Earth’s Cryosphere, 2012, Vol. XVI, No. 4, p. 57-66

ROLE OF GROUNDWATER IN THE FORMATION OF RIVER RUNOFF BASIN IN THE PRIMAGADANSKY SHELF

V.E. Glotov, L.P. Glotova

North-East Interdisciplinary Scientific Research Institute, FEB RAS, 685000, Magadan, Portovaya str., 16, Russia; geoecol@neisri.ru, glotova@neisri.ru

For the first time the particularities of the underground feeding of the Primagadaniya rivers in warm and cool periods of the year have been characterized. It has been marked that the share of groundwater in the total annual runoff is high enough and reaches 29 % and more. It increases with decreasing catchment area. The waters of the zone of free water exchange feed the rivers. This aquifer includes the seasonally thawed layer, the flows of groundwater in closed and open taliks, the subpermafrost waters of the supergene fractured zone. It has been demonstrated that the natural reduction of the discharge of rivers in winter months is occasionally broken by their increase. The authors explain these phenomena by short-term fluctuations of the volume of capacitive space in the fissure collector, caused by the transformations of the stress condition of lithosphere blocks.

Key words: Discontinuous permafrost, runoff, underground water, condition of the feeding, winter lowest water level, zone of active water exchange.

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