ICG2022-394, updated on 20 Jun 2022
https://doi.org/10.5194/icg2022-394
10th International Conference on Geomorphology
© Author(s) 2022. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

State of rock glaciers in the Rushan Range of Tajikistan, Western Pamir

Qiqi Ma1 and Takashi Oguchi2,1
Qiqi Ma and Takashi Oguchi
  • 1Graduate School of Frontier Sciences, The University of Tokyo, Kashiwa, Japan
  • 2Center for Spatial Information Science, The University of Tokyo, Kashiwa, Japan

Rock glaciers are climatically more resistant than glaciers and contain valuable water volume equivalents. Rock glaciers are widespread in the Rushan Range of Tajikistan, Western Pamir, but have not been systematically investigated, and thus their climatical significance versus glaciers is unknown. Here we present the first systematic assessment of active and inactive rock glaciers of Rushan, based on the combination of SAR interferometry from Sentinel 1 and optical images from Google Earth, totaling more than 600 landforms with an area coverage of ~160 km2. Supported by ArcGIS, we extracted and calculated morphometric parameters of these rock glaciers, found that the distribution of rock glaciers in the western Rushan is significantly different from those located in the eastern part, and analyzed the lowest altitudinal limit for the presence of permafrost in Rushan Range from active rock glacier locations. This study provides an important dataset for understanding the sustainability of rock glaciers in Western Pamir. 

How to cite: Ma, Q. and Oguchi, T.: State of rock glaciers in the Rushan Range of Tajikistan, Western Pamir, 10th International Conference on Geomorphology, Coimbra, Portugal, 12–16 Sep 2022, ICG2022-394, https://doi.org/10.5194/icg2022-394, 2022.