Information to Users

Total Page:16

File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb

Information to Users Surficial Geology And Quaternary History Of The Healy Lake Area, Alaska Item Type Thesis Authors Ager, Thomas Alan Download date 02/10/2021 19:32:01 Link to Item http://hdl.handle.net/11122/8326 INFORMATION TO USERS This dissertation was produced from a microfilm copy of the original document. While the most advanced technological means to photograph and reproduce this document have been used, the quality is heavily dependent upon the quality of the original submitted. The following explanation of techniques is provided to help you understand markings or patterns which may appear on this reproduction. 1. The sign or "target" for pages apparently lacking from the document photographed is "Missing Page(s)". If it was possible to obtain the missing page(s) or section, they are spliced into the film along with adjacent pages. This may have necessitated cutting thru an image and duplicating adjacent pages to insure you complete continuity. 2. When an image on the film is obliterated with a large round black mark, it is an indication that the photographer suspected that the copy may have moved during exposure and thus cause a blurred image. You will find a good image of the page in the adjacent frame. 3. When a map, drawing or chart, etc., was part of the material being photographed the photographer followed a definite method in "sectioning" the material. It is customary to begin photoing at the upper left hand corner of a large sheet and to continue photoing from left to right in equal sections with a small overlap. If necessary, sectioning is continued again — beginning below the first row and continuing on until complete. 4. The majority of users indicate that the textual content is of greatest value, however, a somewhat higher quality reproduction could be made from "photographs" if essential to the understanding of the dissertation. Silver prints of "photographs" may be ordered at additional charge by writing the Order Department, giving the catalog number, title, author and specific pages you wish reproduced. University Microfilms 300 North Zeeb Road Ann Arbor, Michigan 48106 A Xerox Education Company Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. MASTERS THESIS M-3895 AGER, Thomas Alan SURFICIAL GEOLOGY AND QUATERNARY HISTORY OF THE HEALY LAKE AREA, ALASKA. University of Alaska, M.S., 1972 Geology University Microfilms, A XEROX Com pany, Ann Arbor, Michigan 0 1972 THOMAS ALAN AGER ALL RIGHTS RESERVED Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. SURFICIAL G EO LO G Y AN D QUATERNARY HISTORY OF THE HEALY LAKE AREA, ALASKA A THESIS Presented to the Faculty of the University of Alaska in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of MASTER OF SCIENCE By Thomas Alan Ager, B.S. College, Alaska M ay, 1972 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. SURFICIAL GEOLOGY AND QUATERNARY HISTORY OF THE HEALY LAKE AREA, ALASKA Chairman Department Head APPROVED: C d J Date / ? / C^ean o f the College o f Earth Sciences and Mineral Industry Vice President for Research and Advanced Study Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. PLEASE NOTE: Some pages may have indistinct print. Filmed as received. University Microfilms, A Xerox Education Company Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Abstract Surficial geology of the Healy Lake area in the Tanana Valley, interior Alaska, records the effects of major regional climatic events of the late Pleistocene and Holocene. During the Delta Glaciation the area was subjected to severe periglacial conditions associated with ice wedge formation, solifluction, and intense eolian activity which ventifacted resistant bedrock fragments and deposited fin e sand and loess over much of the area. The Donnelly Glaciation was also characterized by periglacial conditions. Aggradation of the Tanana River floodplain by glacial outwash dammed the Healy River, impounding a large lake in the lower Healy Valley. Wave activity caused by strong southerly winds produced beaches along the north shore of the lake. The beach sediments served as a source for sand and silt which were deposited by wind on adjacent slopes, producing widespread sand sheets, dunes, and loess deposits. During the Holocene the environment of the area changed from grassland- tundra to boreal forest. The Donnelly-age lake was drained and its lacustrine deposits incised by the Healy River. Although loess deposition continued during the Holocene, the rate of accumulation and the mean grain size decreased. Bogs formed in the lower Healy Valley in the area previously covered by lake water. Permafrost development in the bogs was associated with thermokarst phenomena. Late in Holocene time, renewed aggradation of the Tanana River floodplain again dammed the Healy River, resulting in the formation of present-day Healy Lake. Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. CONTENTS Page INTRODUCTION 1 Previous Investigations 4 Present Investigation 5 Acknowledgements 6 REGIONAL SETTING 7 Climate 7 Vegetation 7 Permafrost 11 Soils 11 PHYSIOGRAPHIC PROVINCES 15 Alaska Range 15 Tanana Lowland 17 Yukon-Tanana Upland 19 REGIONAL HISTORY 23 Late Quaternary Events 24 Paleoecology 30 Holocene Environment 32 HEALY LAKE AREA 35 Local Setting 35 Vegetation and Permafrost 37 Bedrock Geology 40 Sediment Analysis 43 Test Pit Profiles 48 Surficial Geology 65 Eolian Deposits 65 Fluvial Deposits 70 Lacustrine and Related Deposits 77 II Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Page Holocene Lake Formation 83 Tectonic Considerations 89 Quaternary History of the Healy Lake Area: Summary 91 APPENDIX I: Test Pit Profiles 98 APPENDIX II: Factor Analysis Printouts 114 APPENDIX III: Sediment Interpretations 118 REFERENCES CITED 121 HI Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. ILLUSTRATIONS (Plates 1 to 4 are in pocket) Plate I . Vegetation map of the Healy Lake area 3. Index map of test pit localities 4. Longitudinal profiles of the Tanana and Healy Rivers Page Figure 1. Index map of Alaska 2 2. Physiographic provinces of the Healy Lake region 3 3. Clim atic data for the Big Delta area 8 4. Vegetation and permafrost distribution diagram 10 5. Soils distribution diagram 13 6 . Extent of glaciations map of Healy Lake region 26 7. Aerial view of Healy Lake region from the north 36 8 . Map of lake channels and bedrock outcrops 42 9. Test Pit 13 profile 49 10. Test Pit 32 profile 53 11. Test Pit 43 profile 55 12. Test Pit 70 profile 57 13. Test Pit 75 profile 59 14. V illage Site Test Pit profile 62 15. V illage Site Test Pit sediment grain size diagram 63 16. Radiocarbon dates from the V illage Site 63 17. Bog processes diagram 74 IV Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Page Figure 18. Lower Healy River bog flats from the south 7 5 19. Lower Healy River bog flats during high water stage 76 20. North end of Healy Lake 84 21. Thaw lakes and lacustrine terrace 85 22. Goss section of thawing islands 8 6 23. Delta age moraines, upper Healy River 92 24. Donnelly age moraines, upper Healy River 93 25. Village Site hillside profile 112 Table 1. Glacial Chronology for the, Alaska Range and Yukon-Tanana Upland \ 25 2 . Vegetation units for Healy Lake area 39 3. Factor interpretations 44 4. Volcanic Ash analysis 51 5. Air photo identification criteria for surficial units 6 6 6 . Pebble lithologies from Ashes Point coring 78 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. INTRODUCTION Healy Lake is located in the central Tanana Valley of interior Alaska about 108 miles southeast of Fairbanks (Fig. 1). The Tanana Lowlands here are bordered to the south by rugged glaciated mountains of the Alaska Range, and to the north by the lower hills and ridges of the Yukon-Tanana Upland (Fig. 2). The region is sparsely inhabited. Although the Alaska Highway follows the Tanana Lowlands just north of the Alaska Range, only a few unimproved roads extend short distances from the highway to cabin sites and sawm ills. Beyond the lim it o f roads, access to remote parts of the region is primarily by boat, float plane, all-terrain vehicles, or snow machines in w inter. Archeological evidence and radiocarbon dates from sites around the lake suggest that man occupied the area at least intermittently since about 1 1 , 0 0 0 years ago. Significant climatic fluctuations and resulting environmental changes have taken place during that period. Knowledge of these changes is vital to the interpretation of the culture and ecology of the early inhabitants. Healy Lake also displays unique characteristics which in themselves merit study. Aggradation o f the Tanana floodplain has dammed a number o f tributaries which drain from the Yukon-Tanana Uplands, resulting in the formation of Healy, Harding, Birch, George, and other lakes. Among the lakes formed in this manner, Healy Lake alone had glaciated headwaters during the late Pleistocene. The lake also displays an unusual characteristic of periodic flooding via its outlet channel by the silt-laden waters of the Tanana River. Geologic studies at Healy Lake were initiated in 1969. The primary objective was to reconstruct the history of environmental changes in the region during late Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Figure Is Index map of Alaska with location of the Healy Lake Region, Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. [6*°i::;:£:;'0 :i:’ k ; ' M/Ya s J w > \ , ' ■: . 'v’x Y ! V • \ ' '■... “ ■•• >' ■--■■ U T V • -v-•f; ; ;i:ii;:; - v • 4- <>b ^ \ .V .0 V V?-4? C , j v & w 'U ftr- S'B* HEALY LAKE REGION ^ GV'E EAST-CENTRAl J < & - / / % J, -, i) v ,*r :■=-■ ' -> ALASKA - 3° J.
Recommended publications
  • Icing Mound on Sadlerochit River, Alaska
    Short Papers and Notes ICING MOUND ON SADLERO- Sadlerochithas emerged from the CHIT RIVER, ALASKA* mountains, has arelatively low gra- dient and flows in a broad, braided bed Icing mounds- small to large domes, characterized by manyanastomosing mounds,and ridges resulting from an shallowchannels separated by bare, upwardarching of soiland ice asso- gravelly and bouldery bars (Fig. 2). AS ciated with fields of aufeis - have been is characteristic of all riversof the Arc- described in detailfor Siberia1. Icing tic Slope, the change from a single deep mounds have also been mentioned brief- channel to a braided pattern of many ly inconnection with aufeisfields in shallow channels allows the formation Alaskaby Leffigwell (ref. 2, p. 158) of an aufeis field every year near the and Taber (ref. 3, p. 1528; ref. 4, p. 249), mountain front. During the fall the but there is little descriptive literature shallow channels freeze early and the on this phenomenon in theNorth Amer- obstruction of the resulting ice causes ican Arctic. One such icing mound was the river to overflow its bars;this over- examined briefly by the author on June flow then freezes and by repeated freez- 25,1959 during the course of a trip down ing,overflow and freezingsuccessive the SadlerochitRiver in northeastern layers of ice are built up toform an Alaska (Fig. 1). aufeis field. Another factor contributing Fig. 1. Locationmap, Arctic Slope, Alaska. The SadlerochitRiver rises in the to the formation of large aufeis fields is Franklin Mountains of the eastern a source of water that persists for some Brooks Range and flows northwardin a time after freezingbegins.
    [Show full text]
  • Historical and Recent Aufeis, the Indigirka River Basin (Russia)
    1 Historical and recent aufeis, the Indigirka river basin 2 (Russia) 3 *Olga Makarieva1,2,, Andrey Shikhov3, Nataliia Nesterova2,4, Andrey Ostashov2 4 1Melnikov Permafrost Institute of RAS, Yakutsk 5 2St. Petersburg State University, St. Petersburg 6 3Perm State University, Perm 7 4State Hydrological institute, St. Petersburg 8 RUSSIA 9 *[email protected] 10 Abstract: A detailed spatial geodatabase of aufeis (or naleds in Russian) within the 11 Indigirka River watershed (305 000 km2), Russia, was compiled from historical Russian 12 publications (year 1958), topographic maps (years 1970–1980’s), and Landsat images (year 13 2013-2017). Identification of aufeis by late-spring Landsat images was performed with a semi- 14 automated approach according to Normalized Difference Snow Index (NDSI) and additional 15 data. After this, a cross-reference index was set for each aufeis, to link and compare historical 16 and satellite-based aufeis data sets. 17 The aufeis coverage varies from 0.26 to 1.15% in different sub-basins within the 18 Indigirka River watershed. The digitized historical archive (Cadastre, 1958) contains the 19 coordinates and characteristics of 896 aufeis with total area of 2064 km2. The Landsat-based 20 dataset included 1213 aufeis with a total area of 1287 km2. Accordingly, the satellite-derived 21 total aufeis area is 1.6 times less than the Cadastre (1958) dataset. However, more than 600 22 aufeis identified from Landsat images are missing in the Cadastre (1958) archive. It is 23 therefore possible that the conditions for aufeis formation may have changed from the mid- 24 20th century to the present.
    [Show full text]
  • Hydrologic and Mass-Movement Hazards Near Mccarthy Wrangell-St
    Hydrologic and Mass-Movement Hazards near McCarthy Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve, Alaska By Stanley H. Jones and Roy L Glass U.S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY Water-Resources Investigations Report 93-4078 Prepared in cooperation with the NATIONAL PARK SERVICE Anchorage, Alaska 1993 U.S. DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR BRUCE BABBITT, Secretary U.S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY ROBERT M. HIRSCH, Acting Director For additional information write to: Copies of this report may be purchased from: District Chief U.S. Geological Survey U.S. Geological Survey Earth Science Information Center 4230 University Drive, Suite 201 Open-File Reports Section Anchorage, Alaska 99508-4664 Box 25286, MS 517 Denver Federal Center Denver, Colorado 80225 CONTENTS Abstract ................................................................ 1 Introduction.............................................................. 1 Purpose and scope..................................................... 2 Acknowledgments..................................................... 2 Hydrology and climate...................................................... 3 Geology and geologic hazards................................................ 5 Bedrock............................................................. 5 Unconsolidated materials ............................................... 7 Alluvial and glacial deposits......................................... 7 Moraines........................................................ 7 Landslides....................................................... 7 Talus..........................................................
    [Show full text]
  • The Dynamics and Mass Budget of Aretic Glaciers
    DA NM ARKS OG GRØN L ANDS GEO L OG I SKE UNDERSØGELSE RAP P ORT 2013/3 The Dynamics and Mass Budget of Aretic Glaciers Abstracts, IASC Network of Aretic Glaciology, 9 - 12 January 2012, Zieleniec (Poland) A. P. Ahlstrøm, C. Tijm-Reijmer & M. Sharp (eds) • GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF D EN MARK AND GREENLAND DANISH MINISTAV OF CLIMATE, ENEAGY AND BUILDING ~ G E U S DANMARKS OG GRØNLANDS GEOLOGISKE UNDERSØGELSE RAPPORT 201 3 / 3 The Dynamics and Mass Budget of Arctic Glaciers Abstracts, IASC Network of Arctic Glaciology, 9 - 12 January 2012, Zieleniec (Poland) A. P. Ahlstrøm, C. Tijm-Reijmer & M. Sharp (eds) GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF DENMARK AND GREENLAND DANISH MINISTRY OF CLIMATE, ENERGY AND BUILDING Indhold Preface 5 Programme 6 List of participants 11 Minutes from a special session on tidewater glaciers research in the Arctic 14 Abstracts 17 Seasonal and multi-year fluctuations of tidewater glaciers cliffson Southern Spitsbergen 18 Recent changes in elevation across the Devon Ice Cap, Canada 19 Estimation of iceberg to the Hansbukta (Southern Spitsbergen) based on time-lapse photos 20 Seasonal and interannual velocity variations of two outlet glaciers of Austfonna, Svalbard, inferred by continuous GPS measurements 21 Discharge from the Werenskiold Glacier catchment based upon measurements and surface ablation in summer 2011 22 The mass balance of Austfonna Ice Cap, 2004-2010 23 Overview on radon measurements in glacier meltwater 24 Permafrost distribution in coastal zone in Hornsund (Southern Spitsbergen) 25 Glacial environment of De Long Archipelago
    [Show full text]
  • Hydrological Connectivity from Glaciers to Rivers in the Qinghai–Tibet Plateau: Roles of Suprapermafrost and Subpermafrost Groundwater
    Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 21, 4803–4823, 2017 https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-21-4803-2017 © Author(s) 2017. This work is distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License. Hydrological connectivity from glaciers to rivers in the Qinghai–Tibet Plateau: roles of suprapermafrost and subpermafrost groundwater Rui Ma1,2, Ziyong Sun1,2, Yalu Hu2, Qixin Chang2, Shuo Wang2, Wenle Xing2, and Mengyan Ge2 1Laboratory of Basin Hydrology and Wetland Eco-restoration, China University of Geosciences, Wuhan, 430074, China 2School of Environmental Studies, China University of Geosciences, Wuhan, 430074, China Correspondence to: Rui Ma ([email protected]) and Ziyong Sun ([email protected]) Received: 5 January 2017 – Discussion started: 15 February 2017 Revised: 29 May 2017 – Accepted: 7 August 2017 – Published: 27 September 2017 Abstract. The roles of groundwater flow in the hydrologi- 1 Introduction cal cycle within the alpine area characterized by permafrost and/or seasonal frost are poorly known. This study explored Permafrost plays an important role in groundwater flow and the role of permafrost in controlling groundwater flow and thus hydrological cycles of cold regions (Walvoord et al., the hydrological connections between glaciers in high moun- 2012). This is especially true for the mountainous headwaters tains and rivers in the low piedmont plain with respect to of large rivers. In these areas interactive processes between hydraulic head, temperature, geochemical and isotopic data, permafrost and groundwater influence water resource man- at a representative catchment in the headwater region of agement, engineering construction, biogeochemical cycling, the Heihe River, northeastern Qinghai–Tibet Plateau. The and downstream water supply and conservation (Cheng and results show that the groundwater in the high mountains Jin, 2013).
    [Show full text]
  • Glaciers in Svalbard: Mass Balance, Runoff and Freshwater Flux
    Glaciers in Svalbard: mass balance, runoff and freshwater fl ux Jon Ove Hagen, Jack Kohler, Kjetil Melvold & Jan-Gunnar Winther Gain or loss of the freshwater stored in Svalbard glaciers has both global implications for sea level and, on a more local scale, impacts upon the hydrology of rivers and the freshwater fl ux to fjords. This paper gives an overview of the potential runoff from the Svalbard glaciers. The fresh- water fl ux from basins of different scales is quantifi ed. In small basins (A < 10 km2), the extra runoff due to the negative mass balance of the gla- ciers is related to the proportion of glacier cover and can at present yield more than 20 % higher runoff than if the glaciers were in equilibrium with the present climate. This does not apply generally to the ice masses of Svalbard, which are mostly much closer to being in balance. The total surface runoff from Svalbard glaciers due to melting of snow and ice is roughly 25 ± 5 km3 a-1, which corresponds to a specifi c runoff of 680 ± 140 mm a-1, only slightly more than the annual snow accumulation. Calving of icebergs from Svalbard glaciers currently contributes signifi cantly to the freshwater fl ux and is estimated to be 4 ± 1 km3 a-1 or about 110 mm a-1. J. O. Hagen & K. Melvold, Dept. of Physical Geography, University of Oslo, Box 1042 Blindern, NO-0316 Oslo, Norway, j.o.m.hagen@geografi .uio.no; J. Kohler & J.-G. Winther, Norwegian Polar Institute, Polar Environmental Centre, NO-9296 Tromsø, Norway.
    [Show full text]
  • Smooth Sailing on the Ivishak in Alaska, 2018
    Smoothon the Sailing A river adventure By Michael Engelhard 62 ALASKAMAGAZINE.COM JUNE 2018 The author’s wife, Melissa Guy, navigates her packraft through a calm section of the Ivishak River. HE MOOD AT HAPPY VALLEY IS ANYTHING BUT. Atmospheric shrouds drape this pipeline “man camp” at Mile 334 on the Dalton “Haul Road” Highway. Near Galbraith Lake, where we pitched our tent last night, the clouds briefly descended to Ttundra level, turning the coastal plain’s rolling features into one formless, soggy, gray mess. We are now parked in this graveled lot, among trailers, ticking on our windshield: the perfect soundtrack for Quonset-style shelters, camper shell husks, broken camp gloom. Inside my wife’s Toyota, she and I are awaiting Matt chairs, oil barrels—a postindustrial wasteland. Every 20 Thoft, one of Silvertip Aviation’s two owner-pilots, an minutes, a tanker truck snorkels water from the Saga- adventurous husband-and-wife team. No need to get wet vanirktok River (the “Sag”) to tame the Dalton’s notorious when we still can stay dry. dust at a construction site up the road. As if it needed that Communications with Matt had been sketchy; summers in these conditions. The truck bleeping in reverse; rain he’s busy, flying long days, and he’s cloistered at his lodge in JUNE 2018 ALASKA 63 The Ivishak River is a designated National Wild and Scenic River. Ivishak River the Ivishak’s foothills, beyond cell phone reception. It is after two and bagged packrafts to the plane, an orange-and-black Piper o’clock and he’s officially running late.
    [Show full text]
  • Arctic12-2-87.Pdf
    NOTES ON THE GEOLOGY OF THE McCALL VALLEY AREA Charles M. Keeler* HE close relationships between diverse types of terrain make theMcCall T Valley area a particularly interesting one for the ecologist, geologist and geomorphologist. The McCall Glacier, which occupies the upper part of the valley, heads in a region of high serrate granite peaks (2,290 to 2,740 m. above sea-level) and ends in a narrow V-shaped valley that opens into the wider Jag0 River valley. The tundra, characterized by its vegetation and lack of sharp relief, begins approximately 5 km. from the glacier ter- minus on the north side of Marie Mountain (see map Fig. 7) at an altitude of 900 m. This rapid transition from icy peaks to vegetated plain within shortwalking distance is extremelyattractive, both scientifically and scenically. Previous exploratiens It is not known if the McCall Valley had been visited prior to 1957; however, in the early 1900’s a prospector, T. H. Arey, travelled along the Jag0 River from its mouth at the arctic coast to its headwaters, bringing back reports of glaciers existing in its western tributary valleys. E. de K. Leffingwell (1919) travelled extensively in the Canning Riverregion during the years between 1906 and 1914 and described the bedrock and surface geology. One such trip was made along the Okpilak River, which is the first major stream to the west of Jag0 River. A US. Geological Survey party (Wittington and Sable 1948) spent a short time on the Okpilak River in 1948 and did a reconnaissance survey of the bedrock.
    [Show full text]
  • Permafrost Terrain Dynamics and Infrastructure Impacts Revealed by UAV Photogrammetry and Thermal Imaging
    remote sensing Article Permafrost Terrain Dynamics and Infrastructure Impacts Revealed by UAV Photogrammetry and Thermal Imaging Jurjen van der Sluijs 1 , Steven V. Kokelj 2,*, Robert H. Fraser 3 , Jon Tunnicliffe 4 and Denis Lacelle 5 1 NWT Centre for Geomatics, Government of Northwest Territories, Yellowknife, NT X1A 2L9, Canada; [email protected] 2 Northwest Territories Geological Survey, Government of Northwest Territories, Yellowknife, NT X1A 2L9, Canada 3 Canada Centre for Mapping and Earth Observation, Natural Resources Canada, Ottawa, ON K1A 0E4, Canada; [email protected] 4 School of Environment, University of Auckland, Auckland 1142, New Zealand; [email protected] 5 Department of Geography, Environment and Geomatics, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, ON K1N 6N5, Canada; [email protected] * Correspondence: [email protected]; Tel.: +1-867-767-9211 (ext. 63214) Received: 9 July 2018; Accepted: 12 October 2018; Published: 3 November 2018 Abstract: Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) systems, sensors, and photogrammetric processing techniques have enabled timely and highly detailed three-dimensional surface reconstructions at a scale that bridges the gap between conventional remote-sensing and field-scale observations. In this work 29 rotary and fixed-wing UAV surveys were conducted during multiple field campaigns, totaling 47 flights and over 14.3 km2, to document permafrost thaw subsidence impacts on or close to road infrastructure in the Northwest Territories, Canada. This paper provides four case studies: (1) terrain models and orthomosaic time series revealed the morphology and daily to annual dynamics of thaw-driven mass wasting phenomenon (retrogressive thaw slumps; RTS). Scar zone cut volume estimates ranged between 3.2 × 103 and 5.9 × 106 m3.
    [Show full text]
  • Glossary of Landscape and Vegetation Ecology for Alaska
    U. S. Department of the Interior BLM-Alaska Technical Report to Bureau of Land Management BLM/AK/TR-84/1 O December' 1984 reprinted October.·2001 Alaska State Office 222 West 7th Avenue, #13 Anchorage, Alaska 99513 Glossary of Landscape and Vegetation Ecology for Alaska Herman W. Gabriel and Stephen S. Talbot The Authors HERMAN w. GABRIEL is an ecologist with the USDI Bureau of Land Management, Alaska State Office in Anchorage, Alaskao He holds a B.S. degree from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and a Ph.D from the University of Montanao From 1956 to 1961 he was a forest inventory specialist with the USDA Forest Service, Intermountain Regiono In 1966-67 he served as an inventory expert with UN-FAO in Ecuador. Dra Gabriel moved to Alaska in 1971 where his interest in the description and classification of vegetation has continued. STEPHEN Sa TALBOT was, when work began on this glossary, an ecologist with the USDI Bureau of Land Management, Alaska State Office. He holds a B.A. degree from Bates College, an M.Ao from the University of Massachusetts, and a Ph.D from the University of Alberta. His experience with northern vegetation includes three years as a research scientist with the Canadian Forestry Service in the Northwest Territories before moving to Alaska in 1978 as a botanist with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. or. Talbot is now a general biologist with the USDI Fish and Wildlife Service, Refuge Division, Anchorage, where he is conducting baseline studies of the vegetation of national wildlife refuges. ' . Glossary of Landscape and Vegetation Ecology for Alaska Herman W.
    [Show full text]
  • Alaska Roads Historic Overview
    Alaska Roads Historic Overview Applied Historic Context of Alaska’s Roads Prepared for Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities February 2014 THIS PAGE INTENTIONALLY LEFT BLANK Alaska Roads Historic Overview Applied Historic Context of Alaska’s Roads Prepared for Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities Prepared by www.meadhunt.com and February 2014 Cover image: Valdez-Fairbanks Wagon Road near Valdez. Source: Clifton-Sayan-Wheeler Collection; Anchorage Museum, B76.168.3 THIS PAGE INTENTIONALLY LEFT BLANK Table of Contents Table of Contents Page Executive Summary .................................................................................................................................... 1 1. Introduction .................................................................................................................................... 3 1.1 Project background ............................................................................................................. 3 1.2 Purpose and limitations of the study ................................................................................... 3 1.3 Research methodology ....................................................................................................... 5 1.4 Historic overview ................................................................................................................. 6 2. The National Stage ........................................................................................................................
    [Show full text]
  • Icing Blister Development on Bylot Island, Nunavut, Canada
    Permafrost, Phillips, Springman & Arenson (eds) © 2003 Swets & Zeitlinger, Lisse, ISBN 90 5809 582 7 Icing blister development on Bylot Island, Nunavut, Canada F.A. Michel & S.P. Paquette Earth Sciences, Carleton University, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada ABSTRACT: Ice blisters were discovered forming in a small valley surrounded by alpine glaciers on southern Bylot Island, Nunavut. The entire valley floor is covered by either perennial or annual icings that originate from gla- cial melt water and precipitation. Stable isotope profiles with depth for a completely formed icing blister displayed a pattern of progressive downward freezing. This indicates that it was formed under near equilibrium conditions in a closed system environment. A rapid shift in the profiles, relative to the theoretical isotope curves, indicates that a rupture and partial water loss with no injection of additional water occurred during the freezing process. The iso- topic data demonstrate that icing blisters develop in a similar manner to frost blisters. The icing blisters have no soil cover, but instead rely on previously formed aufeis to provide a confining layer for the injected water. Carbonate precipitate found within the basal zone of a blister, and the local geology, suggest that the source water for this blister was from groundwater discharging along the southern margin of the valley. Other small snow-cored mounds discovered within the annual icing are not formationally related to the icing blisters. 1 INTRODUCTION differentiate between icing blisters and icing mounds, to determine the hydrological source of the icing blis- Icing blisters are mounds formed by the seasonal freez- ter water, and to determine the mechanism of forma- ing of water injected under pressure into aufeis, and tion; a single versus multiple pulse of water injection.
    [Show full text]