Time-Lapse Electrical Resistivity and Ground Penetrating Radar Imaging of Young Polygonal Patterned Ground in Victoria Valley, McMurdo Dry Valleys, Antarctica

摘要

Victoria Valley is part of the McMurdo Dry Valleys of Antarctica, an arid polar environment that is difficult for electrical imaging because of high surface contact resistance. Nonetheless, we obtained time lapse electrical resistivity imaging (ERI) of young polygonal patterned ground (PPG), as well as ground penetrating radar (GPR) imaging. The ERI data have a large range of values, and are best viewed using two different scales, one to emphasize the highly resistive materials at depth, and the other to focus on the lower resistivity material of the near-surface active layer. The time lapse imaging highlighted the development of the active layer during the short summer thaw, and the results correlate well with the GPR which shows that the PPG structures are not vertically oriented at depth.