| Title | Periglacial landforms of the Grays Bay Road corridor region, Nunavut, and implications for climate-resilient infrastructure |
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| Licence | Please note the adoption of the Open Government Licence - Canada
supersedes any previous licences. |
| Author | Morse, P D ;
Smith, S L; Parker, R J |
| Source | Geological Survey of Canada, Scientific Presentation 123, 2021, 1 sheet, https://doi.org/10.4095/328247  Open Access |
| Image |  |
| Year | 2021 |
| Publisher | Natural Resources Canada |
| Meeting | Arctic Change 2020 Conference; December 7-10, 2020 |
| Document | serial |
| Lang. | English |
| Media | on-line; digital |
| Related | This publication is related to Paraglacial and
paraperiglacial landform-sediment assemblages of the Grays Bay Road corridor region, NU, and implications for climate-resilient infrastructure |
| File format | pdf |
| Province | Nunavut |
| NTS | 76E; 76L; 76M |
| Area | Grays Bay |
| Lat/Long WENS | -112.0000 -110.0000 68.0000 65.5000 |
| Subjects | surficial geology/geomorphology; environmental geology; geophysics; Nature and Environment; Science and Technology; Health and Safety; engineering geology; permafrost; ground ice; massive ice;
periglacial features; ice-wedge polygons; landforms; sediments; climate effects; sediment stability; ground temperatures; subsidence; sediment transport; drainage; models; creep; remote sensing; satellite imagery; Canadian Shield; Slave Province;
ArcticDEM; Climate change; Northern Canada; permafrost thaw; Infrastructures; glaciofluvial sediments; Digital elevation data |
| Illustrations | location maps; satellite images; geoscientific sketch maps; bar graphs; photographs |
| Program | Climate Change
Geoscience Permafrost |
| Released | 2021 06 14 |
| Abstract | (unpublished)
Knowledge of permafrost conditions is required to develop climate-resilient northern infrastructure and to identify potential geohazards. Where present, permafrost constitutes a
landscape foundation. Its stability and integrity are controlled by ground temperatures, surficial and bedrock materials, and ice contents, which are, in turn, a function of landscape history. The effects of permafrost thaw include decreased load
bearing capacity, ground surface settlement, and increased transport of sediment and water (melted ice). In rapidly changing northern climates, these adjustments to thaw can be major geohazards for northern infrastructure, but with differential
effects due to the often-heterogeneous distribution of surficial materials. Development of climate-resilient northern infrastructure can benefit from a holistic landsystem approach, which attempts to understand how a landscape was formed by
investigating the collection of landforms and sediments within it. Our research considers paraglacial and paraperiglacial landform-sediment assemblages (not landforms or sediments in isolation) that constitute the landscape of northern Slave
Geological Province and attempts to link them to the processes that formed them. The goal is to enable inferences on past and future landscape evolution supported by process-form models established from contemporary examples, in a region where very
little is known about permafrost conditions. Here we present newly mapped landform-sediment assemblages, and patterns in their spatial distribution, for 72% of the 1600 km2 area that is within 5 km of the proposed Grays Bay Road corridor. In
combination with sparse sedimentological and cryostratigraphic records, we develop a set of preliminary process-form models. One notable landform-sediment assemblage is glaciofluvial deposits over massive ice, dissected by ice-wedge polygons.
Exhibiting long-term creep, this assemblage likely has the highest potential for thermal adjustment, and represents a substantial potential geohazard in this region that needs to be considered in planning climate-resilient infrastructure. |
| Summary | (Plain Language Summary, not published)
Knowledge of permafrost conditions is required to develop climate-resilient northern infrastructure and to identify potential geological hazards. This
poster presents a summary of preliminary permafrost mapping within in the vicinity of the proposed Grays Bay Road and Port Project, northern Slave Geological Province, Nunavut, a region where very little is known about permafrost conditions. A
potential geohazard associated with glacial deposits modified by permafrost processes is identified. |
| GEOSCAN ID | 328247 |
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