Number 13 The News Bulletin of the International Permafrost Association International Permafrost Association The International Permafrost Association was founded in 1983 and has as its objectives fostering the dissemination of knowledge concerning permafrost and promoting cooperation among persons and national or international organizations engaged in scientific investigations and engineering work on permafrost. Membership is through adhering national organizations. The IPA is governed by a Council consisting of representatives from 18 countries having interests in some aspects of theoretical, basic and applied frozen ground research (includes permafrost, seasonal frost, artificial freezing and periglacial phenomena). Working Groups organize and coordinate research activities. The IPA became an Affiliated Organization of the International Union of Geological Sciences in July 1989. The Association's primary responsibility is the convening of the international permafrost conferences. The first conference was held in the U.S. in 1963; the second in Yakutsk, Siberia, 1973: the third in Edmonton, Canada, 1978; the fourth in Fairbanks, Alaska, 1983: and the fifth in Trondheim, Norway. 1988. The sixth conference is planned for China in 1993. Field excursions are an integral part of each Conference, and are organized by the host country. Officers of the International Permafrost Association President Vice President Dr. T.L. Pew6 Dr. V.P. Melnikov Department of Geology Scientific Council on Earth Cryology Arizona State University USSR Academy of Sciences Tempe, AZ 85287- 1404 Fersman Street. I I USA 173 12 Moscow Tel: (602) 965-2883 Russia Telex: 156- 1085 ASA UT Tel: (7-095) 124 54 72 Fax: (602) 965-8 102 Vice-President Secretary General Professor Cheng Guodong Dr. J. Ross hlackay Lanzhou Institute of Glaciology Department of Geography and Geocryology #217 1984 West Mall Acadernia Sinica University of British Columbia Lanzhou Vancouver, BC V6T 122 China Canada Tel: 26726-385 Tel: (604) 822-2257 or 2663 Telex: 72008 IGCAS CN Fax: (604) 822-6 150 Fax: 86-93 1-485241 Adhering Member Countries Argentina France Poland Belgium Germany Russia Canada Italy Sweden China Japan Switzerland Denmark Netherlands United Kingdom Finland Norway USA Cover Photograph: Head ?fa par/iulcorcas.c (fanexrit~cf bison. Bison priscus, di.sco~~~redA~rg~rsr1951 ill fro:m.rilr of /Ire Goldslt-c,ar?ifot.~lraliotl (Wisco~rri~i) tlr~rir~g placer gold nlining operurions otl Donze Creek. 25 ki1on1eler.s11orl11 of Foirbatlks, ,\lasku. A radioco,botl dare (!fZI.400(+2040 or-1x15) !ear.s was ohrai~tcdotl n pirce of rllr. hide bx /Ire radiocorbotl lahor~lror?.of'rlle Geolo~icolSltnjey of Swede11 (ST 1721). Tlie lighr-colored .srth.sro~~ceoti rile Iridc, is \'iviatli/e, at1 iro11phosphnre tiiitleral (phorograpl~tro. PK 17.5XB. hj T.L. PJwh. 3 Scplet~lberlYjl). See Glresr R(zporf,p. 5. FROZEN GROUND The News Bulletin of the lnternational Permafrost Association Number 13 June 1993 President's Column 2 Reports of IPA Standing Committees and Working Groups Editorial Terminology Guest Report-Permafrost and Fossil Mammals as a Focus for Interdisciplinary Arctic Research News from Member Countries Canada China Japan-Russia United States Miscellaneous 10 Frost '93 Southern Hemisphere Report Spain lnternational Union of Geological Sciences International Permafrost Association Constitution and ByLaws 11 Publications 15 Ice on the Equator Proceedings of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Geographical Series Memoirs of Lanzhou Institute of Glaciology and Geocryology Journal of Glaciology and Geocryology Permafrost and Periglacial Processes Alaskan Field Guidebooks lnternational Conferences on Permafrost ISOPE Publications lnternaticnal Symposia on Ground Freezing Heat Transfer Symposia Recent and Forthcoming Meetings 2 1 IPA National Contact Addresses 24 Additional Information for the VI International Conference on Permafrost Inside back cover Frozerz Ground, the News Bulletin of the International Permafrost Association (IPA), is published semi-annually. The IPA is a non-governmental association of national organizations representing 18 countries. The success of the bulletin is entirely dependent upon the willingness of IPA participants to supply information for publication. Copy date for issue No. 14 is the end of October 1993. Please ensure that working group and member country reports are submitted in good time for publication. News items for inclusion in the Miscellaneous section are also very welcome from any IPA participant, as are interesting photographs for the cover (please furnish 8"x 10" black and white glossy prints). For copies of Frozen Grourld and submission of news items or photos please contact the appropriate individual listed on page 24 or Chairman, IPA Editorial Committee, P.O. Box 9200, Arlington, Virginia 2221'1-0200, USA. Issue No. 13 of Froze11 GI-ourztlwas compiled by Jerry Brown Production is courtesy of the Cold Region? Research and Engineering Laboratory. Hanover, New Hampshire. USA. Frorcn Ground 1 PRESIDENT'S COLUMN It has been 10 years since the official founding of the functioning well. Our major source of revenue is dues; International Permafrost Association in 1983 at the 13 countries are currently contributing. Fourth International Conference on Permafrost held at The Editorial Committee (J. Brown) has been exceed- Fairbanks, Alaska. But it has been 20 years since the ingly active editing and preparing for publication the idea for an international organization was advanced by papers for the VI Permafrost Conference in Beijing; P.I. Melnikov at the Second International Conference initiating and preparing the permafrost map of the north- on Permafrost held at Yakutsk, USSR, in 1973. ern hemisphere; and establishing and having published Our international activities started with the first Inter- the semi-annual PA News Bulletin Frozen Ground. national Conference on Permafrost held at Lafayette, The "Circumarctic Permafrost Map and Ground Ice Indiana, USA, in 1963. It has been my privilege to par- Conditions" at a scale of 1:10.000,000 is an ambitious ticipate in all of the conferences to date and serve as undertaking by a committee from Canada, Russia, and vice-president of PA, 1983-1 988, and president, 1988- USA (J. Brown, Chairman). The base map was pre- 1993. Ross Mackay has been our founding, hard-work- pared by the U.S. Geological Survey, which will print ing, and guiding Secretary General for the pioneer 10 and publish the multi-colored map, the first at this scale years. Ross and I extend our heartfelt thanks to the oth- and with an international legend. The 24-page IPA er members of the Executive Committee who guided News Bulletin, Frozen Ground, has been well-received the Association through these early years: P.I. Melni- worldwide since its initiation in 1990 when it grew from kov, President, 1983-1988; Kaare Flaate, Vice-Presi- the original IPA newsletter. Publication production is dent, 1983-1988; and Cheng Guodong and V.P. Melni- courtesy of the Cold Regions Research and Engineer- kov, Vice Presidents, 1988-1993. For the last 5 years, ing Laboratory, Hanover, N.H., USA, and 1600 copies personnel of the Standing Committees, Working Groups are printed and distributed. and National Adhering Bodies have greatly aided in the The Advisory Committee on Working Groups (C.W. development of our active organization. Lovell) is undertaking to formalize "operational pro- Perhaps it would be well to review progress of the IPA cedures" for the Working Groups and reviews propos- in this report, especially of the last 5 years. Four of the als for new Working Groups. This is the oversight com- 18 Adhering Member Countries (Canada, China, USA, mittee for these important activities of IPA. As with USSR) were charter members, and the others joined in similar organizations,the Working Groups of PAcon- the last 10 years. Application for membership is pend- stitute the heart of the "action center." Six groups were ing for a group of countries representing southern Af- organized in July 1988 and one in 1992, and one is pend- rica, and three other countries are currently consider- ing. They are: Present Global Change and Permafrost; ing membership. Our constitution and bylaws were Mountain Permafrost; Terminology;Data and Informa- formalized in 1988 and revised in 1993 (see p. 11). tion; Foundations; Periglacial Environments; Seasonal Freezing and Thawing in Permafrost Areas; and Cryo- With a firm foundation laid, PAunderwent an exten- sols (pending).The Groups are responsible for conduct- sive maturing and expansion. The Executive Commit- ing symposia and field conferences, and for publica- tee and members of the Council have met every year: tion of such activities and papers during inter-confer- 1988 (Oslo), 1989 (Yamburg, Siberia, USSR), 1990 ence periods. It is a pleasure to report that the Working (Quebec City), 1991 (Beijing), 1992 (Washington, Groups have been exceedingly active since their incep- D.C.) and 1993 (Beijing). In 1989 IPA was approved tion with field symposia on various subjects in Switzer- as an Affiliated Organization of the International Union land, Russia, United States, Canada, Sweden, Nether- of Geological Sciences (IUGS), one of the largest and lands, France, and others; and publication of symposium most active non-governmental scientific organizations results as well as bibliographies and multilingual glos- in the world. saries. We look forward to many additional activities The establishment and functioning of Standing Com- over the next five years. mittees and Working Groups during the last 5 years The future of IPA looks bright. Best wishes for suc- probably has been the most important action of the IPA cess to the new Executive Committee taking over at to date. The Finance Committee (H.M. French) recom- the Conference in Beijing in July. mended revision of our dues structure, and despite in- ternational financial difficulties, the organization is Troy L. Pewe, President, IPA REPORTS OF IPA STANDING COMMITTEES AND WORKING GROUPS Complete reports for all Committees and Working Groups will be available at the IPA Council Meeting in Beijing in July 1993 and summaries will be published in the December 1993 issue of Frozen Ground.