Geoscience Reference
In-Depth Information
Several examples will be given to illustrate the importance of permafrost in
preserving artefacts and human remains and three case studies will be presented
describing the use of soils in validating human occupation of a site in the Altai, the
Canadian Arctic, and Antarctica. There is widespread concern that warming in the
Arctic will destroy human occupation sites because of thawing of permafrost which
preserves artefacts and human remains and rising sea levels which will fl ood coastal
occupation sites (Blankholm
2009
).
Derry et al. (
1999
) reported elevated levels of total N and P and lower pH values
on Dorset/Thule occupation sites on Igloolik Island, Nunavut (69°22
W)
that were occupied for a 1,000 years prior to 1823. There are more than 1,000 frozen
burial mounds on the Gorny Altai plateau at 2,500-2,600 m a.s.l. that date back to
the Early Iron Age (2.5 kyr) (Epov et al.
2012
). These mounds contain artefacts,
mummies, and items made of textiles, wood, and leather that are preserved by
permafrost. In the last example, Villagran et al. (
2013
) reported higher levels of
P
2
O
5
, CaO, and total C on former sealing sites from the nineteenth century on Byers
Peninsula (Livingston Island, Antarctica).
′
N, 81°47
′
11.7
Cryosols as Extraterrestrial Analogs
Because of the hyperarid, hypothermal environments on Mars and Antarctica,
cryosols and their accompanying landforms in the McMurdo Dry Valleys have
been used as a Martian analog for more than 40 years (Morris et al.
1972
;
Anderson et al.
1972
; Berkley and Drake
1981
) (Fig.
11.10
). Comparisons
between Mars and Antarctica have included pitting of surface boulders (Head
et al.
2011
), the composition of oxidative weathering rinds on rocks (Salvatore
et al.
2013
), weathering products in soils such as zeolites (Berkley and Drake
1981
), the morphology and chemistry of Miocene-aged paleosols in Antarctica
(Mahaney et al.
2011
), the composition of water and diagenetic minerals in per-
mafrost (Dickinson and Rosen
2003
; Heldmann et al.
2013
), and patterned ground
features (Mellon et al.
2009
).
11.8
Cryosol Permafrost and Ancient Microorganisms
One of the more exciting discoveries in the cryosol regions has been the identifi ca-
tion of microbial life in ancient permafrost. This work was championed by David
Gilichinsky and his colleagues (
1993
) who isolated viable microbial cells from per-
mafrost samples taken throughout the cold regions of the earth, including fungi,
yeasts, and actinomycetes. The microbes were collected from permafrost ranging
