del avance glaciar histórico (s. XIX). Universidad de Cantabria-Fundación Marcelino Botín, Santander, 188 pp.
González Trueba, J.J., Martín Moreno, R., Martínez de Pisón, E., Serrano, E. (2008). Little Ice Age glaciation and current glacier in the Iberian Peninsula. The Holocene, 18 (4), 551-568. https://doi.org/10.1177/0959683608089209
Haeberli, W. (1978). Special aspects of high mountain permafrost methodology and zonation in the Alps. In: Proceedings of the 3rd International Conference on Permafrost, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, 378-384.
Harris, S.A. (1979). Ice caves and permafrost zones in Southwest Alberta. Erdkunde, 33, 61-70. https://doi.org/10.3112/erdkunde.1979.01.07
Harris, S.A. (1982). Identification of permafrost zones using selected permafrost landforms. Climate and Permafrost, Proceedings of the fourth Canadian Permafrost Conference, 49-58.
Harris, S.A., Brown, R. (1978). Plauteau mountain: a case study of alpine permafrost in the Canadian Rocky Mountains. In: Proceedings of the 3rd International Conference on Permafrost, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, 385-391.
Harris, S.A., Brown, R. (1982). Permafrost distribution along the Rocky Mountains in Alberta. In: Proceedings of the 4th Canadian Permafrost Conference, Calgary, Alberta, 59-67.
Holmlund, P., Onac, B.P., Hansson, M., Holmgren, K., Mörth, M., Nyman, M., Perşoiu, A. (2005). Assessing the palaeoclimate potential of cave glaciers: the example of the Scarisoara ice cave (Romania). Geografiska Annaler, 87 A (1), 193-201. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.0435-3676.2005.00252.x
Kadebskaya, O.I., Tchaikovskyi, I.I. (2009). The formation of new minerals in the microclimatic conditions of Kungur ice cave. In: Proceedings of the 17th International Karstological School “Classical Karst”- Cave Climate (Gabrovšek, F., Mihevc, A., eds.), Postojna, Slovenia, 66.
Kern, Z., Perşoiu, A. (2013). Cave ice-the imminent loss of untapped mid-latitude cryospheric palaeoenvironmental archives. Quaternary Science Reviews, 67, 1-7. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quascirev.2013.01.008
Koltai, G., Spötl, C., Jarosch, A.H., Cheng, H. (2021). Cryogenic cave carbonates in the Dolomites (northern Italy): insights into Younger Dryas cooling and seasonal precipitation. Climate of the Past, 17 (2), 775–789. https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-17-775-2021
Kosutnik, J. (2011). Temperature monitoring in Slovene Ice Caves, Can less tell more? In: Proceedings of the 8th EGU General Assembly, Geophysical Research, EGU2011-3104.
Lismonde, B. (2002). Climatologie du monde souterrain: Vents des ténèbres. Edition du Comité Départemental de Spéléologie de l’Isère, Grenoble, pp. 167.
Luetscher, M. (2005). Processes in ice caves and their significance for paleoenvironmental reconstructions. Swiss Institute for Speleology and Karst Studies (SISKA)-Dept. Geography, Univesity of Zurich, La Chaux-de-Fonds, 154 pp. https://doi.org/10.5167/uzh-163383
Luetscher, M., Jeannin, P.Y. (2004). The role of winter air circulations for the presence of subsurface ice accumulations: an example from Monlési ice cave (Switzerland). Theoretical and Applied Karstology, 17 (6), 19-25.
Luetscher, M., Jeannin, P.Y., Haeberli, W. (2003). Energy fluxes in an ice cave of sporadic permafrost in the Swiss Jura mountains –concept and first observational results. In: Proceeding of the IV International Conference on Permafrost, IPA. Zurich, 691-696.
Luetscher, M., Jeannin, P.Y., Haeberli, W. (2005). Ice caves as an indicator of winter climate evolution: a case study from the Jura Mountains. The Holocene, 15 (7), 982-993. https://doi.org/10.1191/0959683605hl872ra
Luetscher, M., Bourret, F. (2010). Climatic control on caves ice mass balance, Monlesi ice cave, Swuitzerland. In: C. Spötl, M. Luetcher, P. Ritting (coords.). Abstract volume of the IV International Workshop on Ice Caves, IAS. Obertraum, 19.
Luetscher, M., Hoffmann, D., Frisia, S., Sattler, B., Spötl, C. (2016). Reconstructing permafrost thaw events from alpine cave systems. In: Proceedings of the XI International Conference on Permafrost, IPA, Postdam, 328.
Luhová, L., Milovský, R., Orvošová, M., Milovská, S., Surka, J., Herich, P., Chou, Y., Shen, Ch. (2016). Broken stalagmites may be an indicator of permafrost thawing. In: Proceedings of the XI International Conference on Permafrost, IPA, Postdam, 329-330.
Maire, R. (1977). Glaces souterraines d'altitude dans les massifs du Haut-Giffre, de l'Oberland et dans quelques régions de comparaison. Studi Trentini di Scienze Naturali, Acta Geologica, 54, 113-122.
Maire, R. (1990). La haute montagne calcaire. Karstologia-Mémoires, 3, Paris. https://doi.org/10.4000/books.pub.11090
Mann, M.E., Zhang, Z., Rutherford, S., Bradley, R.S., Hughes, M.K., Shindell, D., Ammann, C., Faluvegi, G., Ni, F. (2009). Global signatures and dynamical origins of the Little Ice Age and Medieval Climate Anomaly. Science, 326, 1256-1260. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1177303
Martín Chivelet, J., Muñoz, M.B., Edwards, R.L., Turrero, M.J., Ortega, A.I. (2011). Land surface temperature changes in Northern Iberia since 4000 yr BP based in δ13C of speleothems. Global and Planetary Change, 77 (1-2), 1-12. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gloplacha.2011.02.002
Mavlyudov, B.R. (2009). Ice in caves and its connection with cave climate. In: Proceedings of the 17th International Karstological School “Classical Karst”- Cave Climate (Gabrovšek, F., Mihevc, A., Eds.), Postojna, Slovenia, 75.
Mavlyudov, B.R. (2018a). Ice genesis and types of ice caves. In: Ice caves (Perşoiu, A., Lauritzen, S.E., Eds), Elsevier, Oxford, 34-68 pp. https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-811739-2.00032-2
Mavlyudov, B.R. (2018b). Geograghy of cave glaciation. In: Ice caves (Perşoiu, A., Lauritzen, S.E., Eds), Elsevier, Oxford, 209-220 pp. https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-811739-2.00012-7
Mihevc, A. (2009). Periglacial conditions and cryoturbation of sediments at cave entrances, case study from low lying cave Skednena jama, Slovenia. In: Proceedings of the 7th International Conference on Geomorphology, Melburne, 332.
Mihevc, A. (2014). Ice-connected processes in the morphology of the cave, an example from Snezna jama, Slovenian Alps. In: Proceedings of the 6th International Workshop on Ice Cave, Idaho, 24.
Mihevc, A., Hajna, N.Z., Gostinčar, P. (2016). Ice cave Paradana and high karst plateu Trnovski Gozd. In: Proceedings of the 7th International Workshop on Ice Caves, Postojna-Slovenia, 32.
Milovský, R, Orvošová, M., Milovská, S., Surka, J., Herich, P., Biron, A., Miku, T. (2016). Heterochronous populations of cryogenic cave calcite may reflect depth of permafrost thawing events. In: Proceedings of the XI International Conference on Permafrost, IPA, Postdam, 331-332.
Morard, S. (2011). Effects de la circulation d´air par effect de chimenée dans la evolution du regime thermique des éboulis froids de basse et moyenne altitude. Geofocus, nº 29, PhD thesis, Département de Géosciences–Géographie, Université de Fribourg.
Morard, S., Bochud, M., Delaloye, R. (2012). Ice mass and frozen ground in permeable ventilated systems: comparison between a dynamic ice cave and overcooled talus slope in western Switzerland. In: Proceedings of the 5th International Workshop on Ice Cave, Barzio, 31.
Munroe, J.S. (2021). First investigation of perennial ice in Winter Wonderland Cave, Uinta Mountains, Utah, USA. The Cryosphere, 15 (2), 863–881. https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-863-2021
Obu, J., Košutnik, J., Overduin, P.P., Boike, J., Blatnik, M., Zwieback, S., Gostinčar, P., Mihevc, A. (2018). Sorted patterned ground in a karst cave, Ledenica pod Hrušico, Slovenia. Permafrost and Periglacial Processes, 29 (2), 121-130. https://doi.org/10.1002/ppp.1970
Ohata, T., Furukawa, T., Osada, K. (1994). Glacioclimatological study of perennial ice in the Fuji Ice cave, Japan. Part 1. Seasonal variation and mechanism of maintenance. Arctic and Alpine Research, 26, 227-237. https://doi.org/10.2307/1551935
Orvošová, M., Deininger, M., Milovský, R. (2014). Permafrost occurrence during the Last Permafrost Maximum in the Western Carpathian Mountains of Slovakia as inferred from cryogenic cave carbonate. Boreas, 43 (3), 750-758. https://doi.org/10.1111/bor.12042
Pellitero, R. (2012). Geomorfología, paleoambiente cuaternario y geodiversidad en el macizo de Fuentes Carrionas. Montaña Palentina. PhD. Thesis. Universidad de Valladolid, Valladolid.
Perşoiu, A. (2005). Evidence of basal melting of the ice block from Scărişoara ice cave. In: Glacier Caves and Glacial Karst in High Mountains and Polar Regions (Mavlyudov, B.R., Ed.), 7th GLACKIPR symposium, Institute of Geography of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, 109-112.
Perşoiu, A., Onac, B. (2012). Ice in caves. In: Encyclopaedia of Caves (White, W.B., Culver, D.C., Eds.), Fitzroy Dearborn, New York-London, 399-404. https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-383832-2.00056-6
Perşoiu, A., Lauritzen, S.E. (Eds) (2018). Ice caves. Elsevier, Oxford, 730 pp. https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-811739-2.00003-6
Pissart, A., Van Vliet-Lanoë, B., Ek, C., Juvigné, E. (1988). Des traces de glace de segregation dans la Grotte de Remouchamps (Belgique): conséquences en ce qui concerne la sédimentation et la paléoclimatologie. Annales de la Société Géologique de Belgique, 111, 125-133.
Reimer, P., Austin, W., Bard, E., Bayliss, A., Blackwell, P., Bronk Ramsey, C., Butzin, M., Cheng, H., Edwards, R.L., Friedrich, M., Grootes, P.M., Guilderson, T.P., Hajdas, I., Heaton, T.J., Hogg, A.G., Hughen, K.A., Kromer, B., Manning, S.W., Muscheler, R., Palmer, J.G., Pearson, C., van der Plicht, J., Reimer, R.W., Richards, D.A., Scott, E.M., Southon, J.R., Turney, C.S.M., Wacker, L., Adolphi, F., Büntgen, U., Capano, M., Fahrni, S.M., Fogtmann-Schulz, A., Friedrich, R., Köhler, P., Kudsk, S., Miyake, F., Olsen, J., Reinig, F., Sakamot, M., Sookdeo, A., Talamo, S. (2020). The IntCal20 Northern Hemisphere Radiocarbon Age Calibration Curve (0–55 cal kBP). Radiocarbon, 62 (4), 725-757. https://doi.org/10.1017/RDC.2020.41
Richter, D.K., Riechelmann, D.F. (2008). Late Pleistocene cryogenic calcite spherolites from the Malachitdom Cave (NE Rhenish Slate Mountains, Germany): origin, unusual internal structure and stable C-O isotope composition. International Journal of Speleology, 37 (2), 119-129. https://doi.org/10.5038/1827-806X.37.2.5
Richter, D.K., Meissner, P., Immenhauser, A., Schulte, U., Dorsten, I. (2010). Cryogenic and non-cryogenic pool calcites indicating permafrost and nonpermafrost periods: a case study from the Herbstlabyrinth-Advent Cave system (Germany). The Cryosphere, 4 (4), 501-509. https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-4-501-2010
Serrano, E., Morales, C., González-Trueba, J.J., Martín, R. (2009). Cartografía de permafrost de montaña en los Pirineos españoles. Finisterra, 44 (87), 45-54. https://doi.org/10.18055/Finis1376
Serrano, E., González-Trueba, J.J., Sanjosé, J.J., Del Río, L.M. (2011). Ice patch origin, evolution and dynamics in a temperate high mountain environment: the Jou Negro, Picos de Europa (NW Spain). Geografiska Annaler: Series A, Physical Geography, 93 (2), 57-70. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-0459.2011.00006.x
Serrano, E., González-Trueba, J.J., González-García, M. (2012). Mountain glaciation and paleoclimate reconstruction in the Picos de Europa (Iberian Peninsula, SW Europe). Quaternary Research, 78 (2), 303-314. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.yqres.2012.05.016
Serrano, E., Oliva, M., González-García, M., López-Moreno, J.I., González-Trueba, J.J., Martín-Moreno, R., Gómez-Lende, M., Martín-Díaz, J., Nofre, J., Palma, P. (2018a). Post-Little Ice Age paraglacial processes and landforms in Iberian high mountains: a review. Land Degradation and Development, 29, 4186-4208. https://doi.org/10.1002/ldr.3171
Serrano, E., Gómez-Lende, M., Belmonte, A., Sancho, C., Sánchez-Benítez, J., Bartolomé, M., Leunda, M., Moreno, A., Hivert, B. (2018b). Ice caves in Spain. In: Ice caves (Perşoiu, A., Lauritzen, S.E., Eds), Elsevier, Oxford, 625-656 pp. https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-811739-2.00028-0
Silvestru, E. (1999). Perennial ice in caves in temperate climate and its significance. Theoretical and Applied Karstology, 11 (12), 83-93.
Spötl, C., Koltai, G., Jarosch, A.H., Cheng, H. (2021). Increased autumn and winter precipitation during the Last Glacial Maximum in the European Alps. Nature Communications, 12 (1), 1839. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-021-22090-7
Stoffel, M., Luetscher, M., Bollschweiler, M., Schlatter, F. (2009). Evidence of NAO control on subsurface ice accumulation in a 1200 yr old cave-ice sequence, St. Livres ice cave, Switzerland. Quaternary Research, 72 (1), 16-26. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.yqres.2009.03.002
Tulis, J., Novotný, L. (2006). Dobšinská. Ice Cave after 136 years. In: Proceedings of the II International Workshop on Ice Cave, Demänovská Dolina, Slovak Republic, 9-14.
Urdea, P. (1993). Permafrost and periglacial forms in the Romanian Carphatians. In: Proceedings of the 6th International Conference on Permafrost, IPA, Beijing, 631-637.
Urdea, P. (2004). Ice caves and permafrost. In: Proceedings of the 1st International Workshop on Ice Cave, Căpuş and Scărişoara, Romania, 30.
Vandenberghe, J., French, H.M., Gorbunov, A., Marchenko, S., Velichko, A.A., Jin, H., Cui, Z., Zhang, T., Wan, X. (2014). The Last Permafrost Maximum (LPM) map of the Northern Hemisphere: permafrost extent and mean annual air temperatures, 25–17 ka BP. Boreas, 43, 652-666. https://doi.org/10.1111/bor.12070
Yonge, C.J. (2004). Ice in caves. In: Encyclopedia of caves and karst science (Gunn, J., Ed.), Fitzroy Dearborn, New York-London, 938-944.
Žák, K., Urban, J., Cılek, V., Hercman, H. (2004). Cryogenic cave calcite from several Central European caves: age, carbon, and oxygen isotopes and a genetic model. Chemical Geology, 206 (1-2), 119-136. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chemgeo.2004.01.012
Žák, K., Richter, D.K., Filippi, M., Živor, R., Deininger, M., Mangini, A., Scholz, D. (2012). Coarsely crystalline cryogenic cave carbonate: a new archive to estimate the Last Glacial minimum permafrost depth in Central Europe. Climate of Past, 8 (6), 1821-1837. https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-8-1821-2012