You have requested the following content: Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences, : pp. 307-321

Climat hivernal, aménagement du territoire et dynamique des avalanches au Québec méridional : une analyse à partir des accidents connus depuis 1825 Bernard Hétu, Guillaume Fortin, Kati Brown https://doi.org/10.1139/cjes-2014-0205 Abstract This study, carried out by a cross analysis of archived data, accident registers, meteorological data from Environment Canada, and old maps and aerial photographs illustrating the evolution of deforestation and urbanization in Québec City and Lévis since the beginning of the 19th century, helped identify the weather conditions and the ground factors conducive to the release of avalanches on short slopes in the province of Québec. Our results show that abundant snowfalls combined with strong winds are the main cause of avalanches on short slopes in southern Québec. The avalanches occur on very steep slopes with a vertical drop of mostly between 30 and 80 m. The zones where avalanches start are generally located below 100 m in altitude. The avalanche slopes have a flat surface at the top, with no trees, allowing the wind to transfer the snow and quickly overload the tops of the slopes, thus fostering an avalanche regime patterned on the storms. In the Québec City and Lévis regions, avalanches, much more frequent at the end of the 18th century than later on, were due to deforestation caused by humans. The strong avalanche activity at the end of the 19th century can be explained by more abundant snowfalls, more frequent snowstorms, slope deforestation, and by soil use (agriculture) that promoted wind transport of the snow. The reforestation of the slopes and the growing urbanization of the terrace at the top of the slopes throughout the 20th century reduced wind transport and greatly lowered the risk of avalanches. [Journal translation] Cited by View all 5 citing articles Online access to the content you have requested requires one of the following: Log In If you have an individual subscription to this journal, or if you have purchased this article through Pay-Per-view, you can gain access by logging in with your username and password here: Username: Password: Remember me



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