Further observations on the stone runs of the Falkland Islands

Authors

  • Chalmers M. Clapperton University of Aberdeen, Department of Geography, Scotland

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.26485/BP/1975/24/15

Keywords:

stone runs morphology, composition of stone runs, frost weathering

Abstract

The last discussion on the stone runs of the Falkland Islands criticised the theory that solifluction was a significant process in their evolution, and it advocated that they evolved in situ. This paper describes morphological and internal characteristics of the stone runs which were ignored in previous accounts, and considers the spatial relationships of the runs with glacial landforms, with other slope phenomena, and with remnants of a regolith of chemically rotted bedrock. It is concluded that processes similar to those which form sorted stone stripes in periglacial environments probably created the stone runs, but that the latter evolved on an exceptional scale on the Falkland Islands during the Pleistocene because of climatic, lithological and regolith factors.

References

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Published

2025-11-30

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