Mountain Landforms and Geomorphic Processes - Mountain Geography: Physical and Human Dimensions - page 279

FIGURE 5.23 Isabelle glacier in the Colorado Front Range. Blowing snow helps feed and maintain
what is left of this glacier. (Photo by J. R. Janke.)
A positive feedback exists because snow patches tend to quarry into the slope and
establish larger areas for catching new snow. Wind and snowdrift thus influence the
relative rates of frost action, surface runoff, and mass wasting from slope to slope. In
turn, these processes have marked effects on the distribution of soil, vegetation, drain-
age patterns, and slope asymmetry (French 1972).
Wind is an effective transport agent that is capable of delivering particulates from
great distances. Organic contaminants accumulate in mountain regions because of di-
urnal winds and high precipitation, but they may be reduced in a spring pulse during
snowmelt (Daly and Wania 2005). Dust has increased by 500 percent above Holocene
averages, which is linked to increased settlement of the western United States and to
livestock grazing. The dust flux has resulted in a fivefold increase of K, Mg, CA, N, and
P in alpine regions, which could impact soils, vegetation, and ecosystem health (Neff et
al. 2008).
Outlook
Mountain systems are changing rapidly and are susceptible to a variety of environ-
mental hazards (Messerli and Ives 1997; Ives 2004; UNEP 2003). Glacial retreat and
mountain permafrost degradation threaten the nature and stability of mountains (Har-
ris et al. 2001). People create more geomorphic risk by exposing themselves to danger
by settling previously uninhabitable areas and by drastically altering the alpine land-
scape (Hewitt 2004). For example, through deforestation, people have gathered tim-
ber for fuel and building material but weakened the stability of mountain slopes. Soil
erosion and degradation as well as the frequency of mass movements will all increase
because of deforestation (Sandor and Nash 1995; Beniston 2000). However, intelligent
land management, such as terracing, can protect mountain soils from erosion (Quine et
al. 1992). Although deforestation was blamed for devastating flooding of Gangetic In-