Cryostratigraphy and Permafrost Evolution in the Lacustrine Lowlands of West-Central Alaska

Permafrost and Periglacial Processes

Volumn 25, Issue 1, 2014, Pages 14-34

  Kanevskiy, Mikhail ^a   Jorgenson, Torre ^a,b   Shur, Yuri ^a   O'Donnell, Jonathan A ^c   Harden, Jennifer W ^d   Zhuang, Qianlai ^e   Fortier, Daniel ^a,f  

^a University of Alaska Fairbanks   (United States)

^b Alaska Ecoscience   (United States)

^c NATIONAL PARK SERVICE   (United States)

^d U S GEOLOGICAL SURVEY   (United States)

^e PURDUE UNIVERSITY   (United States)

^f UNIVERSITÉ DE MONTRÉAL   (Canada)

Author keywords

Alaska; Cryostratigraphy; Ground ice; Permafrost; Quaternary sediments; Thermokarst

Indexed keywords

CRYOSPHERE; GLACIAL DEPOSIT; LACUSTRINE ENVIRONMENT; LOWLAND ENVIRONMENT; PERMAFROST; PLEISTOCENE; QUATERNARY; STRATIGRAPHY; TERRAIN; THAWING; THERMOKARST;

ALASKA; UNITED STATES;

EID: 84896719970     PISSN: 10456740     EISSN: 10991530     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1002/ppp.1800     Document Type: Article

References (83)

1. Brosius LS, Walter Anthony KM, Grosse G, Chanton JP, Farquharson LM, Overduin PP, Meyer H. 2012. Using the deuterium isotope composition of permafrost meltwater to constrain thermokarst lake contributions to atmospheric CH4 during the last deglaciation. Journal of Geophysical Research 117: G01022. DOI: 10.1029/2011JG001810
2. Burn CR, Smith CAS. 1988. Observations of the "thermal offset" in the near-surface mean annual ground temperature at sites near Mayo, Yukon Territory, Canada. Arctic 41(2): 99-104.
3. Burn CR, Smith MW. 1990. Development of thermokarst lakes during the Holocene at sites near Mayo, Yukon Territory. Permafrost and Periglacial Processes 1(2): 161-176. DOI: 10.1002/ppp.3430010207
4. Cantwell JC. 1887. A narrative account of the exploration of the Kowak River, Alaska, under the direction of Capt. Michael A. Healy, commanding U.S. Revenue steamer Corwin. In Report of the Cruise of the Revenue Marine steamer Corwin in the Arctic Ocean in the Year 1885, Healy MA (ed.). Government Printing Office: Washington, DC; 21-52.
5. Czudek T, Demek J. 1973. Thermokarst in Siberia and its influence on the development of lowland relief. Quaternary Research 1: 103-120.
6. Fernald AT. 1960. Geomorphology of the upper Kuskokwim region, Alaska. US Geological Survey Bulletin 1071-G; 191-279.
7. Ferreira T, Rasband WS. 2012. ImageJ User Guide - IJ 1.46. imagej.nih.gov/ij/docs/guide/. http://rsbweb.nih.gov/ij/docs/guide/user-guide.pdf (accessed 2 October 2012)
8. French H, Shur Y. 2010. The principles of cryostratigraphy. Earth-Science Reviews 110: 190-206. DOI: 10.1016/j.earscirev.2010.04.002.
9. Fritz M, Wetterich S, Schirrmeister L, Meyer H, Lantuit H, Preusser F, Pollard WH. 2012. Eastern Beringia and beyond: Late Wisconsinan and Holocene landscape dynamics along the Yukon Coastal Plain, Canada. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 319-320: 28-45.
10. Gravis GF. 1981. Nekotorye zakonomernosti razvitiya kriogennykh protsessov v svyazi s izmeneniyami paleogeograficheskoy obstanovki (verkhniy pleistotsen Yakutii, Zabaiklya i Mongolii) [Development of cryogenic processes related to changes in paleogeographic situation (late Pleistocene and Holocene of Yakutia, Baikal region, and Mongolia)]. In Istoriya razvitiya mnogoletnemyorzkykh porod Evrazii [History of development of permafrost in Eurasia], Dubikov GI, Baulin VV (eds). Nauka: Moscow; 102-113 (in Russian).
11. Grosse G, Robinson JE, Bryant R, Taylor MD, Harper W, DeMasi A, Kyker-Snowman E, Veremeeva A, Schirrmeister L, Harden J. 2013. Distribution of late Pleistocene ice-rich syngenetic permafrost of the Yedoma Suite in East and Central Siberia, Russia. US Geological Survey Open-File Report 2013-1078; 37 pp.
12. Hamilton TD. 1994. Late Cenozoic glaciation of Alaska. In The Geology of Alaska, Plafker G, Berg HC (eds), The Geology of North America, Vol. G-1. Geological Society of America: Boulder, Colorado; 813-844.
13. Hamilton TD, Craig JL, Sellmann PV. 1988. The Fox permafrost tunnel: a late Quaternary geologic record in central Alaska. Geological Society of America Bulletin: Boulder, Colorado; 100(6): 948-969.
14. Harden JW, Koven CD, Ping C-L, Hugelius G, McGuire AD, Camill P, Jorgenson T, Kuhry P, Michaelson GJ, O'Donnell JA, Schuur EAG, Tarnocai C, Johnson K, Grosse G. 2012. Field information links permafrost carbon to physical vulnerabilities of thawing. Geophysical Research Letters 39: L15704.
15. Höfle C, Ping CL. 1996. Properties and soil development of late-Pleistocene paleosols from Seward Peninsula, northwest Alaska. Geoderma 71: 219-243.
16. Hopkins DM. 1963. Geology of the Imuruk Lake area, Seward Peninsula, Alaska. US Geological Survey Bulletin 1141-c; 101 pp.
17. Hopkins DM, Kidd JG. 1988. Thaw lake sediments and sedimentary environments. In Proceedings of the Fifth International Conference on Permafrost, Senneset K (ed.). TAPIR Publishers: Trondheim, Norway; 790-795.
18. Jensen BJL, Reyes AV, Froese DG, Stone DB 2013. The Palisades is a key reference site for the middle Pleistocene of eastern Beringia: new evidence from paleomagnetics and regional tephrostratigraphy. Quaternary Science Reviews 63: 91-108.
19. Johnston CE, Ewing SA, Stoy PC, Harden JW, Jorgenson MT. 2012. The effect of permafrost thaw on methane emissions in a western Alaska peatland chronosequence. In Proceedings of the Tenth International Conference on Permafrost, Vol. 4 Extended Abstracts, June 25-29, 2012, Salekhard, Russia. The Northern Publisher: Salekhard, Russia; 241-242.
20. Jones MC, Grosse G, Jones BM, Walter Anthoney K. 2012. Peat accumulation in drained thermokarst lake basins in continuous, ice-rich permafrost, northern Seward Peninsula, Alaska. Journal of Geophysical Research 117: G00M07. DOI: 10.1029/2011JG001766
21. Jorgenson T, Grunblatt J. 2012. Landscape Ecological Mapping of Northern Alaska, 2012. Alaska Ecoscience, Fairbanks, AK. Final Report prepared for Arctic Land Conservation Cooperative by Alaska Ecoscience, Fairbanks, AK and Geographic Information Network of Alaska, University of Alaska Fairbanks; 37 pp.
22. Jorgenson T, Shur Y. 2007. Evolution of lakes and basins in northern Alaska and discussion of the thaw lake cycle. Journal of Geophysical Research 112: F02S17.
23. Jorgenson T, Shur YL, Osterkamp TE. 2008. Thermokarst in Alaska. In Proceedings of the Ninth International Conference on Permafrost, Vol. 1, June 29-July 3, 2008, Fairbanks, Alaska, Kane DL, Hinkel KM (eds). Institute of Northern Engineering, University of Alaska Fairbanks; 869-876.
24. Jorgenson T, Romanovsky VE, Harden JW, Shur Y, O'Donnell JA, Schuur EAG, Kanevskiy MZ 2010. Resilience and Vulnerability of Permafrost to Climate Change. Canadian Journal of Forest Research 40: 1219-1236.
25. Jorgenson T, Harden J, Kanevskiy M, O'Donnell J, Wickland K, Ewing S, Manies K, Zhuang Q, Shur Y, Striegl R, Koch J. 2013. Reorganization of vegetation, hydrology and soil carbon after permafrost degradation across heterogeneous boreal landscapes. Environmental Research Letters 8: 035017. DOI: 10.1088/1748-9326/8/3/035017
26. Jorgenson T, Yoshikawa K, Kanevskiy M, Shur Y, Romanovsky V, Marchenko S, Grosse G, Brown J, Jones B. 2008. Permafrost Characteristics of Alaska. In Proceedings of the Ninth International Conference on Permafrost, extended abstracts, June 29 - July 3, 2008, Fairbanks, Alaska, Kane, DL Hinkel, KM (eds). Institute of Northern Engineering, University of Alaska Fairbanks: Fairbanks, Alaska; 121-122.
27. Jorgenson T, Kanevskiy M, Shur Y, Osterkamp T, Fortier D, Cater T, Miller P. 2012. Thermokarst lake and shore fen development in boreal Alaska. In Proceedings of the Tenth International Conference on Permafrost, Vol. 1 International contributions, June 25-29, 2012, Salekhard, Russia, Hinkel KM (ed.). The Northern Publisher: Salekhard, Russia; 179-184.
28. Kanevskiy MZ. 2003. Cryogenic structure of mountain slope deposits, northeast Russia. In Proceedings of the Eighth International Conference on Permafrost, Vol. 1, 21-25 July 2003, Phillips M, Springman S, Arenson L (eds). Zurich, Switzerland, Swets & Zeitlinger B.V.: Lisse, The Netherlands; 513-518.
29. Kanevskiy MZ, Fortier D, Shur Y, Bray M, Jorgenson T. 2008. Detailed cryostratigraphic studies of syngenetic permafrost in the winze of the CRREL permafrost tunnel, Fox, Alaska. In Proceedings of the Ninth International Conference on Permafrost, Vol. 1, June 29 - July 3, 2008, Fairbanks, Alaska, Kane, DL, Hinkel KM (eds). Institute of Northern Engineering, University of Alaska Fairbanks: Fairbanks, Alaska; 889-894.
30. Kanevskiy MZ, Shur Y, Fortier D, Jorgenson MT, Stephani E. 2011. Cryostratigraphy of late Pleistocene syngenetic permafrost (yedoma) in northern Alaska, Itkillik River exposure. Quaternary Research 75: 584-596.
31. Kanevskiy MZ, Shur Y, Connor B, Dillon M, Stephani E, O' Donnell J. 2012. Study of the ice-rich syngenetic permafrost for road design (Interior Alaska). In Proceedings of the Tenth International Conference on Permafrost, Vol. 1 International contributions, June 25-29, 2012, Salekhard, Russia, Hinkel KM (ed.). The Northern Publisher, Salekhard, Russia; 191-196.
32. Kanevskiy MZ, Shur Y, Jorgenson MT, Ping C-L, Michaelson GJ, Fortier D, Stephani E, Dillon M, Tumskoy V. 2013a. Ground ice in the upper permafrost of the Beaufort Sea Coast of Alaska. Cold Regions Science and Technology 85: 56-70. DOI: 10.1016/j.coldregions.2012.08.002
33. Kanevskiy MZ, Shur Y, Krzewinski T, Dillon M. 2013b. Structure and properties of ice-rich permafrost near Anchorage, Alaska. Cold Regions Science and Technology 93: 1-11. DOI: 10.1016/j.coldregions.2013.05.001
34. Kanevskiy MZ. 2004. Zakonomernosti formirovaniya kriogennogo stroeniya chetvertichnykh otlozheniy Severnoy Yakutii [Formation of cryogenic structure of Quaternary sediments of Northern Yakutia]. PhD thesis, Moscow State University; 179 pp (in Russian).
35. Kaplina TN. 2009. Alasnie kompleksy Severnoy Yakutii [Alas (thaw-lake basin) complexes of northern Yakutia]. Kriosfera Zemli [Earth Cryosphere] XII(No. 4): 3-17 (in Russian).
36. Katasonov EM. 1978. Permafrost-facies analysis as the main method of cryolithology. In Proceedings of the Second International Conference on Permafrost, July 13-28, 1973. USSR Contribution. National Academy of Sciences: Washington; 171-176.
37. Katasonov EM (ed.). 1979. Stroyenie i absolyutnaya geokhronologiya alasnykh otlozheniy Tsentral'noy Yakutii [Structure and geochronology of alas (thaw-lake basin) sediments of central Yakutia]. Nauka: Novosibirsk; 95 pp (in Russian).
38. Kokelj SV, Jorgenson MT. 2013. Advances in thermokarst research. Permafrost and Periglacial Processes 24: 108-119. DOI: 10.1002/ppp.1779
39. Koster EA, Galloway JP, Pronk T. 1984. Photo-interpretation map of surficial deposits and landforms of the Nogahabara sand dunes and part of the Koyukuk Lowland, Alaska. US Geological Survey, Open-File Report 84-10.
40. von Kotzebue O. 1821. A Voyage of Discovery into the South Sea and Beering's Straits, for the Purpose of Exploring a North-East Passage, undertaken in the years 1815-1818, at the Expense of His Highness the Chancellor of the Empire, Count Romanzoff, in the ship Rurick, under the Command of the Lieutenant in the Russian Imperial Navy, Otto von Kotzebue, 3 vols. Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme and Brown: London.
41. Kudryavtsev VA. 1959. Temperatura, moshchnost' i preryvistost' tolshch merzlykh porod [Temperature, thickness, and discontinuity of permafrost]. In Osnovy geokriologii (merzlotovedeniya) [Fundamentals of Geocryology (Permafrost Science)], Part 1, Shvetsov PF, Dostovalov BN (eds). USSR Academy of Sciences: Moscow; 219-273 (in Russian).
42. Kuhry P. 2008. Palsa and peat plateau development in the Hudson Bay Lowlands, Canada: timing, pathways and causes. Boreas 37(2): 316-327. DOI: 10.1111/j.1502-3885.2007.00022.x
43. Lawson DE. 1983. Ground ice in perennially frozen sediments, northern Alaska. In Proceedings of the Fourth International Conference on Permafrost. National Academy Press: Washington, D.C.; 695-700.
44. MacDonald GM, Beilman DW, Kremenetski KV, Sheng Y, Smith LC, Velichko AA. 2006. Rapid early development of circumarctic peatlands and atmospheric CH4 and CO2 variations. Science 314: 285-288.
45. Maddren AG. 1905. Smithsonian explorations in Alaska in 1904. Smithsonian Miscellaneous Collections 49: 1-117.
46. Mann DH, Peteet DM, Reanier RE, Kunz ML. 2002. Responses of an arctic landscape to Lateglacial and early Holocene climatic changes: the importance of moisture. Quaternary Science Reviews 21: 997-1021.
47. Marcott SA, Shakun JD, Clark PU, Mix AC. 2013. A reconstruction of regional and global temperature for the past 11, 300 years. Science 339: 1198-1201.
48. Matheus P, Begét J, Mason O, Gelvin-Reymiller C. 2003. Late Pliocene to Late Pleistocene environments preserved at the Palisades Site, central Yukon River, Alaska. Quaternary Research 60: 33-43.
49. Melnikov VP, Spesivtsev VI. 2000. Cryogenic Formations in the Earth's Lithosphere (graphic version). Siberian Publishing Center UIGGM, Siberian Branch of the RAS Publishing House: Novosibirsk; 343 pp.
50. Muhs DR, Budahn JR. 2006. Geochemical evidence for the origin of late Quaternary loess in central Alaska. Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences 43: 323-337.
51. Muhs DR, Ager TA, Bettis EA, III, McGeehin J, Been JM, Begét JE, Pavich MJ, Stafford TW Jr., Stevens DSP. 2003. Stratigraphy and palaeoclimatic significance of Late Quaternary loess-palaeosol sequences of the Last Interglacial-Glacial cycle in central Alaska. Quaternary Science Reviews 22: 1947-1986.
52. Murton JB, French HM. 1994. Cryostructures in permafrost, Tuktoyaktuk coastlands, western Arctic Canada. Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences 31: 737-747.
53. O'Donnell JA, Harden JW, McGuire AD, Kanevskiy MZ, Jorgenson MT, Xu X. 2011. The effect of fire and permafrost interactions on soil carbon accumulation in an upland black spruce ecosystem of interior Alaska: implications for post-thaw carbon loss. Global Change Biology 17: 1461-1474. DOI: 10.1111/j.1365-2486.2010.02358.x
54. O'Donnell JA, Jorgenson MT, Harden JW, McGuire AD, Kanevskiy MZ, Wickland KP. 2012. The effects of permafrost thaw on soil hydrologic, thermal, and carbon dynamics in an Alaska peatland. Ecosystems 15(2): 213-229. DOI: 10.1007/s10021-011-9504-0
55. Osterkamp TE, Romanovsky VE. 1999. Evidence for warming and thawing of discontinuous permafrost in Alaska. Permafrost and Periglacial Processes 10: 17-37. DOI: 10.1002/(SICI)1099-1530(199901/03)10:1<17::AID-PPP303>3.0.CO;2-4
56. Osterkamp TE, Viereck L, Shur Y, Jorgenson MT, Racine C, Doyle A, Boone RD. 2000. Observation of thermokarst and its impact on boreal forest in Alaska, U.S.A. Arctic, Antarctic, and Alpine Research 32(3): 300-315.
57. Patton WW, Jr, Wilson FH, Labay KA, Shew N. 2009. Geologic map of the Yukon-Koyukuk Basin, Alaska. US Geological Survey Scientific Investigations Map2909, scale 1:500, 000, 2 sheets.
58. Péwé TL. 1975. Quaternary geology of Alaska. US Geological Survey Professional Paper 835; 145 pp.
59. Popov AI. 1967. Merzlotnye yavleniya v zemnoy kore: Kriolitologiya [Cryogenic phenomena in the Earth crust (Cryolithology)]. Moscow University Press: Moscow; 304 pp (in Russian).
60. Quackenbush LS. 1909. Notes on Alaskan mammoth expeditions. American Museum of Natural History Bulletin 26: 87-130.
61. Reyes AV, Froese DG, Jensen BJL. 2010. Permafrost response to last interglacial warming: field evidence from non-glaciated Yukon and Alaska. Quaternary Science Reviews 29: 3256-3274.
62. Romanovskii NN. 1993. Osnovy kriogeneza litosfery [Fundamentals of cryogenesis of lithosphere]. Moscow University Press: Moscow; 336pp (in Russian).
63. Sannel ABK, Kuhru P. 2008. Long-term stability of permafrost in subarctic peat plateaus, west-central Canada. The Holocene 18(4): 589-601.
64. Schirrmeister L, Froese D, Tumskoy V, Grosse G, Wetterich S. 2013. Yedoma: Late Pleistocene Ice-Rich Syngenetic Permafrost of Beringia. In Encyclopedia of Quaternary Science, Second Edition; 542-552.
65. Seppälä M. 1986. The origin of palsas. Geografiska Annaler A68: 141-147.
66. Seppälä M. 2011 Synthesis of studies of palsa formation underlining the importance of local environmental and physical characteristics. Quaternary Research 75: 366-370.
67. Shur Y, Jorgenson MT. 1998. Cryostructure development on the floodplain of the Colville River Delta, northern Alaska. In Proceedings of the Seventh International Conference on Permafrost, Lewkowicz AG, Allard M (eds). Centre d'études nordiques, Université Laval, Québec: Yellowknife, Canada; 993-999.
68. Shur Y, Osterkamp T. 2007. Thermokarst. Report INE06.11. University of Alaska Fairbanks, Institute of Northern Engineering, Fairbanks, Alaska, 50 pp.
69. Shur Y, Jorgenson MT, Kanevskiy MZ. 2011. Permafrost. In Encyclopedia of Earth Sciences Series, Encyclopedia of Snow, Ice and Glaciers, Singh VP, Singh P, Haritashya UK (eds) Springer: Dordrecht, The Nederlands; 841-848. DOI: 10.1007/978-90-481-2642-2
70. Shur Y, Kanevskiy M, Jorgenson T, Dillon M, Stephani E, Bray M. 2012. Permafrost degradation and thaw settlement under lakes in yedoma environment. In Proceedings of the Tenth International Conference on Permafrost, Vol. 1 International contributions, June 25-29, 2012, Salekhard, Russia, Hinkel KM (ed.). The Northern Publisher: Salekhard, Russia; 383-388.
71. Shur YL. 1977. Termokarst [Thermokarst], Shvetsov PF (ed.). Moscow, Nedra, 80 pp (in Russian).
72. Shur YL. 1988a. Verkhniy gorizont tolshchi merzlykh porod i thermokarst [Upper horizon of permafrost and thermokarst], Pavlov AV (ed.). Nauka: Novosibirsk; 210 pp (in Russian).
73. Shur YL. 1988b. The upper horizon of permafrost soils. In Proceedings of the Fifth International Conference on Permafrost, Vol. 1, Senneset K (ed.). Tapir Publishers: Trondheim, Norway; 867-871.
74. Shur YL, Jorgenson MT. 2007. Patterns of permafrost formation and degradation in relation to climate and ecosystems. Permafrost and Periglacial Processes 18: 7-19. DOI: 10.1002/ppp.582
75. Soloviev PA. 1962. Alasniy relief Tsentral'noy Yakutii I ego proiskhozhdenie [Alas relief of Central Yakutia and its origin]. In Mnogoletnemyorzlye porody I soputstvuyushchie im yavleniya na territirii Yakutskoy ASSR [Permafrost and related features in Central Yakutia], Grave NA (ed.). The Academy of Sciences of the USSR Press: Moscow; 38-54 (in Russian).
76. Taber S. 1943. Perennially frozen ground in Alaska: its origin and history. Bulletin of the Geological Society of America 54: 1433-1548.
77. US Forest Service. 1993. ECOMAP: National hierarchical framework of ecological units. US Forest Service: Washington, DC; 20 pp.
78. Walker HJ. 1978. Lake tapping in the Colville River Delta. In Proceedings of the Third International Conference on Permafrost, Vol. 1. National Research Council of Canada: Edmonton, Alberta; 233-238.
79. Wallace RE. 1948. Cave-in lakes in the Nabesna, Chisana, and Tanana river valleys, eastern Alaska. Journal of Geology 56: 171-181.
80. Weber FL, Péwé TL. 1961. Engineering geology problems in the Yukon-Koyukuk lowland, Alaska. In Short Papers In The Geologic And Hydrologic Sciences, Articles 293-435. US Geological Survey Professional Paper 424-D; 371-373.
81. Weber FL, Péwé TL. 1970. Surficial and engineering geology of the central part of the Yukon-Koyukuk lowland, Alaska. US Geological Survey Miscellaneous Investigations Geologic Map I-590, 2 sheets.
82. Zhestkova TN. 1982. Formirovanie kriogennogo stroeniia gruntov [Formation of soil cryogenic structure], Kudryavtsev VA (ed.). Nauka: Moscow; 216 pp (in Russian).
83. Zoltai SC. 1993. Cyclic development of permafrost in the peatlands of northwestern Alberta, Canada. Arctic and Alpine Research 25(3): 240-246.