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Updated: Jul 3, 2026

Kinematic History of a Salient-recess Junction Explored through a Combined Approach of Field Data and Analog Sandbox Modeling
Published on: August 5, 2016
Accelerating glacier recession contrasts rock glacier stability in a temperate mountain range
Ashlesha Khatiwada1, Daniel McGrath1, Justin Pomeranz2
1Department of Geosciences, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO 80523, USA.
None:
Cryospheric landforms play a critical role in alpine hydrology and ecosystems. Using historical and contemporary data spanning nearly six decades (1967-2024), we assessed elevation change for glaciers, rock glaciers, and perennial snowfields and the thermal response of streams in the Teton Range, Wyoming, United States. Glaciers and snowfields thinned at -0.84 ± 0.07 meters per year (m year-1) and -0.59 ± 0.04 m year-1 between 2014 and 2022, a ~7-fold increase relative to 1967-2014, driven by warming summer temperatures. In contrast, rock glaciers are near equilibrium (-0.05 ± 0.05 m year-1) and saw no change in rate. Since 2015, snowfield-fed streams have warmed rapidly (+3.4°C), whereas glacier- and rock glacier-fed streams have warmed at lower magnitudes (+0.9° and +0.6°C, respectively). Our results demonstrate the greater resilience of rock glaciers to atmospheric warming, highlighting the critical role that these features will play as glaciers and perennial snowfields are lost.
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