The Bockkar Glacier EarthCache
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The Bockkar Glacier - the glacier with the largest ice
avalanches in the Eastern Alps
In 1945, a massive ice avalanche (5 million m³) crashed down the
Käfer Valley, which destroyed part of the forest, flattenend an
alpine-meadow hut, and killed approximately seventy head of cattle.
The associated avalanche of powered ice reached as far as the
Trauner Meadow of the opposite valley side, 250m above the valley
floor. It took 2 years until the avalanche cone in the Rotmoos had
melted away.
The Bockkar Glacier is a cirque glacier with an area of 3.6 m². The
accumulation zone is a large flat basin. The deposited snow
eventually turns to ice in this area and then flows downward
forming the glacier tongue which lies on a steeply inclined rock
surface. An icefall is formed there that flows down at a rate of
20-50m per year. In some years there is a greater supply of ice,
which results in increased flow. Meltwater underneath the glacier
reduces the friction and enabled the sliding phases. The glacier
loses its stability, a large portion brakes off, and an ice
avalanche rushed down the valley. Between 1967 and 1983, large ice
displacements took place every four years. The amount of ice
decreased in the Eighties because the glacier remained snowfree at
higher elevations during each summer. The ice mass in the
accumulation zone was reduced, and simultaneously the glacier
tongue melted to the great extend. There have been fewer ice
avalanches since then.
In order to log this earthcache answer the following
questions:
1) July 1971: An ice avalanche of around "X" million m³
descended into the valley with a maximum speed of "YY"m per
second.
2) There is also some information about the about "The Teufelsmühl
Glacier feeds the Bockenei Glacier". How is the "Bockenei Glacier
called?
3) Add a picture of you and your GPSr in front with the Glacier in
the background.
Note: You do not need to wait for log permission. In case there is
a problem with your answers I'll contact you. If no answers are
sent, the log will be deleted without further notification.
Additional Hints
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