Isotope characterisation of ground ice in northern Canada

Special Issue : Stable isotopes and geochemistry of ground ice

Auteur(s) et Affiliation(s)



Description :
This paper reviews isotopic research on the characterisation and identification of various types of ground ice throughout the Canadian Arctic, including buried glacier ice, massive segregated ice, segregated ice lenses and offshore ice-rich permafrost, as well as ice related to other cold-region phenomena such as ice wedges, icings (aufeis), frost blisters and pingos. The formational age of ground ice bodies ranges from recent (seasonal ice in the active layer) to tens of thousands of years, when the region experienced widespread continental-scale glaciation. The ratios O 18/O 16 are analysed. Placing the ice bodies into a time frame can be accomplished either through age dating of the enclosing sediments and encased organics, or by direct dating of the ice utilising tritium (3H) for relatively young ice and radiocarbon (14C) analysis of contained gas bubbles for older ice.


Type de document :
Article de monographie

Source :
Permafrost and periglacial processes, issn : 1045-6740, 2011, vol. 22, n°. 1, p. 3-12, nombre de pages : 10, Références bibliographiques : 9 ref.

Date :
2011

Editeur :
Pays édition : Royaume-Uni, Chichester, Wiley