Frost Heave as the Main Process Defining Natural Unforested Areas below a Temperature Treeline
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2018-05-22
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Abstract
Jumping Pound is a treeless ridge, with a SE-NW strike of faults and thrust sheets in the Foothills of the Canadian Rockies, stretched more or less perpendicular to the direction of the winter wind that transports the snow off the ridge. This thesis examines the occurrence of frost-heave as well as the yearly frost-heave temporal window in Jumping Pound ridge. Seeds from the trees in the forested adjacent SW slope are dispersed at the end of fall and travel primarily toward the direction of the dominant wind into the ridge crest where they overwinter. This thesis demonstrates that in the growing season, there is sufficient regolith moisture for germination. However, in the following fall and winter the seedlings are uprooted due to constant regolith movement. The snowless, cold soil surface temperatures create a steep gradient of temperature at lower depths, driving the process of frost-heave. The driving mechanisms for the frost heave in this region are identified and analyzed.
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Toloui-Semnani, M. (2018). Frost Heave as the Main Process Defining Natural Unforested Areas below a Temperature Treeline (Master's thesis, University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada). Retrieved from https://prism.ucalgary.ca. doi:10.11575/PRISM/31939