CLASSIFICATION OF PERMAFROST FROM THE CONSTRUCTION STANDPOINT

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP80-00809A000600380006-3
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: C
• Document Page Count: 3
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: September 9, 2011
• Sequence Number: 6
• Publication Date: February 21, 1951
• Content Type: REPORT

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CLASSIFICATION CONFIDENTIAL
CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY REPORT
INFORMATION FROM
FOREIGN DOCUMENTS OR RADIO BROADCASTS CD NO.
COUNTRY USSR
SUBJECT Scientific - Geophysics, permafrost
HOW
PUBLISHED periodical (regularity unknown)
WHERE
PUBLISHED" Moscow
DATE
PUBLISHED
LANGUAGE
DATE OF
INFORMATION 1947
DATE DIST.~-/ Feb 1951
N0. OF PAGES 3
SUPPLEMENT TO
REPORT NO.
THIS IS UNEVALUATED INFORMATION
THIS DOCUIIINT CONTAINS INFORMATION A//ICTINS TAD NA"ONAL Ol/INLI
NIANINS or lS"ONASI ACT SO
OF TAD UNIT.D LTATU WITY.IS THE
U. S. C.. SI AND Sl. AL AMINDID. ITS TRANSMISSION ON TN/ IITLUITION
Of ITS CONTINTI IN ANT MANNSI TO AN UNAUTNOIIIID PINION IS 700?
NISITl2 ST LAW. IIP000UCTION OF TNI$ FORM IS PNOIINITID.
Merzlotovedeniye, Vol II, No 1, 1947, pp 55-58
CLASSIFICATION OF PERMAFROST
FROM THE CONSTRUCTION STANDPOINT
Permafrost is classified according to the following characteristics:
A. Horizontal Distribution
1. A solid' permafrost which is observed everywhere over a wide geograph-
ical area, independent of the different natural conditions of separate sections.
2. Permafrost with. thawed areas, where vast expanses of the permafrost
stratum are interposed by thawed areas or broken up into large or small areas.
3, insular permafrost, when large or small islands of permafrost strata
are found amidst vast thawed areas.
B. Vertical Distribution
1. A continuous or solid permafrost where the entire soil stratum within
the upper and lower boundries is frozen.
2. Stratified permafrost, where the permafrost stratur.is broken up by
layers of thawed soil.
NBRB DISTRIBUTION
FBI .J
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C. Winter Freezing of soils
1. The "fusing" permafrost, which annually joins with a layer of winter-
frozen soil.
2. The "non-u:slTom" permafrost, where a laver of thawed soil always re-
mains between the winter-frozen soil and the upper permafrost surface.
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D. Physical State of the Soils
1. Permafrost in the usual sense, where frozen soils are cemented together
with ice and represent,a solid monolith which is very difficult to work mechani-
cally.
2. Dry permafrost, where porous permafrost soils have not been cemented by
ice because of their very low humidity, and can be worked mechanically in the
same way as thawed soils.
3. Soft permafrost, where the soils have sufficient humidity and below-zero
temperature, but are not cemented by ice, and differ little from thawed soils in
external appearance and properties.
However, the above classification of permafrost, although generally accepted
at this time, does not exhaust even its basic properties. Specifically, the
classification completely fails to describe the construction properties of perma-
frost, although it makes certain indirect references to them. No engineer can
& aw conclusions on permafrost soils as future construction foundations by using
only the characteristics given in the above classification.
First of all, an engineer must ask himself what changes may take place in
permafrost soils while construction is progressing. The choice of a construction
principle for permafrost depends first on whether or not the permafrost will re-
main under the building. Without going into the structural and technological
characteristics of the building, which are also very important in selecting the
construction principle, it can be said that there is a basic relation between
these principles and the general nature of the permafrost. If one can rightly
assume that the soil will be maintained in its frozen state after completion of
the building, then one naturally selects a construction principle which rests
upon preservation of permafrost (principle A in OST 90032-39); if this cannot
be assumed, a principle is selected which admits of possible thawing of the perma-
frost foundation (principle B from the same OST).
In practice, the problem is of course much more complex and the construction
principle selected depends upon a whole set of conditions (geological, hydrogeo-
logical, climatic, and ice characteristics of the section; the type of building
area; the temperature conditions of the building, its. design, etc.). However,
there is a general dependence between permafrost stability and the basic con-
struction principles adopted, which are even taken into consideration in norms.
For example, Paragraph 32 of Technical Specifications (3) states that "in the
construction of buildings which will give much heat to the soil and also in
the event that the permafrost is unstable, the construction as a rule should
proceed according to the principle which assumes thawing of permafrost."
Thus we have a permafrost characteristic not considered by the present classi-
fication, namely, the construction characteristic. Despite the controversial na-
ture of the problem, this terminology has already begun to be accepted by engineers
and appears in specialized literature; for example, N. A. Tsytovich (8) char-
acterizes permafrost as unstable at a below-zero temperature of -0.1 to -0.2?C in
the presence of active ground waters; N. I. Bykov and P. N. Kapterev (1) consider
permafrost reliable if its depth is at least 25 meters and if the temperature at
a depth of 10 meters is not higher than -1?C. A. V. Liverovskiy and K. D. Morozov
(2), in citing the conditions necessary for construction according to the principle
of preservation of permafrost, include stability in these conditions. According
to Technical Specifications for Surveys, Layout, and Construction of Railroads
in the Permafrost Regions (7), permafrost is considered unstable if its depth is
less than 20 meters and if it has insular or bedded enclosures and a temperature
of -1.0?C at a depth of 6 meters. Finally, N..i. Saltykov (4) understands perma-
frost "stability" to be its ability to withstand certain changes of external con-
ditions and to be reestablished if these conditions are temporary.
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The above references indicate hov important permafrost characteristics
are from the standpoint of evaluating stability in construction, and there-
fore the terminology "stable" and "unstable" permafrost must be fully accepted.
Regarding a quantitative evaluation of permafrost stability, N. I..Sal-
tykov proposes to define it by the magnitude of the temperature gradient; which
includes not only temperature, but also its vertical distribution.
This terminology is gradually being accepted by permafrost engineers and
must soon become official. Quantitative evaluation of permafrost stability
characteristics has not yet been established; its development will be diffi-
cult but necessary since this is one of the priority problems of engineering
permafrost studies.
1. Bykov, N. I. and Kaptere+r, P. N., Permafrost and Construction on It,
Gostranszheldorizdat, 1940.
2. Liverovskiy, A. V. and Morozov, K. D., Construction Under Permafrost
Conditions, Gosstroyizdat, 1941.
3. dorms and Technical Specifications for Planning Beds and Foundations for
Permafrost Conditions, OST 90032-3, Gosstroyizdat, 1939-
4. Saltykov, N. I., Foundations on Unstable Permafrost-(Manuscript), In-
stitute of Permafrost Studies imeni V. A. Obruchev,'AN USSR, 1945.
5. Sumgin, M. I., Permafrost Soils in the USSR, Izd. AN SSSR, 1937.
6. S'3mgin, M. I., Kachurin, S. P., Tolstikhin, N. I. Tumel', B. F., General
Permafrost Studies, Izd. AN SSSR, 1940.
7. Technical Specifications for Surveys, Layouts, and Construction of Rail-
roads in Permafrost Regions, Transzheldorizdat, 194l.
8. Tsytovich, N. A., "Some Permafrost Studies in the Lover Parts of the Yenisey
River in the Summer of 1930," Trudy Nauchn. Kan. izuch. vechn. merzl.
(Works of the Scientific Commission on the Study of Permafrost), Izd. AN
SSSR, 1932.
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