Proceedings of the Ninth International Conference on Permafrost

DARIO TROMBOTTO LIAUDAT, LUCÍA ARENA Y GIORGIO CARANTI

Printed in the United States of America Elmer E. Rasmuson Library Cataloging in Publication Data

Lugar: University of Alaska Fairbanks; Año: 2008 p. 6

978-0-9800179-3-9

AbstractThe present work focuses on the analyses of glacial ice from thermokarst in relict glacial and degraded Andeanpermafrost environments (4200 m a.s.l.) in order to reconstruct its environmental or paleoenvironmental historyand to understand the processes that generated the Andean rock glaciers. The study area belongs to the MorenasColoradas rock glacier, situated in the Cordón del Plata (at 33°S approximately), Central Andes, Mendoza, Argentina.An interpretation of the ice samples and an analysis of their internal and crystallographic characteristics is carriedout in order to explain the geomorphological and cryogenic history of the landforms. The area of periglaciation—where cryogenic forms are generated—is studied thoroughly. Due to climatic oscillations, these periglacial areas maybe identified by thermokarst. The degradation phenomenon helps to build new cryogenic forms like rock glaciers.Different possible environmental scenarios for the genesis of protoperiglacial landforms may be imagined.