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Tundra Soils Formed over Ice Wedges, Northern Alaska¹

ABSTRACT

The physical and chemical properties of tundra soils overlying ice wedges are determined and the role of ice wedge growth in the genesis of these soils is evaluated. Ice wedges form in perennially frozen ground as a result of repetitive winter cracking of the ground and filling in by ice. A thin layer of soil is isolated over the enlarging wedge in narrow depressions which result in polygonal ground. The soil thaws seasonally from the surface downward and freezes from both the top and bottom. Accompanying moisture migration results in a dehydrated midsection. No significant migration of cations or mineral grains was observed in a 70-cm deep tundra soil. The ice wedges are subjected to melting which creates new soil environments. Evidence of these changes have been traced over a 14,000-year period at Barrow, Alaska.

Key Words: polygons • thawed soil • frozen ground

¹ Contribution from US Army Cold Regions Research & Eng. Lab., Hanover, New Hampshire. Logistical support by Arctic Research Lab., Barrow, Alaska and assistance by John Roup, Robert I. Lewellen and Paul V. Sellmann are gratefully acknowledged.

² Research Soil Scientist, Earth Sciences Branch.

Received for publication April 13, 1967. Accepted for publication June 22, 1967.