Yedoma Permafrost Genesis: Over 150 Years of Mystery and Controversy

Since the discovery of frozen megafauna carcasses in Northern Siberia and Alaska early 1800s, Yedoma phenomenon has attracted many Arctic explorers scientists. Exposed along coastal riverbank bluffs, often appears as large masses ice with some inclusions sediment. The ground particularly mystified geologists geographers, they considered sediment within exposures to be a secondary unimportant component. Numerous scientists around world tried explain origin for decades, even though them had never seen field. massive been attributed buried surface (glaciers, snow, lake ice, icings), intrusive (open system pingo), finally wedges. Proponents last hypothesis found it difficult vertical extent wedges, which cases exceeds 40 m. It took over 150 years intense debates understand process ice-wedge formation occurring simultaneously (syngenetically) soil deposition permafrost aggregation. This understanding was based on observations contemporary syngenetic wedges floodplains rivers. initially concluded that floodplain deposit, several decades is polygenetic origin. In this paper, we discuss history studies from 19th century until 1980s—the period when main hypotheses were debated developed.