Glacial ice and permafrost distribution in the Medena kotlina (Slovak Tatras) : mapped with application of GPR and GST measurements

Abstract

The paper presents results of Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) surveys and Ground SurfaceTemperature (GST) monitoring at the largest Tatra’s glacieret and the adjacent debris slope, where inthe period 2002–2003, the only outcrop of buried massive ice in the whole Carpathian-Balcanian re-gion was exposed. The aim of these investigations were to determine the ice limit in the debris sub-stratum and its relation to the contemporary glacieret. This made it possible to verify the results of theearlier DC resistivity and electromagnetic soundings, and to better detect the glacieret bed. The newdata confirm the existence of a buried glacial ice both in the floor of the contemporary glacieret and inthe debris slope of the Medena kotlina. The range of this ice is however smaller than it had been as-sumed in earlier investigations. Within the debris slope, it contributes to creation of an isolated patchof contemporary permafrost containing mainly interstitial ice. Its occurrence is influenced byorographic conditions.