In high mountain regions, a number of natural catastrophes are related to glaciers, eg, outbursts of glacier-dammed lakes or interglacial water reservoirs, glaciers destroyed by volcanic eruptions, and various types of glacier surges. But the glacier catastrophe in 2002 in the North Caucasus was a rare phenomenon resulting from a combination of a glacier surge and a high-speed ice-water-stone mudflow. The latter’s scale and particular nature makes it a unique phenomenon worldwide.
