Bogdan Gądek
Articles
Potential rockfalls in the periglacial zone of the Polish High Tatras: Extent and kinematics
Geographia Polonica (2024) vol. 97, iss. 2, pp. 189-204 | 
Full text
doi: https://doi.org/10.7163/GPol.0275
Abstract
The study offers the first attempt to combine the identification of rock cliffs particularly prone to rockfall with estimates of the potential trajectories and kinetic energies of the material released in this way in the Tatra Mountains. The results obtained suggest that the potential energy of the relief and the initial size and shape of the rock fragments released have not fundamentally changed since the complete disappearance of the glaciers. It was also found that the degree to which glacial and periglacial landforms are buried by such material depends not just on the location, number and size of the release areas or rockfall frequency but also on the kinetic energy of the rock material released. The rockfalls observed in recent years and those perceived as potentialones are linked not so much to permafrost degradation as to the relief, geology and weather conditions.
Keywords: rockfalls, granitoid slopes, natural hazards cartography, RAMMS::Rockfall software, Tatra Mts.
[kajdasj@gmail.com], Institute of Earth Sciences, University of Silesia in Katowice ul. Będzińska 60, 41-200 Sosnowiec: Poland
[bogdan.gadek@us.edu.pl], Institute of Earth Sciences, University of Silesia in Katowice ul. Będzińska 60, 41-200 Sosnowiec: Poland
Contemporary degradation of steep rock slopes in the periglacial zone of the Tatra Mts., Poland
Geographia Polonica (2023) vol. 96, iss. 1, pp. 53-67 | Full text
doi: https://doi.org/doi.org/10.7163/GPol.0245
Abstract
This study presents the results of the first large-area monitoring of steep slopes in the Tatra Mountains. In the research, we used terrestrial laser scanning methods and GIS tools. We also performed crack density measurements. The results obtained demonstrate that the rate of change of slopes under the influence of weathering and rockfall processes is very variable both in time and space. The rate of retreat of 4 steep adjacent granitoid slopes over the same period ranged from 0.00013 ma-1 to 0.004 ma-1. The spatial variation in the numberand size of cavities was related primarily to the cracks density.
Keywords: granitoid slopes, rockfall, climate change impact, terrestrial laser scanning, Tatra Mts.
[bogdan.gadek@us.edu.pl], Institute of Earth Sciences, University of Silesia in Katowice ul. Będzińska 60, 41-200 Sosnowiec: Poland
[kajdasj@gmail.com], Institute of Earth Sciences, University of Silesia in Katowice ul. Będzińska 60, 41-200 Sosnowiec: Poland
[klaudia.gergont@laser-3d.pl], Laser-3D al. Sosnowa 4, 30-224 Kraków: Poland