Deep groundwater circulation through the High Arctic cryosphere forms Mars-like gullies
We report here the discovery of the northernmost known perennial spring, located in the polar desert of the Canadian High Arctic (average precipitation 75.5 mm/yr; average annual air temperature –19.7 °C). The high-discharge spring (~520 L/s) has also anomalously high temperatures (9.0 °C), despite...
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Geological Society of America
2014
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Online Access: | https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/19775 https://doi.org/10.1130/G35599.1 |
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ftcurtin:oai:espace.curtin.edu.au:20.500.11937/19775 2023-06-11T04:07:59+02:00 Deep groundwater circulation through the High Arctic cryosphere forms Mars-like gullies Grasby, S. Proemse, Bernadette Beauchamp, B. 2014 restricted https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/19775 https://doi.org/10.1130/G35599.1 unknown Geological Society of America http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/19775 doi:10.1130/G35599.1 Journal Article 2014 ftcurtin https://doi.org/20.500.11937/1977510.1130/G35599.1 2023-05-30T19:30:18Z We report here the discovery of the northernmost known perennial spring, located in the polar desert of the Canadian High Arctic (average precipitation 75.5 mm/yr; average annual air temperature –19.7 °C). The high-discharge spring (~520 L/s) has also anomalously high temperatures (9.0 °C), despite occurring in a region of low geothermal gradient and thick (>400 m) permafrost. Active erosion at the spring outlet forms gullies with alcove-channel-apron morphology, remarkably similar to archetypal gullies observed on mid-latitude regions of Mars. Geochemical and isotopic data show a meteoric origin for the waters, demonstrating that deep circulating groundwater systems can form active connections through the cryosphere to the subsurface, even in the absence of thermal anomalies. This discovery challenges current understanding of high-latitude permafrost hydrology. Article in Journal/Newspaper arctic cryosphere Arctic permafrost polar desert Curtin University: espace Arctic Geology 42 8 651 654 |
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Curtin University: espace |
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ftcurtin |
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unknown |
description |
We report here the discovery of the northernmost known perennial spring, located in the polar desert of the Canadian High Arctic (average precipitation 75.5 mm/yr; average annual air temperature –19.7 °C). The high-discharge spring (~520 L/s) has also anomalously high temperatures (9.0 °C), despite occurring in a region of low geothermal gradient and thick (>400 m) permafrost. Active erosion at the spring outlet forms gullies with alcove-channel-apron morphology, remarkably similar to archetypal gullies observed on mid-latitude regions of Mars. Geochemical and isotopic data show a meteoric origin for the waters, demonstrating that deep circulating groundwater systems can form active connections through the cryosphere to the subsurface, even in the absence of thermal anomalies. This discovery challenges current understanding of high-latitude permafrost hydrology. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Grasby, S. Proemse, Bernadette Beauchamp, B. |
spellingShingle |
Grasby, S. Proemse, Bernadette Beauchamp, B. Deep groundwater circulation through the High Arctic cryosphere forms Mars-like gullies |
author_facet |
Grasby, S. Proemse, Bernadette Beauchamp, B. |
author_sort |
Grasby, S. |
title |
Deep groundwater circulation through the High Arctic cryosphere forms Mars-like gullies |
title_short |
Deep groundwater circulation through the High Arctic cryosphere forms Mars-like gullies |
title_full |
Deep groundwater circulation through the High Arctic cryosphere forms Mars-like gullies |
title_fullStr |
Deep groundwater circulation through the High Arctic cryosphere forms Mars-like gullies |
title_full_unstemmed |
Deep groundwater circulation through the High Arctic cryosphere forms Mars-like gullies |
title_sort |
deep groundwater circulation through the high arctic cryosphere forms mars-like gullies |
publisher |
Geological Society of America |
publishDate |
2014 |
url |
https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/19775 https://doi.org/10.1130/G35599.1 |
geographic |
Arctic |
geographic_facet |
Arctic |
genre |
arctic cryosphere Arctic permafrost polar desert |
genre_facet |
arctic cryosphere Arctic permafrost polar desert |
op_relation |
http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/19775 doi:10.1130/G35599.1 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/20.500.11937/1977510.1130/G35599.1 |
container_title |
Geology |
container_volume |
42 |
container_issue |
8 |
container_start_page |
651 |
op_container_end_page |
654 |
_version_ |
1768381095719469056 |