CGRG Bibliography of Canadian Geomorphology
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Author : Fox, D.
Date : 2010.
Title : Can molar gas ratios positively identify the nature and origin of massive ground ice of Herschel Island, Yukon?
Publication : GEO2010: 63rd Canadian Geotechnical Conference & 6th Canadian Permafrost Conference. September 12-16, 2010. Canadian Geotechnical Society: Richmond, B.C.
Issue :
Page(s) : 1279-1283.
Abstract
A new tool has been developed in recent years that enables geocryologists to accurately identify the origin and nature of massive ground ice features. The molar ratios of O2, N2 and Ar gases entrapped in massive ground ice is a novel, periglacial field technique that results in a positive disassociation between buried glacial and non-glacial intrasedimental ice (Lacelle et al., 2007 and Cardyn et al., 2007). Massive ground ice, large tabular ice bodies with a volumetric ice content exceeding 95%, is a unique permafrost feature that persists throughout permafrost landscapes (International Permafrost Association, 1998). Massive ground ice features, discovered in the headwalls of retrogressive thaw slumps on Herschel Island, Yukon, have been analyzed extensively in order to comprehend the structure, composition and spatial extents. However, the origin of this buried ice, be it buried glacial or non-glacial intrasedimental ice, is a fundamental question that has yet been fully understood. Field work for this research will commence during the 2010 summer field season. Following this samples will be analyzed during the fall of 2010 at the G.G. Hatch Stable Isotope Laboratory at the University of Ottawa, Canada.
Bibliography of Canadian Geomorphology