Microrelief Associated with Gas Emission Craters: Remote-Sensing and Field-Based Study

Abstract

Formation of gas emission craters (GEC) is a new process in the permafrost zone, leading to considerable terrain changes. Yet their role in changing the relief is local, incomparable in the volume of the removed deposits to other destructive cryogenic processes. However, the relief-forming role of GECs is not limited to the appearance of the crater itself, but also results in positive and negative microforms as well. Negative microforms are rounded hollows, surrounded by piles of ejected or extruded deposits. Hypotheses related to the origin of these forms are put forward and supported by an analysis of multi-temporal satellite images, field observations and photographs of GECs. Remote sensing data specifically was used for interpretation of landform origin, measuring distances and density of material scattering, identifying scattered material through analysis of repeated imagery. Remote-sensing and field data reliably substantiate an impact nature of the hollows around GECs. It is found that scattering of frozen blocks at a distance of up to 293 m from a GEC is capable of creating an impact hollow. These data indicate the influence of GEC on the relief through the formation of a microrelief within a radius of 15–20 times the radius of the crater itself. Our study aims at the prediction of risk zones.

Keywords

• gas emission crater
• remote sensing for permafrost
• microrelief
• impact landforms
• field study
• UAV survey
• multi-temporal remote sensing data