| Summary: | Numerous glacial advances over the past 2 million years have covered the entire Canadian and Fennoscandian Shield outcrop. During glacial advance and retreat, permafrost is expected to form in front of the glacier. The question of how permafrost and freezing impact the formation and evolution of brines in natural systems may be vital to understanding the chemistry of groundwater in crystalline rocks. Investigations of groundwater conditions beneath thick permafrost can provide valuable information that can be applied to assessing safety of deep, underground nuclear waste repositories and understanding analogues to potential life-bearing zones on Mars. However, very little scientific investigation of cryogenic processes and hydrogeology deep within crystalline systems has been published. The purpose of this research is to evaluate the impacts of thick permafrost (>300m) formation on groundwater chemical and flow system evolution in the crystalline rock environment over geologic timescales. A field investigation was conducted at the Lupin Mine in Nunavut, Canada, to characterize the physical and hydrogeochemical conditions within and beneath a thick permafrost layer. Taliks, or unfrozen channels within the permafrost, are found beneath large lakes in the field area, and provide potential hydraulic connections through the permafrost. Rock matrix waters are dilute and do not appear to affect groundwater salinity. Permafrost waters are Na-Cl and Na-Cl-SO4 type, and have been contaminated with chloride and nitrate by mining activities. Sulfide oxidation in the permafrost may be naturally occurring or is enhanced by mining activities. Basal permafrost waters (550 to 570 mbgs) are variably affected by mining. The less contaminated basal waters have medium sulfate concentrations and are Ca-Na dominated. This is similar to deeper, uncontaminated subpermafrost waters, which are Ca-Na-Cl or Na-Ca-Cl type with a wide range of salinities (2.6 to 40 g•L-1). The lower salinity subpermafrost waters are attributed to ...
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