Pingos and pingo-like forms, Banks Island, Western Canadian Arctic
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.26485/BP/1976/26/14Keywords:
periglacial oval forms, freezing of taliks, thermokarstAbstract
The work describes a group of hills reaching several meters in height, numerous on the lower terrace of the Bernard River in its middle course, as well as similar hills in the upper Sachs Valley. The studied forms are most often round or oval; some of them are elongated in appearance. Most of the hills in the region are characterized by a distinct concavity located in the central part. As observed from geological sections, the hills contain a core of ice covered into a mantle of gravel, sand, and silt reaching 1 to 2 meters thick, which supports the opinion that they represent pingo-type forms. However, they are distinguished from the classic "Mackenzie" pingos of the closed type by their morphological location, dimensions, and irregular shape. According to the authors, the slender forms of the Bernard and Sachs valleys must have developed as a result of the freezing of taliks that probably existed in the permeable deposits located below the ancient river beds. The sunken central parts, often with small lakes inside, show that the forms are currently in a state of degradation.
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