11.5. GROUND WATER IN THE PERMAFROST REGIONS O F THE YUKON,NORTHERNCORDILLERAAND

• Main Authors: Mackenzie District, L. V. Brandon
• Other Authors: The Pennsylvania State University CiteSeerX Archives
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Subjects: Yukon; permafrost
• Online Access: http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.544.2084; http://pubs.aina.ucalgary.ca/cpc/cpc1-131.pdf

In a discussion of the hydrogeology of a large a r e a compris-ing the Mackenzie Dis t r ic t and- the Yukon Ter r i to ry, i t is, a t present, possible to make only broad generalizations a s to groundwater avail-ability. The presence of permafros t i n this a r e a has often de te r red engineers f rom contemplating the use of groundwater a s a source of water supply. There a r e, therefore, little water well dril l ing data available for use a s concrete evidence of the presence and direction of movement of groundwater i n par t icular localit ies. Data available on cl imate, run-off, and geology a r e, however, sufficient to show that groundwater is present throughout a r e a s of discontinuous permafros t and that rocks a r e saturated i n the same manner a s i n humid tempera te regions. I t i s only i n some a r e a s of continuous perma-f r o s t that groundwater flow is unlikely. F o r descr ipt ive purposes, the northwest can be classif ied into th ree type regions; the regional selection being based on geology