Water Flows in Rockwall Permafrost: a Numerical Approach Coupling
Hydrological and Thermal Processes
Abstract
Rockwall permafrost is extremely sensitive to climate change and its
degradation is supposedly responsible for the recent increase in
periglacial rock slope failures. Investigations of rockwall permafrost
dynamics and mechanics have so far neglected possible hydrogeological
processes acting in bedrock fractures. In this study, we propose the
first numerical approach to couple thermal and hydrological processes in
alpine rockwall permafrost and show that the latter have major effects
on permafrost (thermal) dynamics and mechanics when the fractures and/or
rock matrix are saturated. Water flows into fractures favor
deep-reaching of the permafrost body by driving cold water top-down.
Ice-filled fractures delay permafrost thawing in a first stage due to
latent heat consumption but then accelerate it when the ice starts to
melt. Thus, frozen fractures may subsist in thawed bedrock while thawing
corridors may form in frozen bedrock. As a result, tmperature gradients
are exacerbated. When connected fractures thaw, bottom-up permafrost
degradation can occur through upwards propagation of thawing wedges
delineated by these fractures. High hydraulic head values are associated
to perched water table over or within the impermeable permafrost body,
and correspond to hydrostatic pressures that can reach critical valus in
trms of rockwall stability. These results bear strong implications to
understand permafrost response to climate signals, periglacial
geomorphology and hazards assessment as well as alpine hydrothermal
processes.