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Permafrost-Hydrogeologic Regimen in Two Ice-Free Valleys, Antarctica, from Electrical Depth Sounding

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

L.D. McGinnis  and
T.E. Jensen
L.D. McGinnis
Affiliation:
Department of Geology, Northern Illinois University, DeKalb, Illinois 60115 USA
T.E. Jensen
Affiliation:
Formerly at Northern Illinois University
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Abstract

Electrical resistivity field measurements and subsequent laboratory analyses of the electrical properties of soils and rocks, both frozen and unfrozen, are used to describe the type and configuration of permafrost in Wright and Taylor Valleys, Antarctica. Rock and soil samples saturated with potable water have resistivities that increase four orders of magnitude when cooled from +21°C to −25°C. Resistivities greater than 10,000 ohm-m are associated with an impermeable variety of permafrost referred to in this paper as confining permafrost. Confining permafrost is continuous throughout the ice-free valleys except near McMurdo Sound and under saline lakes. A hydrologic connection between lakes and the groundwater reservoir beneath the lakes is inferred; thus, part of the brines contained in the lakes may be derived from groundwater.

Type
Original Articles
Information
Quaternary Research , Volume 1 , Issue 3 , September 1971 , pp. 389 - 409
Copyright
University of Washington

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