Evidence for recent temperature-induced water migration into permafrost from the tritium content of ground ice near Mayo, Yukon Territory, Canada

1988 ◽  
Vol 25 (6) ◽  
pp. 909-915 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. R. Burn ◽  
F. A. Michel
Keyword(s):  
Mass Transport ◽  
Molecular Diffusion ◽  
Tritiated Water ◽  
Yukon Territory ◽  
Water Migration ◽  
Atmospheric Water ◽  
Ground Ice ◽  
Tritium Content

Determinations of the tritium (3H) content of ground ice collected near Mayo, Yukon Territory, indicate that since the mid-1950s atmospheric water has infiltrated permafrost to depths of up to 50 cm. The rate of tritium infiltration into permafrost at two plots irrigated with tritiated water in 1983 suggests that tritium movement is principally due to temperature-induced mass transport rather than molecular diffusion.

Massive ground ice and ice-cored terrain near Sabine Point, Yukon Coastal Plain

1988 ◽  
Vol 25 (11) ◽  
pp. 1846-1856 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. G. Harry ◽  
H. M. French ◽  
W. H. Pollard
Keyword(s):  
Coastal Plain ◽  
Yukon Territory ◽  
Ground Ice ◽  
Flow Slides ◽  
Petrographic Analyses ◽  
Multiple Cycles ◽  
Lacustrine Basins

Massive ground ice, 5–6 m in thickness, is exposed within retrogressive thaw flow slides near Sabine Point, Yukon Territory. The ice is present near the upper surface of Buckland Till and is overlain and thaw truncated by mudflow sediments and a thick unit of peat and organic silt. Cryotextural and petrographic analyses suggest that the ice formed primarily by segregation processes. The ice occurs within an area of rolling terrain, surrounded by lacustrine basins. This may form a remnant of an initial post-Buckland surface, degraded by multiple cycles of thermokarst during the period 14 000 to 8000 years BP.

scholarly journals Temporal stereophotogrammetric analysis of retrogressive thaw slumps on Herschel Island, Yukon Territory

2005 ◽  
Vol 5 (3) ◽  
pp. 413-423 ◽  
Author(s):  
H. Lantuit ◽  
W. H. Pollard
Keyword(s):  
Coastal Erosion ◽  
Three Dimensional ◽  
Canadian Arctic ◽  
Temporal Analysis ◽  
Yukon Territory ◽  
The Arctic ◽  
Ground Ice ◽  
Thawing Permafrost ◽  
Retrogressive Thaw Slump ◽  
Using Data

Abstract. The western Canadian Arctic is identified as an area of potentially significant global warming. Thawing permafrost, sea level rise, changing sea ice conditions and increased wave activity will result in accelerated rates of coastal erosion and thermokarst activity in areas of ice-rich permafrost. The Yukon Coastal Plain is widely recognized as one of the most ice-rich and thaw-sensitive areas in the Canadian Arctic. In particular, Herschel Island displays extensive coastal thermokarst. Retrogressive thaw slumps are a common thermokarst landform along the Herschel Island coast that have been increasing in both frequency and extent have in recent years due to increased thawing of massive ground ice and coastal erosion. The volume of sediment and ground ice eroded by retrogressive slump activity and the potential release of climate change related materials like organic carbon, carbon dioxide and methane are largely unknown. The remote setting of Herschel Island, and the Arctic in general, make direct observation of this type of erosion and the analysis of potential climate feedbacks extremely problematic. Remote sensing provides possibly the best solution to this problem. This study looks at two retrogressive thaw slumps located on the western shore of Herschel Island and using stereophotogrammetric methods attempts to (1) develop the first three-dimensional geomorphic analysis of this type of landform, and (2) provide an estimation of the volume of sediment/ground ice eroded through back wasting thermokarst activity. Digital Elevation Models were extracted for the years 1952, 1970 and 2004 and validated using data collected in the field using Kinematic Differential Global Positioning System. Estimates of sediment volumes eroded from retrogressive thaw slumps were found to vary greatly. In one case the total volume of material lost for the 1970–2004 period was approximately 1560000m3. The estimated volume of sediment alone was 360000m3. The temporal analysis of the DEMs suggest that second generation retrogressive thaw slump activity within the floor of a large polycyclic retrogressive thaw slump is possible.

Ground-ice investigations, Klondike District, Yukon Territory

1986 ◽  
Vol 23 (4) ◽  
pp. 550-560 ◽  
Author(s):  
H. M. French ◽  
W. H. Pollard
Keyword(s):  
Yukon Territory ◽  
Ground Ice ◽  
Mining Operations

Massive bodies of ground ice, 2.0–4.0 m thick, are regularly exposed in small placer mining operations in the Klondike District, Yukon. At Mayes claim, Hunker Creek, the ice is underlain by 2.0–3.0 m of creek gravels and overlain by 10.0–15.0 m of organic-rich and ice-rich muck deposits. The crystallographic and petrographic characteristics of the ice and its stratigraphic occurrence suggest that the ice body either had a segregation origin or was a residual snowbank subsequently buried by muck deposits and recrystallized.

Movement of solutes associated with intermittent soil-water flow .I. Tritium and bromide

Soil Research ◽  
1991 ◽  
Vol 29 (2) ◽  
pp. 175 ◽  
Author(s):  
DR Scotter ◽  
RW Tillman
Keyword(s):  
Water Flow ◽  
Hydraulic Properties ◽  
Molecular Diffusion ◽  
Tritiated Water ◽  
Potassium Bromide ◽  
Hydrodynamic Dispersion ◽  
Silt Loam ◽  
Dilute Solution ◽  
Soil Hydraulic Properties ◽  
Flow Equations

The movement of tritiated water and bromide through columns of repacked silt loam was examined in the laboratory. A pulse (5 mm) of a dilute solution of potassium bromide in tritiated water was applied, left for 3 or 10 days, and then leached further down the column of soil with 30 mm of distilled water. Twelve days after the solute pulse was applied, the columns were sectioned, and the distributions of water, tritiated water and bromide were measured. The bromide moved only slightly further than the tritiated water, indicating little anion exclusion. The bromide peaks were much sharper than those for tritiated water. This reflects the slower diffusion of bromide during the periods of several days between leaching and the termination of the experiment, and the importance of molecular diffusion relative to hydrodynamic dispersion. Given the soil hydraulic properties, the behaviour of water, tritiated water and bromide could be simulated by coupling the water flow equations with the convection-dispersion equation, and by using solute diffusivity and dispersivity values from the literature. A significant assumption was which cation was mostly convected with, and hence diffused with, the bromide. The use of the diffusion coefficient for calcium bromide rather than potassium bromide resulted in a better description of the observed bromide profiles in the soil.

Notes on the Shoreline Recession Along the Coast of the Yukon Territory

ARCTIC ◽  
1963 ◽  
Vol 16 (3) ◽  
pp. 195 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. Ross Mackay
Keyword(s):  
Sea Level ◽  
Ice Sheets ◽  
Yukon Territory ◽  
Northern Coast ◽  
Field Observations ◽  
Mackenzie Delta ◽  
Historical Evidence ◽  
Ground Ice ◽  
Fine Grained ◽  
Coastal Retreat

The 150-km.-long stretch of the coast between Herschel Island and the Mackenzie Delta terminates in bluffs cut into Pleistocene silts, sands, and gravels. No bedrock has yet been observed; if present, its occurrence must be very local. The coastal bluffs which are up to 50 m. high, are constantly being undermined by waves and by the melting of numerous thick tabular ground-ice sheets lying close to sea-level. As the ice sheets are found only in fine-grained sediments, coastal retreat is especially rapid long silty to clayey bluffs. Similarly rapid recession has taken place along the northern coast of Alaska and from the Mackenzie Delta east to Langton Bay. It is the purpose of this note to describe some of the geomorphological and historical evidence fo recession of the coast of the Yukon Territory. The field observations were made while the writer was carrying out studies for the Geographical Branch, Department of Mines and Technical Surveys, Ottawa.

Nature and origin of a Pleistocene-age massive ground-ice body exposed in the Chapman Lake moraine Complex, central Yukon Territory, Canada

2007 ◽  
Vol 68 (2) ◽  
pp. 249-260 ◽  
Author(s):  
Denis Lacelle ◽  
Bernard Lauriol ◽  
Ian D. Clark ◽  
Raphaelle Cardyn ◽  
Christian Zdanowicz
Keyword(s):  
Yukon Territory ◽  
Molar Concentration ◽  
New Technique ◽  
Middle Pleistocene ◽  
Ground Ice ◽  
Terminal Moraine ◽  
Glacier Ice ◽  
A New Technique

AbstractA massive ground-ice body was found exposed in the headwall of a thaw flow developed within the Chapman Lake terminal moraine complex on the Blackstone Plateau (Ogilvie Mountains, central Yukon Territory), which is contemporaneous to the Reid glaciation. Based on visible cryostructures in the 4-m-high headwall, two units were identified: massive ground ice, overlain sharply by 2 m of icy diamicton. The nature and origin of the Chapman Lake massive ground ice was determined using cryostratigraphy, petrography, stable O–H isotopes and the molar concentration of occluded gases (CO2, O2, N2 and Ar) entrapped in the ice, a new technique in the field of periglacial geomorphology that allows to distinguish between glacial and non-glacial intrasedimental ice. Collectively, the results indicate that the Chapman Lake massive ground ice formed by firn densification with limited melting–refreezing and underwent deformation near its margin. Given that the massive ground-ice body consists of relict glacier ice, it suggests that permafrost persisted, at least locally, on plateau areas in the central Yukon Territory since the middle Pleistocene. In addition, the d value of Chapman Lake relict glacier ice suggests that the ice covering the area during the Reid glaciation originated from a local alpine glaciation in the Ogilvie Mountains.

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