Detection of degraded mountain permafrost with the help of GPR profiling at Mes¨®n San juan, Mendoza, Argentina

DARIO TROMBOTTO LIAUDAT; JANDYR MENEZES TRAVASSOS; GIOVANNI CHAVES STAEL

Fairbanks, Alaska

Conferencia; Ninth International Conference on Permafrost; 2008

Institute of Northern Engineering, University of Alaska

This work shows the use of ground penetration radar (GPR) for detection of superficial structures of degradation in mountain permafrost imaging in an area of the Central Andes. Andean permafrost can be classified on the basis of topography, hydrology (or estimated ice content), and climate (global warming) (Trombotto 2003). Continuous or quasi continuous Andean permafrost still appears at -2 to -4 °C, found on the mountain summits or as island permafrost if it appears as an isolated body. Permafrost types could be also subclassified on the basis of more or less than 10% of ground ice content (Brown et al. 1998). The study area was a permafrost plateau at Mesón San Juan (6012 m, 33°S and 69° 49´ W), located on the foot of the glacier and bordering recent moraines at a height of 4400 m a result of the glaciation retreat of the Mesón San Juan summit and the consequent cryoweathering and erosion of the sediments produced by cryogenic phenomena.