Temporal variability of alpine solifluction : a modelling approach

Abstract. Holocene periods of enhanced solifluction offer new paleoclimatic information. Long-term observations of present solifluction variability and process studies on movement mechanisms, as well as model simulations of the soil heat and water regimes, show the dependence of solifluction on ground freezing. The annual variability of both processes is strongly controlled by weather and resulting snow conditions immediately before and at the beginning of the winter frost period. Simulated long-term variations during different paleoclimatic scenarios are regulated by both mean preeipitation and temperature changes. Quantitative reconstruetion of Holocene preeipitation during maximum altitudinal depression of solifluction is shown.