Permafrost Investigations at Thompson, Manitoba: Terrain Studies Johnston, G
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NRC Publications Archive Archives des publications du CNRC Permafrost investigations at Thompson, Manitoba: terrain studies Johnston, G. H.; Brown, R. J. E.; Pickersgill, D. N. For the publisher’s version, please access the DOI link below./ Pour consulter la version de l’éditeur, utilisez le lien DOI ci-dessous. Publisher’s version / Version de l'éditeur: https://doi.org/10.4224/20375716 Technical Paper (National Research Council of Canada. Division of Building Research), 1963-10 NRC Publications Archive Record / Notice des Archives des publications du CNRC : https://nrc-publications.canada.ca/eng/view/object/?id=b2107435-7cd0-428d-b6b9-047d5de227a5 https://publications-cnrc.canada.ca/fra/voir/objet/?id=b2107435-7cd0-428d-b6b9-047d5de227a5 Access and use of this website and the material on it are subject to the Terms and Conditions set forth at https://nrc-publications.canada.ca/eng/copyright READ THESE TERMS AND CONDITIONS CAREFULLY BEFORE USING THIS WEBSITE. L’accès à ce site Web et l’utilisation de son contenu sont assujettis aux conditions présentées dans le site https://publications-cnrc.canada.ca/fra/droits LISEZ CES CONDITIONS ATTENTIVEMENT AVANT D’UTILISER CE SITE WEB. Questions? Contact the NRC Publications Archive team at [email protected]. If you wish to email the authors directly, please see the first page of the publication for their contact information. Vous avez des questions? Nous pouvons vous aider. Pour communiquer directement avec un auteur, consultez la première page de la revue dans laquelle son article a été publié afin de trouver ses coordonnées. Si vous n’arrivez pas à les repérer, communiquez avec nous à [email protected]. Ser TH]. N21t2 nr. l-58 e.2 BI,DG Frontispiece No. I - International Nickel Company of Canada Plant Site - Thompson, Manitoba. Frontlspiece No. 2 - Thornpson townsite - view to West. (Photographs courtesy of Internatlonal Nickel Cornpany of Canada) NAT IONAL RESEARCH COUNCIL CANADA DIVISION OF. BUILDING RESEARCH PERMAFROST INVESTIGATIONS AT THOMPSON, MANITOBA TERRAIN STUDIES by G. H. Johnston, R. J. E. Brown and D. N. Pickersgill ANALYZED Technlcal Paper No. 158 of the Division of Building Research OTTAWA October 1963 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The authors wish to acknowledge and record thelr slncere thanks to the many persons who helped ln the gatherlng of the lnforrnatlon contained ln this report. As wlll be noted in the text, much of the infor- mation on soil and perrnafrost conditlons ln the Thompson area was obtalned from personal contacts at the site and from subsurface investigatlon reports made avallable by varlous firms working in the area. Unfortunately 6pace does not permit recordlng the names of all those who so willlngly provided assistance. The auth.ors would ltke to acknowledge, however, the interest shown by and the co-operatlon of the Internatlonal Nickel compa.ny of canada, Ltdi Mr. J. c. partee, vice-president, Mr. R. w. Hawkins, chief Engineer, and Mr. E. Kalrnanovitch, Asslstant chief Englneer. special thanks are due also to Mr. c. A" Nesbitt, Resident Adrnlnistrator for the Local Government Dlstrlct of Mystery Lake, who, because of his intimate connection with and his knowledge of the townslte development, was most helpful in providlng lnformatlon and assistance durlng the course of the studies. underwood, McLellan and Associates, consulting Englneers, saskatoon; (Mr. T'. B. Hicks, Resldent Engineer (195?-59) and Mr. R.E. Bibeau, Resident superwisor since r9s9), who designed. and supbr- vised the installatlon of sewer and water services ln the townslte and who have been involved with much of the ploneer work lnthe areawere most helpful in providing asslstance and informatlon. The excellent photographs used as a frontispiece were klndly supplied by the International Nickel company of canada, Ltd" TABLE OT' CONTENTS PAGE INTRODUCTION II DE6GR.IPTION OF' AREA A. Clirnate 1. Meteorology 3 Z. Climatic type 4 3. Air temperature 5 4. Preclpitation 6 5. Surnrnary 7 B. Geology I l. Bedrock geology 7 Z. Pleistoeene Epoch 9 III TERRAIN OBSERVATIONS LZ A. Re1lef T2 B. Drainage L3 C. Snow Cover I4. D. Vegetation 15 I. GeneraL description l5 Z. Air photo patterns L7 E. Soils t8 I. Soil pr ofile 1g (a) Surface deposlts I9 (b) Brown varved clay 19 (c) Grey varved clay zo (d) Other deposits z0 Z. Soil properties 20 (a) Grain size ZL (b) Specific gravity and densities zz (c) Natural rnoisture contents zz (d) Atterberg Lirnits and Plasticity z3 (.) Activity z4 (f) Alkali concentration z4 I (i) PAGE F. Permafrost z4 1. Permafrost observations 1n origlnal townsite z5 Z. Perrnafrost observations ln Westwood sub- divl sion z7 3. Ice segregation 29 4. Ground temperatures 3l 5. T errninology 3Z IV. PERMAFROST OCCURRENCE AT THOMPSON . A DISCUSSION 33 A. Historical 33 B. Climate 34 c. Terrain Features 37 l. Snow cover 39 Z. Relief 40 3. Drainage 4L 4. Soils 42 5. Vegetation 42 6. Anomalous permafrost occurrences 43 7. Conclusion 44 v. ENGINEERING IMP LICAT IONS 45 A. Permafrost Conditions 45 B. Slte Investigations 46 C. Design and Construction 47 VL SUMMARY ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 49 REFERENCES 49 BIBLIOGRAPHY 5l (ii ) PERMAFROST INVESTIGATIONS AT THOMPSON, MANITOBA TERRAIN STUDiES by G. H. Johnston, R. J. E. Brown and D. N. Plckersgill Thornpson, Manitoba, (55" 36rN, 98" 4ZtW) located in the north-central part of the province approxirnately 400 air rniles north of Winnipeg (Figure I), is the site of a large recently developed nickel- rnining operation of The International Nickel Cornpany of Canada, Ltd. (INCO). Construction work and development of the site began early in 1957, and the INCO plant was officially opened on 25 March 1961. It is the second largest nickel-producing operation in the world (exceeded only by the INCO plant at Sudbury, Ontario) and is the only fully fntegrated nickel plant ln the world with rnining, concentrating, smelting and refining being handled at the one site. Over a l0-year period beginnlng in L946, the International. Nickel Company of Canada, Ltd. carried out an extensive and detailed exploration prograrn in northern Manitoba which culminated in February I956 with the discovery of the Thornpson ore body. Previously, in I950, mineralized areas had been discovered at Mystery Lake and Moak Lake in the same area but the ores were not of sufftciently high grade to rnake rnining practicable. The Thornpson ore body, about Z0 miles southwest of Moak Lake, warranted full-scale developrnent, however, and in December I956 tt'te Company decided to proceed without delay. First supplies were hauled to the site by tractor train over a winter road frorn Thicket Portage on the Hudson BayRailway (mile L84.3 frorn The Pas) during the early rnonths of. 1957. By Octob er 1957, a 30.7 mile railway spur had been constructed frorn Sipiwesk (mile I99.61 enabling large quantities of materials and equiprnent to be rnoved in for the constructibn of the plant and townsite. The developrnent of the Thornpson townsite, located about 2 miles north of the rnine on the south bank of the Burntwood River, a tributary of the Nelson River (Figure z) has proceeded in conjunction with the construction of the plant. The location and layout of the town were planned by the Province of Manitoba Planning Commission in consultation with the International Nickel Cornpany. The town conslsts of three separate residential areas and an industrial area bullt around a central business district. A fourth residential area (Westwood Subdlvision) is presently under developrnent. Initially, the town was planned for a population of 8000 but it is expected that this will increase substantially, -z- to posslbly 10r 000 to 121000 by 1970. Shortly after developrnent began, the Province of Manitoba establlshed the Local Government District of Mystery Lake to administer the town of Thompson and the adjacent area. Development of the town has proceeded at a rapld but orderly pace and all areas are now served by sewer, water, roads, Power, schools and fire protection. Power is supplled to the plant and townsite by the KeIsey Generating Station of the Manitoba Hydro located 53 miles northeast of Thompson at Grand Rapid on the Nelson River. Thls hydro plant wae constructed especlally for the Thompson developrnent and the flrst power was available at the site ln June 1960. The townn served by a spur line of the Hudson Bay Railway, ls about 230 miles northeast of The Pas (or 310 mlles southwest of Churchill) and about ?00 mlles from Winnipeg by rail. An airfield was constructed at Thompson and daily flights have been serving the area slnce April 1960. A hlghway is under construction.to provlde another link with the southern part of the province. It w111connect with the Provlnce of Manitoba Hlghway No. l0 at Simonhouse, approxirnately half way between The Pas and FIin Flon. Perennialty fr ozer. ground, rnore commonly known as permafrost, was encountered during the early stages of site development. Thornpson is located near the southern boundary of the zone of discontinuous perma- frost where isolated patches of frozen ground occur (Figure 3). Some of the more difficult engineerlng problems occur in the southern boundary region because of the sporadic and irregular distribution of perenntally frozen ground. In addition, the permafrost, which is only a few feet thick and has temperatures close to 32"I', frequently contalns a considerable quantity of moisture in the forrn of lce and rnay, upon thawing, lose rnuch of its supporting strength resulting in large settlernents and even failure of various structures erected upon it. The development of the Thompson site, therefore, offered a unlque opportunity for the Division of Building Research to lnvestigate the occurrence of permafrost in the southern fringe atea. Brlef exploratory visits were made by members of the Division ln 1959 and detailed studies of perrnafrost and related engineering problerns were begun tn 1960.