Irregular land surface of marshy hollows and small hummocks formed as permafrost thaws
Permafrost thaw ponds in Hudson Bay, Canada in 2008.
Thermokarst is a type of terrain characterised by very irregular surfaces of marshy hollows and small hummocks formed as ice-rich permafrost thaws. The land surface type occurs in Arctic areas, and on a smaller scale in mountainous areas such as the Himalayas and the Swiss Alps.
These pitted surfaces resemble clusters of small lakes formed by dissolution of limestone in some karst areas, which is how they came to have "karst" attached to their name, even though no limestone is actually present. Small domes that form on the surface due to frost heaving with the onset of winter are only temporary features. They collapse during the following summer thaw, leaving a small surface depression. Some ice lenses grow and form larger surface hummocks ("pingos") which can last for many years, and sometimes become covered with grasses and sedges, until they begin to thaw. These domed surfaces eventually collapse – either annually or after longer periods – and form depressions which become part of the uneven terrains included under the general category of thermokarst.
The formation of permafrost thaw lakes due to warming climate is a positive feedback loop, as methane, nitrous oxide and carbon dioxide are released as permafrost thaws, contributing to further climate warming.[1][2]
The Batagaika crater in Siberia is an example of a large thermokarst depression.
^Cite error: The named reference vanHuissteden-etal-2011 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^Nield, David (12 December 2021). "Scientists Find a New Source of a Greenhouse Gas Emissions in The Siberian Permafrost". ScienceAlert. Retrieved 13 December 2021.
Thermokarst is a type of terrain characterised by very irregular surfaces of marshy hollows and small hummocks formed as ice-rich permafrost thaws. The...
The Batagaika crater is a thermokarst depression in the Chersky Range area. The biggest permafrost crater in the world, it administratively belongs to...
regions of continuous permafrost, taliks often occur underneath shallow thermokarst lakes and rivers, where the deep water does not freeze in winter and...
the Carolina bays as relict thermokarst lakes that have been modified by eolian and lacustrine processes. Modern thermokarst lakes are common today around...
Bays as relict thermokarst lakes that formed several thousands of years ago when the climate was colder, drier, and windier. Thermokarst lakes develop...
phylum have been detected in a variety of environments, including a deep thermokarst lake in the Sasapimakwananisikw River Valley (QC, Canada), an acetate-amended...
flat and rolling tundra. The entire region is on continuous permafrost. Thermokarst lakes are common, caused by the freezing and thawing of permafrost. The...
Disbrow, J. (2020). "Increase in beaver dams controls surface water and thermokarst dynamics in an Arctic tundra region, Baldwin Peninsula, northwestern...
produced by the thaw of particularly ice-rich permafrost are known as thermokarst lakes. Not all of the methane produced in the sediment of a lake reaches...
thermokarst processes. It contains numerous deep erosive cuts created by the seasonal melting of the permafrost. Numerous baydzharakhs, thermokarst mounds...
the permafrost, creating a thermokarst, the scientific name for a ground slump caused by melting permafrost. The thermokarst undermines the shallow root...
annual ground temperature, increased active layer thickness, talik and thermokarst development and disappearance of permafrost islands. The interchange...
the geological structures themselves. Fabric (geology) Fissure vein Thermokarst Topography "Volcano Watch — A recap of the Kamoamoa fissure eruption...
disappear and for raising awareness as to the important roles permafrost and thermokarst lakes play in the global carbon cycle. According to a colleague, Sergey...
Disbrow, Jeff (2020). "Increase in beaver dams controls surface water and thermokarst dynamics in an Arctic tundra region, Baldwin Peninsula, northwestern...
Bologovsky district, Tver region, Russia List of karst springs Ponor Cenote Thermokarst Rogulj, Daniela (2016-10-04). "Drone footage of the Cetina like you have...
Society portal History portal Mythology portal Batagaika crater, a thermokarst depression growing in the East Siberian taiga Darvaza gas crater, also...
river – River that runs wholly or partly beneath the ground surface Thermokarst – Irregular land surface of marshy hollows and small hummocks formed...
Bays as relict thermokarst lakes that formed several thousands of years ago when the climate was colder, drier, and windier. Thermokarst lakes develop...
slope processesPages displaying short descriptions of redirect targets Thermokarst – Irregular land surface of marshy hollows and small hummocks formed...
1970s were erosion by water or thermokarst activity, which is the melting of permafrost in glacial climes. Thermokarst activity may have contributed,...
about 70 thousand lakes. In the north and central parts are widespread thermokarst lakes and predominately marsh in the south. The Red Book of Tyumen Oblast...
Soare, E., et al. 2019. Possible (closed system) pingo and ice-wedge/thermokarst complexes at the mid latitudes of Utopia Planitia, Mars. Icarus. doi:10...
ice-rich permafrost areas, melting of ground ice initiates thermokarst landforms such as thermokarst lakes, thaw slumps, thermal-erosion gullies, and active...
trapped in methane clathrates. Permafrost thaw results in the formation of thermokarst lakes in ice-rich yedoma deposits. Methane frozen in permafrost is slowly...
consists mostly of permafrost ground and there are numerous lakes of thermokarst origin, the biggest of which are Neito and Yambuto in the central part...
most active and dynamic feature of thermokarst—the collapse of the land surface as ground ice melts. They are thermokarst slope failures due to abrupt thawing...
Lin, Yuan; Muller, Jan; -1#Jung-, Shih- (2010). "Hesperian equatorial thermokarst lakes in Ares Vallis as evidence for transient warm conditions on Mars"...
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