Frequency of relic frost-fissure structures and prediction of polygon pattern – a quantitative approach
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.26485/BP/1986/30/7Keywords:
thermal contraction cracks, detection of polygons, simulation of polygonal pattern, polypalaeotemperatures, Younger Dryas, ScotlandAbstract
The location of fifty relic frost fissures exposed in Devensian outwash deposits in a Scottish gravel pit were mapped, and the observed fissure distributions were compared with similar data obtained from transect measurements based on aerial photographs and published maps of frost-fissure polygonal networks in Europe and North America. These measurements provided a series of empirical, predictive equations relating the distributions of fissure structures exposed along linear transects to the areal pattern of associated polygonal networks, in turn allowing former polygon diameters and likely paleo-polygonal patterns to be predicted. Although some of the fissure structures appear to be of syngenetic origin, the majority are epigenetic and are believed to date from Younger Dryas times. Wedge frequency and predicted polygon diameters in the Scottish gravel pit compare closely with active ice-wedge polygons in Northern Alaska and Arctic Canada, suggesting that during Younger Dryas times permafrost was probably extensive and mean annual temperatures were up to 16°C lower in eastern Scotland than at present.
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