Origin and characteristics of massive ground ice on Herschel Island (western Canadian Arctic) as revealed by stable water isotope and Hydrochemical signatures

Special Issue : Stable isotopes and geochemistry of ground ice

Auteur(s) et Affiliation(s)



Description :
Herschel Island in the southern Beaufort Sea is a push moraine at the northwestern-most limit of the Laurentide Ice Sheet. Stable water isotope (δ18 O, δD) and hydrochemical studies were applied to two tabular massive ground ice bodies to unravel their genetic origin. Buried glacier ice or basal regelation ice was encountered beneath an ice-rich diamicton with strong glaciotectonic deformation structures. Both massive ground ice bodies exhibited a mixed ion composition suggestive of terrestrial waters with a marine influence. Hydrochemical signatures resemble the Herschel Island sediments that are derived from near-shore marine deposits upthrust by the Laurentide ice. A prolonged contact between water feeding the ice bodies and the surrounding sediment is therefore inferred.


Type de document :
Article de monographie

Source :
Permafrost and periglacial processes, issn : 1045-6740, 2011, vol. 22, n°. 1, p. 26-38, nombre de pages : 13, Références bibliographiques : 51 ref.

Date :
2011

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