TRACES OF THE LATE WEICHSELIAN THERMOKARST LANDSCAPE ALONG THE SOUTHERN MARGIN OF THE FORMER EUROPEAN PERMAFROST ZONE
2018
Abstrakt
Thermokarst is the geomorphologic/genetic designation for areas where thaw of permafrost leads to local or widespread collapse, subsidence, erosion, and instability of the ground surface. Although thermokarst processes are recently peculiar to regions underlain by permafrost, i.e. in particular to lowlands of high latitudes Arctic areas (Alaska, Canada, northern and eastern Siberia), geomorphology and sediments reflecting former thermokarst presence can be found also in middle latitudes, far from the recent permafrost areas.
So-called "fossil thermokarst" features, including thermokarst gullies, lakes and other kind of depressions, have been documented from many areas of northern and northwestern Europe as well as from Northern America.