CGRG Bibliography of Canadian Geomorphology
Search Results
Author : Bennett, L.
Date : 1988
Title : A first approximation of frozen soil creep, Melville Island, arctic Canada.
Publication : Student research in Canada's north : Proceedings of the National Student Conference on Northern Studies, November 18-19, 1986. Edited by : W. Peter Adams and Peter G. Johnson. - Ottawa : ACUNS
Issue :
Page(s) : 35-39
Abstract
Perennially cryotic ground (i.e. permafrost) underlies most of Northern Canada. Although movements associated with the active layer (e.g. solifluction, cryoturbation, frost heave) are relatively well known, the deformation and creep of the underlying sediments is less well known. In theory, frozen soil creep is dependent upon 1) the ground ice content, 2) the ground thermal regime and 3) the sediment type. Ice-rich colluvium derived from siltstones and sandstones of the Weatherall and Hecla Bay Formations near Rea Point, Melville Island, provide typical sediments for a field study aimed at documenting the nature, magnitude and controls over frozen soil creep. Five slopes with various aspects and ranging from 3 degrees to 10 degrees in angle have been instrumented since May 1985 with a total of eleven inclinometer cases (3.0 m deep x 7.0 cm in diameter), twenty thermistor strings (to a maximum depth of 12.9 m) and fifteen heavemeters) to 70 cm depth). A precision downhole slope inclinometer (Terra Technology MiniProbe MP 20) measures frozen soil creep to an accuracy of +-0.02 cm. The measurement of objects inserted within the active layer and at the surface provide supplementary data. Preliminary results from one slope indicate maximum rates of frozen soil creep to be 0.196 cm/yr just below the permafrost table and 0.099 cm/yr at a depth of 1.0 m below the permafrost table.
Bibliography of Canadian Geomorphology