PRELIMINARY MODELLING OF MOUNTAIN PERMAFROST ON LA RAMADA RANGE, CENTRAL ANDES, SAN JUAN, ARGENTINA

FORTE, ANA PAULA; PITTE, PIERRE; VILLARROEL, CRISTIAN DANIEL

Potsdam

Congreso; XI. International Conference On Permafrost; 2016

The altitudinal and spatial distribution of mountain permafrost is strongly influenced by the Potential Incoming Solar Radiation (Funk & Hoelzle 1992) and the geomorphological features are considered one of the factors with less uncertainty for the modeling of the permafrost distribution (Etzelmueller et al., 2001). Potential Incoming Solar Radiation is a morphometric parameter often used to estimate Mountain Permafrost (Oke, 1998; Wilson and Gallant, 2000; Boehner, 2009).The Ramada Mountain Range, among the highest locations in South America, is part of the Central Andes region in the Province of San Juan, northwestern Argentina. The steep topography, the unstable slopes and the rock characteristics favor the availability of loose materials and the development of large glacier moraines, which is usually related to development of periglacial geoforms. Additionally, the study area has a large number of glaciers, debris-covered glaciers and perennial snow patches. The current developing of glacial environment is very important in thestudy area with a large number of glaciers, debris-covered glaciers and snow patches.The goal of this paper is to develop an initial estimate of the areas of possible mountain permafrost in La Ramada Range based on the active rock glacier hypsometry and the potential solar radiation. This is a low cost methodology that can be carried out within a short time frame providing initial estimates for more specific future studies.