Observations on buried glacier ice and massive segregated ice, western arctic coast, Canada

Abstract The two main theories for the origin of the thick bodies of massive ground ice known to exist in the Western Canadian Arctic are (1) segregation‐injection and (2) buried glacier ice. Because buried glacier ice may contain significant quantities of stratified debris and may have experienced...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Permafrost and Periglacial Processes
Main Authors: French, H. M., Harry, D. G.
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: Wiley 1990
Subjects:
Online Access:http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/ppp.3430010105
https://api.wiley.com/onlinelibrary/tdm/v1/articles/10.1002%2Fppp.3430010105
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1002/ppp.3430010105
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Summary:Abstract The two main theories for the origin of the thick bodies of massive ground ice known to exist in the Western Canadian Arctic are (1) segregation‐injection and (2) buried glacier ice. Because buried glacier ice may contain significant quantities of stratified debris and may have experienced thawing and refreezing (regelation) on several occasions, it may be very difficult to distinguish between massive segregated ice and buried basal glacier ice. By use of cryostratigraphic and cryotextural (petrofabric) observations, massive ground ice bodies observed in the Sandhills Moraine, southern Banks Island, and the southern Eskimo Lakes region, Pleistocene Mackenzie Delta, are both interpreted as basal glacier ice. Other massive ground ice bodies which have been examined in the Western Canadian Arctic are best explained in terms of segregation‐injection.