Effect of a Lake on Distribution of Permafrost in the Mackenzie River Delta

Abstract

THE thawing effect of water in contact with permafrost is of considerable importance to engineers engaged on construction work that may involve flooding areas of perennially frozen ground. There is little information at present available, however, to indicate the magnitude of the effect which might be expected. An investigation of the present level of permafrost under natural bodies of water in the north, such as lakes and streams, is one means of improving our knowledge of this effect and of providing some guidance to engineers. During April 1961 a drilling programme was carried out by the Division of Building Research of the Canadian National Research Council to determine the distribution of permafrost under a lake in the Mackenzie River Delta (68° 18′ N., 133° 50′ W.) at the new town-site of Inuvik, Northwest Territories, near the arctic coast.