Dendrogeomorphic reconstruction of past snow avalanche events in Balea glacial valley-Fagaras, massif (Southern Carpathians), Romanian Carpathians

摘要

Snow avalanches are a major hazard in the Southern Carpathians (Romanian Carpathians) and cause damage to transportation routes or infrastructure and losses of human lives. In these mountains, the scientific understanding of avalanches is still poor. The main objectives of this study were to reconstruct spatio-temporal patterns of avalanche events, to complement written records in the Balea glacial valley (located in the central part of northern slope of the Fagaras, massif) and to identify the winter weather conditions responsible for avalanche occurrence, using a dendrogeomorphologic approach. The analysis was based on tree-ring series from 293 affected Picea abies trees in four avalanche tracks. Our results from tree-ring records yielded 24 and 17 snow avalanches in the 1867-2012 chronology in first and second track, 24 and 12 snow avalanches in the 1870-2012 chronology in third and in fourth track.