SpringerLink
Log in

Periglacial Landforms

  • Living reference work entry
  • Latest version View entry history
  • First Online:
Encyclopedia of Planetary Landforms

  • 8 Accesses

Definition

Landforms produced in cold, nonglacial environments (Harris et al. 1988 and references therein) where annual freezing and thawing is present.

Formation

Periglacial landforms and landscape features form in perennially frozen ground, i.e. “permafrost” by freeze-thaw cycling, iterative thermal-contraction cracking, and frost-action (Wasshburn 1980).

Commonplace landforms are solifluction lobes or terraces (freeze-thaw cycling), clastically unsorted polygons (thermal-contraction cracking), and clastically-sorted polygons/circles (frost action) (Harris et al. 1988).

Degradation

The rise of mean temperatures on a local or regional scale may deepen the active layer, lower the permafrost table, and could reduce the areal extent of permafrost (Harris et al. 1988 and references therein).

Surface/Structural Units

Active layer: (seasonally frozen ground) the uppermost, suprapermafrost horizon of ground (soil or rock) subject to annual thawing and freezing, in areas underlain by...

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution

Institutional subscriptions

References

  • Harris SA, French HM, Heginbottom JA, Johnston GH, Ladanyi B, Sego DC, van Everdingen RO (eds) (1988) Glossary of permafrost and related ground-ice terms. Technical memorandum No 142. Permafrost Subcommittee, National Research Council of Canada, Ottawa

    Google Scholar 

  • Levy JS, Marchant DR, Head JW (2010) Thermal contraction crack polygons on Mars: a synthesis from HiRISE, Phoenix, and terrestrial analog studies. Icarus 206:229–252

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lozinski W (1909) Über die mechanische Verwitterung der Sandstein im gemässtigen Klima. Bulletin international de l’académie des sceinces et des lettres de Cracovie, classe des sciences mathématiques et naturelles 1:1–25

    Google Scholar 

  • Muller SW (1947) Permafrost or permanently frozen ground and related engineering problems. U.S. Geological Survey, U.S. Army, Office of the Chief of Engineers, Strategic Engineering Study no. 62

    Google Scholar 

  • Washburn AL (1980) Permafrost features as evidence of climatic change. Earth Sci Rev 15:327–402

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratoire LETG-Nantes-Géolittomer – UMR 6554 CNRS, Nantes, Cedex 3, France

    Thierry Feuillet

  2. Faculty of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Tsukuba, Ibaraki, Japan

    Norikazu Matsuoka

Authors
  1. Thierry Feuillet
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Norikazu Matsuoka
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Norikazu Matsuoka .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest, Hungary

    Henrik Hargitai

  2. Institute for Advanced Study, Collegium Budapest, Budapest, Hungary

    Ákos Kereszturi

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2022 Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature

About this entry

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this entry

Feuillet, T., Matsuoka, N. (2022). Periglacial Landforms. In: Hargitai, H., Kereszturi, Á. (eds) Encyclopedia of Planetary Landforms. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-9213-9_258-2

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-9213-9_258-2

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Springer, New York, NY

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-4614-9213-9

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4614-9213-9

  • eBook Packages: Springer Reference Earth and Environm. ScienceReference Module Physical and Materials ScienceReference Module Earth and Environmental Sciences

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Chapter history

  1. Latest

    Periglacial Landforms
    Published:
    18 October 2022

    DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-9213-9_258-2

  2. Original

    Periglacial Landforms
    Published:
    11 August 2014

    DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-9213-9_258-1

Search

Navigation