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Fabrice Calmels - Permafrost resilience, Klondike
Testing permafrost resilience in central Yukon using varying age disturbance from natural and human impacts
Fabrice Calmels (Postdoctoral Researcher), Duane Froese, Assistant Professor (University of Alberta), Jeffrey Bond (YGS)
The Klondike goldfields of central Yukon provides an exceptional opportunity to study permafrost dynamics in the subarctic of North America. The combination of a century of placer gold mining and the exceptional exposures of permafrost-related features provides the opportunity to investigate permafrost at timescales of decades to millennia. The research aims at understanding the controls on permafrost degradation at different temporal scales using multiple types and ages of disturbances, and secondly evaluating the regenerative capabilities of permafrost following cessation of disturbance. Disturbances ranging from the last few years to Gold Rush era disturbances in the early part of the 20th century will allow rates and processes governing permafrost degradation to be established. The much earlier disturbances, related to Gold Rush era activities are now about a century old, underscores the importance of vegetation cover, and its re-establishment, in influencing permafrost degradation or recovery. Advanced technologies for permafrost characterization such as CT-scanning of samples and ground penetrating radar will be used as well as thermal analysis from climate and ground temperatures. In addition, isotopic analyses should allow us to assess the timing and environmental factors influencing the degradation and re-aggradation processes.