PERMAFROST 



By Robert F. Black 

 Oeologist, United States Qeologival Survey 



IWith 12 plates] 



Permafrost (perennially frozen ground) is a widespread geologic 

 phenomenon whose importance and ramifications are rapidly becom- 

 ing better known and more clearly understood. For many decades 

 European scientists have been describing surficial features produced by 

 frost action and permafrost, but for the most part they have given only 

 passing reference to the perennially frozen ground. The current 

 problem is to understand permafrost in order to evaluate it in the light 

 of any particular endeavor, whether practical or academic. To under- 

 stand ^permafrost we need a precise, standardized terminology, a 

 comprehensive classification of forms, a systemization of available 

 data, and coordination of eJETort by geologists, engineers, physicists, 

 botanists, climatologists, and other scientists in broad research pro- 

 grams. These objectives are only graduall}' being realized. 



This paper is largely a compilation of or reference to recent avail- 

 able literature. Its purpose is to make information more generally 

 available concerning some of the many ramifications and practical 

 applications of f)ermafrost. New data from unpublished manu- 

 scripts in the files of the United States Geological Survey also are 

 included where appropriate for clarity or completeness. Inna V. 

 Poire, of the United States Geological Survey, has prepared numerous 

 condensations of Russian papers on permafrost and made them avail- 

 able to the author. Others were made available through the Na- 

 tional Military Establishment. The library of the Engineers School, 

 the Engineer Center, Fort Belvoir, Va., has many abstracts, condensa- 

 tions, and translations of Russian works that are available to civilian 

 readers. References in this paper generally are only to the later 

 American or German works, as most contain accounts of the earlier 

 literature. The bulk of the literature, unfortunately, is in Russian 

 and unavailable to the average reader, but some of it has been sima- 

 marized by Muller (1945) . A list of 190 titles of Russian articles deal- 

 ing with permafrost is given by Weinberg (1940) . The Arctic Insti- 



' Published by permission of the Director, U. S. Geological Survey. Reprinted by permission from 

 Trask's Applied Sedimentation, published by John Wiley & Sous, Inc., 1950. Minor modifications have 

 been made, and some new references have been added by the author, but no attempt has been made to 

 revise the paper completely or to list all new permafrost papers. 



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