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Reinterpretation of Pingos in Antarctica

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Sean J. Fitzsimons
Sean J. Fitzsimons*
Affiliation:
Department of Geography, University of Newcastle, Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia 2308
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Abstract

In 1983 pingos were reported in the Vestfold Hills, Antarctica. The features form dome-shaped hills up to 4 m high and 12 m in diameter and occur on an ice-cored moraine. Their form, structure, and sedimentary processes observed on the surface of the moraine, together with a consideration of the environmental requirements for pingo growth preclude their origin as pingos. They appear to be residual landforms that have formed on the surface of the moraine as the ice core has been destroyed by ablation and thermal erosion. The previous interpretation of the features has relied on the shape of the hills and their occurrence in a similar geologic setting to pingos in the Northern Hemisphere. The interpretation appears to have misinterpreted tension cracks and coherent slumping of sediment as dilation cracks and as evidence for the extrusion of a central sediment plug. Pingos on supraglacial debris have not been described from any other locations and it seems that their formation is inconsistent with the ablation of the ice core of moraines.

Type
Research Article
Information
Quaternary Research , Volume 32 , Issue 1 , July 1989 , pp. 114 - 116
Copyright
University of Washington

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