The geochemical paradox of ice‐complex sediments in north Siberia

• Published in: Permafrost and Periglacial Processes
• Main Authors: Konishchev, V. N., Plakht, I. R.
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Wiley 1995
• Subjects: Kolymskaya; Ice; permafrost; Permafrost and Periglacial Processes; Yakutia; Siberia
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/ppp.3430060405; https://api.wiley.com/onlinelibrary/tdm/v1/articles/10.1002%2Fppp.3430060405; https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1002/ppp.3430060405

Abstract Icy silty deposits in northern Siberia, here termed ‘ice‐complex sediments’ (ICS), have a higher salinization than other continental deposits of Neogene‐Pleistocene age. Data for salinity (%) and the ratio of Ca ion content to Cl ion content for samples from the Yana‐Indigirskaya and Kolymskaya lowlands indicate that the salinization of Pleistocene permafrost is lowest, that icy silts have salinities between 0.1% and 1.0%, and that recent floodplain, coastal and alas deposits have salinities greater than 1%. These differences are thought to reflect the phase change in gas‐liquid inclusions in crystals and rocks when they break and their contents (solutions) are released during freezing. This process is termed cryocryptogenesis. It is concluded that ICS deposits were formed under less humid and colder conditions than exist today in northern Yakutia, but more humid than central Yakutia.