The use of GPR to detect active layers in young periglacial terrain of Livingston Island, Maritime Antarctica

• Published in: Near Surface Geophysics
• Main Authors: Schwamborn, Georg, Wagner, Dirk, Hubberten, Hans‐W.
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Wiley 2008
• Subjects: Livingston Island; South Shetland Islands; Antarc*; Antarctica; Ice; permafrost
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.3997/1873-0604.2008008; https://api.wiley.com/onlinelibrary/tdm/v1/articles/10.3997%2F1873-0604.2008008; https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.3997/1873-0604.2008008

ABSTRACT The South Shetland Islands offer ice‐free margins with periglacial surfaces that are only a few decades old after the recent glacier retreat. Ground‐penetrating radar (GPR) profiling was used to acquire information on young permafrost occurrence as deduced from active layer advance. Local GPR measurements included grids of parallel single‐offset 2D reflection profiles and multi‐offset measurements to determine wave velocity in the ground. Excavations served to determine the sedimentary composition and to backup GPR profile interpretation. GPR results show that the active layer could easily be traced at a site 140 m above sea level (asl), which is placed in volcanic soil. In contrast, GPR data were ambiguous at a site low in altitude (35 m asl), where frozen and unfrozen ground was imaged next to each other and GPR interpretation relied on ground verification.