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Investigating internal structure of permafrost using conventional methods and ground-penetrating radar at Honhor basin, Mongolia

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Abstract

A ground-penetrating radar (GPR) survey was conducted at the end of August 2009 in the suburb region of Ulaanbaatar, Honhor basin, Mongolia, in combination with conventional methods such as borehole drilling and measurement of ground temperatures. The interface of frozen and unfrozen sediment was distinctly resolved in the interpreted GPR images, verified by the borehole drilling records and 6-month measurement of ground temperatures. The location of the permafrost table was assessed to be at the depth of 2–4 m in the study region. A conspicuous ice-saturated soil layer (massive ground ice) was detected in the interpreted GPR images with a thickness of 2–5 m. The GPR investigation results were consistent with the borehole drilling records and ground temperatures observation. The borehole logs and ground temperatures profile in the borehole indicates that permafrost at Honhor basin is characterized by high ground temperature and high ice content, which implies that ongoing climatic warming would have great influence on permafrost dynamics. The research results are of great importance to further assess permafrost dynamics to climatic change in the boundary of discontinuous and sporadic permafrost regions in Mongolia in the future.

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Acknowledgments

The study conducted in this paper is funded by the project “Establishment of Early Observation Network for the Impacts of Global Warming”, sponsored by the Ministry of Environment, Japan. This research is also supported by the Global Change Research Program of China (2010CB951402), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant numbers: 40901042) and the Hundred Talents Program of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (51Y251571). The authors also would like to thank all the staff from the Institute of Geography, Mongolian Academy of Sciences for their logistic supports to the fieldwork. Finally, the constructive suggestions from two anonymous reviewers and editor-in-chief are especially appreciated.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Cryosphere Research Station on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, State Key Laboratory of Cryospheric Sciences, Cold and Arid Regions Environmental and Engineering Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Lanzhou, 730000, China

    Tonghua Wu, Lin Zhao, Erji Du & Wu Wang

  2. Center for Regional Environmental Research, National Institute for Environmental Studies, 16-2 Onogawa, Tsukuba, 305-8506, Japan

    Qinxue Wang

  3. Institute of Geography, Mongolian Academy of Sciences, Ulaanbaatar, 210-620, Mongolia

    Ochirbat Batkhishig & Dorjgotov Battogtokh

  4. Graduate School of Media and Governance, Keio University, 5522 Endo, Fujisawa, Kanagawa, 252-8520, Japan

    Masataka Watanabe

Authors
  1. Tonghua Wu
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  2. Qinxue Wang
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  3. Lin Zhao
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  4. Erji Du
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  5. Wu Wang
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  6. Ochirbat Batkhishig
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  7. Dorjgotov Battogtokh
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  8. Masataka Watanabe
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Correspondence to Qinxue Wang.

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Wu, T., Wang, Q., Zhao, L. et al. Investigating internal structure of permafrost using conventional methods and ground-penetrating radar at Honhor basin, Mongolia. Environ Earth Sci 67, 1869–1876 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12665-012-1629-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12665-012-1629-8

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