A critical appraisal of allometric growth among alpine cirques based on multivariate statistics and spatial analysis

When considering the morphometric attributes of a glacial cirque, imbalances between length, width, and amplitude have been deemed relevant tools for discriminating between two possible pathways of cirque growth: downwearing by glaciers or backwearing by freeze–thaw processes. Based on a sample of 1071 cirques in the French Pyrenees, we reframe the concern for climatic variables by also granting systematic consideration to cirque lithology. Insight into the factors that control cirque shape is gained from Principal Component Analysis, where maps of eigenvalues assigned to six classes of bedrock display spatial patterns of cirque form as a function of position along the regional climatic gradient. Among crystalline rocks (granite, gneiss, migmatite), cirque form is predominantly determined by climatic controls. This is highlighted in the contrast between the elevated core of the Pleistocene icefield, where cirque isometry prevails, and the more peripheral areas (external sierras of the Atlantic precipitation zone and high sierras of the drier Mediterranean zone) where the lighter imprint of glaciation on the landscape has failed to erase (through glacial deepening) the allometric signature of pre-Pleistocene topographic features such as shallow valley heads and etch-basins. As a result, wide and shallow cirques occur in these settings. Among schist outcrops, in contrast, cirque form appears randomly distributed, suggesting that bedrock characteristics (e.g., structure) rather than climate are the key controls on cirque growth patterns. Given the importance of geological structure and preglacial topographic inheritance, cirques are complex landforms for which assumptions of allometric growth may be spurious. It follows that form is not always a reliable guide to process.