Earth’s Cryosphere, 2023, Vol. XXVII, No. 5, p. 3-13.

CRYOGENIC PHENOMENA IN SEAS AND OCEANS

FROZEN AND CRYOTIC SOILS IN THE BAYDARATA BAY AREA

S.I. Rokos1,*, D.A. Kostin2, A.V. Tulapin1, S.N. Kulikov1, А.G. Dlugach1

1 Arctic Marine Engineering-Geological Expeditions (AMIGE), Karla Marksa St. 19, Murmansk, 183025 Russia
2 Murmansk State Technical University, Sportivnaya St. 13, Murmansk, 183010 Russia
*Corresponding author; e-mail: RokosSI@rusgeology.ru

The purpose of this study is to establish the genesis and conditions of formation of different types of sediments in the permafrost area of Baydarata Bay. Perennially and seasonally frozen and perennially and seasonally cryotic sediments have been identified on the basis of temperature measurements in core samples obtained during geotechnical drilling and temperature cone penetration tests along the profile crossing the bay. We suppose that permafrost was formed in this area in the course of epigenetic freezing during the Sartan regression. Seasonally frozen soil of the seafloor is subdivided into two types. The first type is characteristic of coastal shallows, where landfast ice contacts the seafloor. The second type is formed in the seaward part of the water area during the cold season, when the temperature of near-bottom seawater drops to values below the freezing point. Perennially cryotic (but unfrozen) soil is formed below the depth of the 0° isotherm traced during the warm season. Seasonally cryotic soil above this isotherm has above-zero temperatures in the warm season. In the winter season, under the impact of subzero temperatures of seafloor water, it is transformed into the cryotic or seasonally frozen state.

Keywords: the Kara Sea, the Baydarata Bay, permafrost, frozen soil, cryotic soil, seasonally frozen soil, subsea permafrost, soil temperature, melting point temperature, temperature cone penetration test, Quaternary sediments.

Recommended citation: Rokos S.I., Kostin D.A.,Tulapin A.V., Kulikov S.N., Dlugach A.G., 2023. Frozen and cryotic soils in the Baydarata Bay area. Earth’s Cryosphere XXVII (5), 3–13.