NRC Publications Archive Archives des publications du CNRC Observations on Pingos Müller, F. 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/10.4224/20331612 Technical Translation (National Research Council of Canada), 1963 NRC Publications Record / Notice d'Archives des publications de CNRC: https://nrc-publications.canada.ca/eng/view/object/?id=4c481ba8-edcf-4352-97aa-c43e4c651a8c https://publications-cnrc.canada.ca/fra/voir/objet/?id=4c481ba8-edcf-4352-97aa-c43e4c651a8c 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]. NRC NRC TT - 1073 TT - 1073 TECHNICAL TRANSLATION 1073 OBSERVATIONS ON PINGOS FROM MEDDELELSER OM GR~NLAND.VOL. 153, NO. 3, 1959. 127 P. TRANSUTED BY D. A. SlNCLAlR THIS IS THE ONE HUNDRED AND EIGHTH OF THE SERIES OF TRANSLATIONS PREPARED FOR THE DIVISION OF BUlLDlNG RESEARCH OTTAWA 1963 ---.- -- NATIONAL RESEARCH COUNCIL OF CANADA Technioal Trans lation 1073 Title: Observations on plngos (~eobachtungen8ber Pingoa) Author : Fritz ~8ller Reference: Meddelelser om ~rbnland,Vol. 153, No. 3, 1959. 127 PO Translator: D.A. Sinclair, Translations Section, N.R.C. Library PREFACE This translation of an intensive study of pingos in the Mackenzie River delta region of northern Canada, and in East Greenland, is of particular interest to the Division of Building Research in its studies of the fundamental and engineering aspects of permafrost and the natural features associated with this phenomenon. Pingos are the most striking landforms in the permafrost region and their origin has long been the subject of much speculation. Prior to the investigations reported in this work, field atudies in North America of these unusual features were limited and scattered. Observations have been made in Siberia for some years but the resulting Russian publications have not been generally avaiiable. During the summer of 1954, the author, who la now Field Director of the Jacobsen-McGi11 Arctic Research Expedition to Axel Heiberg Island conducted systematic detailed surface and subsurface inveatiga- tions of pingos In East Greenland. This waa followed in 1955 by similar investigations of several pingos near Tuktoyaktuk, N.W.T., in the Mackenzie River delta region. The Di~iaionof Building Research was privileged to be able to assiat Dr. Muller with some of his field equipment and soil testing and has since maintained close contact with him. His findings enabled him to make well-founded suppo~itionsas to their origin and history which have contributed to a better understand- ing of some of the geological processes associated with permafrost. Thanks are due to Mr. D.A. Slnclair, Translations Section, National Research Council, who translated this document. Ottawa N.B. Hutcheon May 1963 Assistant Director Page Foreword ............................................................. 5 I . Introduction A . General survey ............................................... 7 B . Purpose of the work .......................................... 7 C . Basic concepts ............................................... 7 D . The technical term "pingo" ................................... 9 . The pingos south of .the Werner Bjerge. East Greenland A . Topographical and geological-morphological description ....... g B . The Classical Plngo .......................................... 10 C . The A~nphitheatrePlngo ....................................... 12 D . The Rock Pingo ............................................... 12 E . The Mineral Lake Pingo ....................................... 14 111 . The pingos on Trail1 Island. East Greenland A . Introduction and geographical-geological description ......... 16 B . Equipment ................................................... 17 C . The Trout Lake Plngo ......................................... 18 D . The Crater Lake Pingo ........................................ 22 E . The Source Pingo ............................................. 25 F . The Glacier Pingo ............................................ 28 G . The Goose Plngo .............................................. 32 H . The Antecedence Pingo ........................................ 33 I . The pingos in the Maanedal ................................... 33 N . Morphogenesis of the East Greenland pingos A . Outline of permafrost and climatic conditions in East Greenland .................................................... 34 B . The East Greenland pingos as an open system and a permafrost phenomenon ................................................... 37 C . The physics of East Greenland ping08 ......................... 39 1. Mechanical forces ......................................... 39 2 . The temperature regime .................................... 42 D . Formulation of the hypothesis for the formation of pingoa of the East Greenland type ...................................... 45 E . Discussion and criticism of earlier hypotheses on the formation of East Greenland type pingos ...................... 46 V . The plngos in the northeast Mackenzie delta. Canada A . Introduction ................................................. 47 B . The Crater Summit Pingo ....................................... 49 C . The Sitiyok Pingo ............................................ 53 D . The ice cellar at Toker Point ................................ 55 E . Sumnary and discussion of some properties of the pingo ice body ..................................................... 56 1. Crystal dlmenoions and density determinations ............. 56 2 . Temperature conditions .................................... 58 VI. Morphogenesls of the blackenzle pingos A . The historical cycle of the Mackenzie ping03 .the closed system ....................................................... 59 B . Dl3cusslon and review of earlier explanations of the Ilackcnzie plngo:, ............................................ 62 C . Surnrr.ary ...................................................... 63 VII . The diatributlon of pingoe in the light of the investigatlona of the East Greenland and Mackenzle plngos A . Introduction and terminology ................................ B . Outline of the d1stributlon of plngos ....................... 1 . Greenland ................................................ 2 . Canadian Arctlc .......................................... 3 . Alaska ................................................... 4 . Eurasia .................................................. C . Reults of the study of plngo dlatributlon .................. VIII . Concluding remarks ............................................. Plates ............................................................... Note on the translation of geographic namea .......................... OBSERVATIONS ON PU00S Detailed Investl~atlonnin East Greenland and in the Canadian Arctic Foreword In the summers of 1950 and 1951 Dr. huge Koch, Leader of the Danish East Greenland expeditions had a number of photographs of the pingos of East Green- land taken by the aerial photographer E. Hofer. Some of these excellent docu- mentary photographs have since been reproduced and diacussed on several occasions (~atler1954, plate V; Plaarleveld and Van den Toorn 1955, p. 350; Pissart 1956, p. 127; Hofer 1957, p. 55, 116). Until the smer expedltlons of 1954, and especially 1955, there had been no opportunity for a field study of the pingo phenomenon. Prof. Dr. P. Bearth, with whose team I was associated in the summer 1954 in the Werner Bjerge, strongly supported my intention of investigating the pingos to the south of this group of mountains. It is thanks to him and to the vigorous help of niy associate Dr. R. Ganzoni that we were able to collect some extremely valuable data on these highly interesting pingos within a few days in August, 1954. A grant of the Carnegie Foundation for the academic year of 1954-55 made it possible for me to continue my investigations on pingos at the Arctic Institute of North America and at McGill University, Montreal. The Institute there afforded me an opportunity of examining a large part of the literature on this subject which is difficult of access. In the spring and early summer of 1955 I organized a small expedition to the Plackenzle delta, N.W.T., Canada, under the auspices of the Arctic Institute of North America, for the purpose of making a comparative study of the very numerous pingos there with the East Greenland formations. The U.S. Air Force provided free transportation froin Edmonton to the field and back. The Eskimo, David Nasoguluak of Tulctoyaktuk,