Earth’s Cryosphere, 2017, Vol. XXI, No. 1, p. 97-99
ABOUT THE BOOK BY V.R. ALEXEEV “THE ATTRACTION OF FROZEN GROUND” (NOVOSIBIRSK, ACADEMIC PUBLISHING HOUSE “GEO”, 2016, 538 PP.)
S.M. Fotiev
Earth Cryosphere Institute, SB RAS,
P/O box 1230, Tyumen, 625000, Russia; kriozem@gmail.com
The book consists of four parts. In the first part, the author introduces the reader to the “underground realm of eternal cold”, where the temperature of the rocks is below 0 °C. In the second part, the author considers the icing, a phenomenal cryogenic formation accounting for the icing hazard, which is particularly dangerous for road functioning and maintenance. In the third part, the author explains in a clear and easy manner what the cryogenic hazard is. Questions are discussed as to why snow and ice constitute our wealth and why meltwater is believed to be a treasure of the cryosphere. In the fourth part, the author introduces the reader to the biographies and works of scientists who laid down the cornerstones of the new permafrost science. Of special interest is the new well-illustrated information about M.I. Sumgin, the founder of geocryology, a new science in the family of the Earth sciences.
Cryogenic processes and formations, icings, cryogenic hazard, geocryology