土壤的冷生构造及其对阿拉斯加土地利用的意义

Cryogenic structure (patterns made by ice inclusions) in seasonally frozen and permafrost-af-fected soils result from ice formation during freezing. Analysis of cryogenic structures in soils is essential to our understanding of the cryogenic processes in soils and to formulating land use management interpretations. When soils freeze, the freezing front moves downward and attracts water moving upward resulting in mainly horizontal lenticular ice formation. Platy and lenticular soil structures form between ice lenses in upper active layer. The reticular soil structure usually forms above the permafrost table caused by freeze-back of the permafrost. The upward freeze-back resulted in platy soil structure and the volume changes following the annual freeze-thaw cycle resulted in vertical cracks. The combined result is an ice-net formation with mineral soils embedded in the ice net. The upper permafrost layer that used to be a part of the active layer has an ice content exceeding 50% due to repeated freeze-thaw cycles over time. The mineral soils appear in blocks embedded in an ice matrix. The permafrost layer that never experienced the freeze-thaw cycle often consists of alternate layers of thin ice lens and frozen soils with extreme hard consistence and has relatively lower ice content than the ice-rich layer of the upper permafrost. Ice contents and thaw settling potentials associated with each cryogenic structure should be considered in engineering and land use interpretations.     

Soft‐sediment deformation structures in a Pleistocene glaciolacustrine delta and their implications for the recognition of subenvironments in delta deposits

The development of soft‐sediment deformation structures in clastic sediments is now reasonably well‐understood but their development in various deltaic subenvironments is not. A sedimentological analysis of a Pleistocene (ca 13·1 to 15 ¹⁰Be ka) Gilbert‐type glaciolacustine delta with gravity‐induced slides and slumps in the Mosty‐Danowo tunnel valley (north‐western Poland) provides more insight, because the various soft‐sediment deformation structures in these deposits were considered in the context of their specific deltaic subenvironment. The sediments show three main groups of soft‐sediment deformation structures in layers between undeformed sediments. The first group consists of deformed cross‐bedding (inclined, overturned, recumbent, complex and sheath folds), large‐scale folds (recumbent and sheath folds) and pillows forming plastic deformations. The second group comprises pillar structures (isolated and stress), clastic dykes with sand volcanoes and clastic megadykes as examples of water‐escape structures. The third group consists of faults (normal and reverse) and extensional fissures (small fissures and neptunian dykes). Some of the deformations developed shortly after deposition of the deformed sediment, other structures developed later. This development must be ascribed to hydroplastic movement in a quasi‐solid state, and due to fluidization and liquefaction of the rapidly deposited, water‐saturated deltaic sediments. The various types of deformations were triggered by: (i) a high sedimentation rate; (ii) erosion (by wave action or meltwater currents); and (iii) ice‐sheet loading and seasonal changes in the ablation rate. Analysis of these triggers, in combination with the deformational mechanisms, have resulted – on the basis of the spatial distribution of the various types of soft‐sediment deformation structures in the delta under study – in a model for the development of soft‐sediment deformation structures in the topsets, foresets and bottomsets of deltas. This analysis not only increases the understanding of the deformation processes in both modern and ancient deltaic settings but also helps to distinguish between the various subenvironments in ancient deltaic deposits.     

Microscopic and environmental controls on the spacing and thickness of segregated ice lenses

The formation of segregated ice is of fundamental importance to a broad range of permafrost and periglacial features and phenomena. Models have been developed to account for the microscopic interactions that drive water migration, and predict key macroscopic characteristics of ice lenses, such as their spacings and thicknesses. For a given set of sediment properties, the temperature difference between the growing and incipient lenses is shown here to depend primarily on the ratio between the effective stress and the temperature deviation from bulk melting at the farthest extent of pore ice. This suggests that observed spacing between ice lenses in frozen soils, or traces of lenses in soils that once contained segregated ice, might be used to constrain the combinations of effective stress and temperature gradient that were present near the time and location at which the lower lens in each pair was initiated. The thickness of each lens has the potential to contain even more information since it depends additionally on the rate of temperature change and the permeability of the sediment at the onset of freezing. However, these complicating factors make it more difficult to interpret thickness data in terms of current or former soil conditions.     

Insights into subglacial processes inferred from the micromorphological analyses of complex diamicton stratigraphy near Illmensee‐Lichtenegg,Höchsten,Germany

Menzies, J. & Ellwanger, D. 2010: Insights into subglacial processes inferred from the micromorphological analyses of complex diamicton stratigraphy near Illmensee‐Lichtenegg, Höchsten, Germany. Boreas, 10.1111/j.1502‐3885.2010.00194.x. ISSN 0300‐9483. Investigations of a 30‐m‐high section of Pleistocene sediments at Illmensee‐Lichtenegg, Höchsten in Baden‐Württemberg provide detailed information on subglacial conditions beneath the Rhine Glacier outlet of the Alpine ice sheet in southern Germany. The sediment exposure extends from an upper cemented sand and gravel (Deckenschotter) into diamictic units that extend down to weathered Molasse bedrock. The exposure reveals sediments symptomatic of active syndepositional stress/strain processes ongoing beneath the ice sheet. Macrosedimentology reveals diamicton subfacies units and a strong uni‐direction of ice motion based on clast fabric analyses. At the microscale level, thin‐section analyses provide a substantially clearer picture of the dynamics of subglacial sediment deformation and till emplacement. Evidence based on detailed micromorphological analyses reveals microstructural strain and depositional markers that indicate a subglacial environment of ongoing soft bed deformation in which the diamictons can be readily identified as subglacial tills. Within this subglacial environment, distinct changes in pore‐water pressure and sediment rheology can be detected. These changes reveal fluctuating conditions of progressive, non‐pervasive deformation associated with rapid changes in effective stress and shear strain leading to till emplacement. This site, through the application of micromorphology, increases our understanding of localized subglacial conditions and till formation.     

Ice wedges: Growth,thaw transformation,and palaeoenvironmental significance

Frost-cracking and ice-wedge growth are fundamental processes within the permafrost environment. Extensive areas of contemporary permafrost terrain are characterised by frost-fissure polygons, formed by repeated thermal contraction-cracking of the ground. The incremental growth of ice veins and wedges along the axes of contraction-cracks contributes significantly to the volume of ground ice in near-surface permafrost. In areas beyond the present limit of permafrost, the recognition of ice-wedge pseudomorphs provides one of the few unambiguous indications of the former existence of permafrost conditions. An understanding of the processes of ice-wedge growth and thaw transformation is essential if contemporary ice wedges are to be used as analogues for Pleistocene frost-fissure structures, in palaeoenvironmental reconstructions.     

Periglacial features indicative of permafrost: Ice and soil wedges

Ice wedges are wedge-shaped masses of ice, oriented vertically with their apices downward, a few millimeters to many meters wide at the top, and generally less than 10 m vertically. Ice wedges grow in and are confined to humid permafrost regions. Snow, hoar frost, or freezing water partly fill winter contraction cracks outlining polygons, commonly 5–20 m in diameter, on the surface of the ground. Moisture comes from the atmosphere. Increments of ice, generally 0.1–2.0 mm, are added annually to wedges which squeeze enclosing permafrost aside and to the surface to produce striking surface patterns. Soil wedges are not confined to permafrost. One type, sand wedges, now grows in arid permafrost regions. Sand wedges are similar in dimensions, patterns, and growth rates to ice wedges. Drifting sand enters winter contraction cracks instead of ice. Fossil ice and sand wedges are the most diagnostic and widespread indicators of former permafrost, but identification is difficult. Any single wedge is untrustworthy. Evidence of fossil ice wedges includes: wedge forms with collapse structures from replacement of ice; polygonal patterns with dimensions comparable to active forms having similar coefficients of thermal expansion; fabrics in the host showing pressure effects; secondary deposits and fabric indicative of a permafrost table; and other evidence of former permafrost. Sand wedges lack open-wedge, collapse structures, but have complex, nearly vertical, crisscrossing narrow dikelets and fabric. Similar soil wedges are produced by wetting and drying, freezing and thawing, solution, faulting, and other mechanisms. Many forms are multigenetic. Many socalled ice-wedge casts are misidentified, and hence, permafrost along the late-Wisconsinan border in the United States was less extensive than has been proposed.     

饱和正冻土水分迁移及冻胀模型研究

正冻土在温度梯度大的情况下,冻结锋面快速移动,孔隙水变成冰,造成原位体积膨胀;而通常在天然条件下,温度梯度都不大,水从未冻区向冻结区迁移,在某一个位置引起冰的累积,形成分凝冰。由于此诱发的冻胀要比原位冻胀大很多,因此,建立一个能够模拟土体水分迁移及分凝冰形成过程的冻胀模型尤其重要。基于第2冻胀理论,建立了饱和土体冻胀模型。在模型中,假设冻结缘中单位时间内水分迁移速度为常数,以计算冻结缘内水压力,再根据克拉方程得到冰压力。根据冰压力的大小作为分凝冰形成判据,研究中假设新的分凝冰形成以后,上一层分凝冰停止生长。模型把水分迁移和冻胀速率当作基本的未知量,模拟了与可天然土体冻胀类似的底部无压补水和顶部加压的冻胀情况。通过数值模拟与试验结果进行对比,初步验证模型的可靠性,其研究结果为实际寒区工程的冻胀预测提供参考。     

冻结过程中单孔冰结晶变形机制研究

孔隙水在冻结过程中产生的冰结晶压力导致了多孔材料的冻胀及破坏。本文通过理论分析分别给出了不同形状晶体的结晶压力计算模型,并分析了经典结晶压力计算公式的使用条件。建立了降温过程中孔隙冰晶生长模型,实现冰晶生长过程中的孔隙变形计算,分析了晶核密度、孔径大小、荷载和冰晶体积对孔隙冻胀变形的影响机制。结果表明：起始孔隙直径和长宽比的增大对结晶变形抑制作用的机理在于减少了冰晶体积中膨胀结晶的比例。荷载对孔隙变形的抑制机制在于,荷载的增大迫使冰晶更多地横向生长（长宽比增大）,导致膨胀结晶所占比例减小。孔隙中的晶体生长有完全填充模式和部分填充模式,在部分填充模式下,晶核密度、荷载和孔径的增大都会导致晶体在孔隙中的填充率增大,从而对孔隙结晶变形产生影响。本模型揭示了单个孔隙中冻胀变形机制,为解决多孔介质的冻胀变形与破坏问题提供了新的思路。     

Simulation of long‐term consolidation behavior of soft sensitive clay using an elasto‐viscoplastic constitutive model

The phenomenon of excess pore water pressure increase or stagnation and continuing large ground deformation in soft sensitive clay following the completion of construction of embankment is simulated for a case study at Saint Alban, Quebec, Canada. The present model employs an updated Lagrangian finite element framework and is combined with an automatic time increment selection scheme. The simulation based on an elasto‐viscoplastic constitutive model considers soil‐structure degradation effect. It is shown that without consideration for the microstructural degradation effect, it is not possible to reproduce the field responses of soft sensitive clay even during the construction of the embankment. When the soil‐structure degradation effect is considered, the present model can offer reasonably accurate prediction for the consolidation behavior of soft sensitive clay, including the so‐called anomalous pore water pressure generation and continuing large deformation even after the end of construction, which has been posing numerous uncertainties on the long‐term performance of earth structures. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

羌塘盆地冻土结构特征及其对天然气水合物成藏的影响

羌塘盆地是青藏高原最大的含油气盆地,多年冻土广泛分布,具备良好的天然气水合物形成条件和找矿前景。基于羌塘盆地天然气水合物钻探试验井资料,从影响天然气水合物成藏角度提出了羌塘盆地3种主要的冻土结构类型,其中由冻融层、含冰沉积物冻土层、含冰基岩冻土层、非含冰基岩冻土层所组成的冻土结构最为常见。研究表明,冻土层结构对天然气水合物温压条件具有一定影响,当非含冰基岩冻土层存在时,其下伏的非冻土层的孔隙流体压力与上部冻土层的微孔和微裂隙特征紧密相关,有利于浅层烃类气体的封存和水合物的成藏。含冰冻土层冰地球化学特征指示冻土层形成的过程是大气降雪融化成水后未经蒸发作用直接渗入地下,受气候变冷影响,地层由浅往深逐渐冻结形成。同时,矿化度和阴、阳离子浓度的高低在一定程度上反映了不同深度沉积物的物化性质。含冰冻土层对于浅层烃类气体封盖作用的定量评价显示,随着含冰饱和度的增加,甲烷气体渗透率降低,当含冰饱和度达到80%时,冻土层能完全有效地限制甲烷气体运移。由于在气候变暖因素的驱动下,冻土层不仅能通过温压条件来控制天然气水合物矿藏存在的空间范围,而且还限制着来自部分水合物分解所产生的烃类气体向浅部运移。因而推测,在青藏高原冻土区可能存在一个由断裂体系相关联的深部烃类储层、中部天然气水合物储层和浅部天然气藏组成的油气系统。     

Depositional processes beneath coastal multi‐year sea ice

The extent of multi‐year sea ice impacts climate processes worldwide, such as ocean–atmosphere carbon dioxide exchange and deep ocean current formation. Reconstructing these processes in the past, and assessing the distribution of ecologically and climatically significant features, such as polynas, requires recognition of sediments deposited under multi‐year sea ice, but little is known about their characteristics. Textural analysis of subaerial and sea floor sediment in Explorers Cove, McMurdo Sound, at the mouth of Taylor Valley, Antarctica, augmented with observations of sedimentary structures and faunal components, elucidates how sediment is transported to the sea floor and allows characterization of the deposits. Comparison of grain‐size characteristics of subaerial (moraine, delta and sea‐ice surface) sediment and sea floor sediment from short cores taken at depths of 7 to 25 m indicates that the likely source of the moderately to poorly sorted sea floor sand is deltaic sediment; small glacial meltwater streams have built deltas since Taylor Valley became ice‐free ca 7000 years ago. Windblown sediment accumulating on the multi‐year sea ice close to the coast typically is coarser grained than sediment on the sea floor; this suggests that the transport of sediment through the ice to the sea floor is not the predominant mode of sediment transfer. However, supra‐sea‐ice sediment does move to the sea floor through local fractures. The rate of sedimentation under multi‐year sea ice is low because of limited stream flow and biogenic sedimentation; the ice cover inhibits primary productivity and dampens waves, precluding physical re‐suspension. The upper centimetres of sea floor sediment are churned by epifaunal scallops and brittle stars that leave no telltale biogenic structures and whose calcite ossicles and shells may be poorly preserved. The resulting deposits under multi‐year sea ice are poorly sorted, massive sand that provides little evidence of the bioturbators that have masked the indicators of the original physical depositional processes.     

冻融循环过程中土体的孔隙水压力测试研究

冻融循环对土的结构以及物理力学性质有着重要影响,其变化与冻融过程中的孔隙水压力变化有密切关系。但土体冻结过程中的孔隙水压力测试一直是冻土土工测试试验的技术难题。针对这一难题,研发了一种适用于冻结土体孔隙水压力测试的探头,并对砂土和粉质黏土在冻融循环过程中的孔隙水压力发展变化进行了实时监测,获得了圆柱试样冻融循环过程中不同深度处的孔隙水压力变化过程。在冻结过程中,粉质黏土形成冻结缘区及可视的分凝冰,而砂土则无冻结缘及分凝冰的形成。冻融循环过程中土体内部的孔隙水压力变化受温度、冻结速率、冻融循环以及土质等因素的影响。孔隙水压力随温度的循环变化而经历周期性变化：冻结过程中,孔隙水压力不断下降,吸力不断增加;融化过程中,孔隙水压力增大。而冻结速率、冻融循环及土质主要对孔隙水压力降的幅值变化产生影响。此外,冻结锋面位置附近孔隙水压力的下降、吸力的增加,正是水分由未冻区向冻结区迁移的主要驱动力。根据以上试验结果及其理论分析发现,所研制的孔隙水压力探头具有一定的实用性。     

The ice/bed interface mosaic: deforming spots intervening with stable areas under the fringe of the Scandinavian Ice Sheet at Sampława,Poland

The glacial sediment succession exposed close to the southern margin of the Late Weichselian Scandinavian Ice Sheet in Poland reveals a mosaic consisting of isolated patches of heavily deformed deposits separated by areas lacking any visible evidence of deformation. In the studied outcrop, the subglacial deforming spots composed of outwash deposits intercalated with till stringers are about 2–10 m wide and 20–60 cm thick. They rest on outwash sediments and are covered by a basal till. Based on structural and textural characteristics, the deforming spots are interpreted as previous R‐channels filled with meltwater deposits. Lack of deformation in outwash sediment immediately beneath the deforming spots and in the intervening areas between the channels suggests that the ice‐bed was frozen and the deformation of the channel infill was facilitated by high pore‐water pressure arising because water drainage into the bed was impeded by permafrost. Channel infill deposits and the till immediately above were coevally deformed to a strain of less than 9. This study documents the possible co‐existence of deforming and stable areas under an ice sheet, generated by spatially varying thermal and hydrological conditions affecting sediment rheology.     

饱和颗粒正冻土一维刚性冰模型的数值模拟

基于刚性冰模型,应用有限差分法离散方程组,对于饱和颗粒土开放系统的冻结过程进行了一维数值模拟,给出了冻结缘内参数的分布.计算过程中修正了刚性冰模型中分凝冰产生条件,提出以冻结缘内冰压与载荷的关系作为分凝冰产生的判据,计算得到的冻胀量与实验室冻胀实验的测量数据较为吻合.将计算结果与现场实测资料进行了比较,温度场、含水量分布等结果在分布规律方面与现场实测资料相符.     

饱和颗粒正冻土-维刚性冰模型的数值模拟

基于刚性冰模型，应用有限差分法离散方程组，对于饱和颗粒土开放系统的冻结过程进行了一维数值模拟，给出了冻结缘内参数的分布．计算过程中修正了刚性冰模型中分凝冰产生条件，提出以冻结缘内冰压与载荷的关系作为分凝冰产生的判据，计算得到的冻胀量与实验室冻胀实验的测量数据较为吻合．将计算结果与现场实测资料进行了比较，温度场、含水量分布等结果在分布规律方面与现场实测资料相符．     

Subglacial deformation and water-pressure cycles as a key for understanding ice stream dynamics: evidence from the Late Ordovician succession of the Djado Basin (Niger)

Subglacial deformation is crucial to reconstructing glacier dynamics. Sediments associated with the Late Ordovician ice sheet in the Djado Basin, Niger, exhibit detailed structures of the subglacial shear zone. Three main types of subglacial shear zones (SSZ) are discriminated. The lowermost SSZ, developed on sandstones, displays Riedel macrostructures and cataclastic microstructures. These resulted from brittle deformation associated with strong glacier/bed coupling and low pore-water pressure. Where they developed on a clay-rich bed, the overlying SSZ display S–C to S–C′ fabrics, sheath folds, and dewatering structures. These features indicate high ductile shear strain and water overpressure. On fine-grained sand beds, the SSZ exhibit homogenized sand units with sand stringers, interpreted as fluidized sliding beds. The succession of subglacial deformation processes depends on fluid-pressure behavior in relation to subglacial sediment permeability. Fluid overpressure allows subglacial sediment shear strength and ice/bed coupling to be lowered, leading to ice streaming.     

Microsedimentology of ice stream tills from the Eastern Alps,Austria – a new perspective on till microstructures

This study of tills from the Eastern Alps, Austria, illustrates the insights obtained using microsedimentology on subglacial tills in the context of palaeogeographical reconstructions of glacier advances. Investigations of several sites with tills derived from both local glaciers and the ice‐sheet streaming of the Inn Glacier during the Last Glacial Maximum and its termination reveal a detailed picture of subglacial sedimentology that provides evidence of soft sediment subglacial deformation under polythermal conditions. All the tills exhibit microstructures that are proxy evidence of significant changes in till rheology. The tills originate from multiple sources, incorporating older tills and other deposits picked up by the subglacial deformation within a polythermal but dominantly warm temperate subglacial thermal regime. The analyses of till microstructures reveal a direct relationship between basal ice strain conditions and their development. A hypothesis is derived, from the various microstructures observed in these Austrian tills formed under soft sediment deforming basal ice conditions, that suggests that with basal thermal changes and fluctuations in clay content, pore‐water content and pressure, microstructures form in a non‐random manner. It is postulated that in clay‐deficient sediments, edge‐to‐edge events are most likely to occur first; and where clay content increases, grain stacks, rotation structures, deformation bands and, finally, shear zones are likely to evolve in an approximate sequential manner. After repeated transport, emplacement, reworking and, probably, further shearing and deformation events, an emplaced ‘till’, as observed in these Austrian tills, will form that carries most, if not all of these microstructures, in varying percentages. Finally, the impact of the Inn Glacier Ice Stream on these tills is not easily detected and/or differentiated, but indications of high pore water and probable dilatant events leading to reductions in the number of edge‐to‐edge events point to the impact of fast or thick ice upon these subglacial tills.     

Geological evidence for subglacial deformation of Pleistocene permafrost

Recent work in modern and ancient glacial environments has demonstrated the ability of cold-based glaciers to interact with permafrost. Geological evidence for glacier–permafrost interactions is revealed in Arctic regions where permafrost has persisted since deglaciation. Whilst similar interactions probably occurred near the margins of former ice sheets in the mid-latitudes, this interpretation is rarely applied to unfrozen glacigenic sequences. This review considers the extent to which this alternative hypothesis can explain two key aspects of the glaciotectonic sequences of North Norfolk that have traditionally been attributed to the deformation of unfrozen sediment. The substantial thickness (>10 m) of the pervasively deformed sequences and the preservation of stratified sand intraclasts within them are consistent with deformation at temperatures slightly below the pressure melting point (warm permafrost). Such deformation is also consistent with the pre-glacial environment, which was characterised by continuous permafrost. The hypothesis of deformation at sub-freezing temperatures should be considered more widely when interpreting glaciotectonically deformed, ice-marginal sequences in the mid-latitudes. The application of geological evidence to reconstruct basal thermal regimes beneath former glaciers would complement existing geomorphological inverse models and provide additional information to improve the parameterisation of subglacial processes in numerical ice-sheet models.