Abstract: The subject of research is natural and man-made kurums (blocky accumulations of rocks). The purpose of the work was to analyze the main literary sources, in which the results of research on the formation of the thermal regime of rock dumps (kurums) were published. The retrospective period of the research extends for more than 50 years. Domestic and foreign sources of information are considered. The most representative ones have been selected for analysis, in which the results of research with theoretical value and practical significance have been published. The analysis showed that on many important aspects of the formation of the thermal regime of natural and man-made kurums, all the authors of studies conducted in different regions and at different time periods, independently of each other, came to the same conclusions. This indicates the reliability and objectivity of the results obtained. An analytical review of scientific articles was used as a research method, in which research materials on the formation of the thermal regime of both the kurums themselves and their soil bases were published. The kurums of the permafrost and island permafrost zones are considered. An analytical review of literary sources containing theoretical and practical results of research on the formation of the thermal regime of natural and man-made kurums is carried out. The results of the analysis allow us to draw the following main conclusions. 1. Any types of natural and man-made kurums lead to progressive cooling of the base on which they are located. 2. When interacting with the rock base, the technogenic kurum works as an active thermal protection, changing its thermal resistance during the annual cycle. 3. When modeling the process of thermal interaction of technogenic kurum, it is quite acceptable to consider the kurum as a heat-protective layer, the thermal resistance of which depends on the effective coefficient of thermal conductivity, which changes its value when the sign of atmospheric air temperature changes. Based on the analysis of the results of the published works, conclusions are drawn about the possibility of a number of simplifications in the construction of computational models for forecasting and controlling the thermal regime of frozen bases of technogenic kurums.

Keywords: modeling, forecast, rock formations, source, literature, analyze, kurums, thermal mode, cryolithozone, the ground

Abstract: The study focuses on improving the accuracy of geophysical investigations of anthropogenic metallic pollution using digital elevation models (DEMs). The methodology was tested at the Norilsk site, located in close proximity to the slag heaps of the nickel plant, based on DEM data obtained through unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) to conduct a detailed geomorphological analysis of the area. Geophysical methods such as the natural field (NF) method and frequency sounding were also used to identify zones of potential metallic pollution, as well as the characteristics and spatial positions of predicted permafrost layers. The main emphasis is on the advantages of integrating geophysical methods with DEMs and derived cartographic materials to improve the accuracy and reliability of surface metallic pollution detection and mapping, considering the geocryological situation within the study area. Geophysical methods of natural field (NF) and frequency sounding were employed to determine the geoelectrical properties of the study area. Reconnaissance surveys and flight missions were conducted to create the digital elevation model and orthoimage, and a surface water runoff map was developed based on the generated rasters and their interpretation. Based on the obtained geophysical data, zones of possible metallic pollution spread from the slag heaps were identified, which were confirmed through DEM analysis by the geomorphology of the study site. The distribution of specific electrical resistance fields was also interpreted in consideration of the collected data and validated through borehole drilling. It is worth noting that the integrated approach helped reveal the need to revise the interpretation plan, as only through the analysis of the nature and intensity of metallic pollution could the abnormally low resistance values in areas far from thermokarst lakes, with relatively shallow permafrost depths, be explained. Additionally, it became possible to qualitatively assess the zones of dust material accumulation.

Keywords: Spoil tip, Slag heap, Electrical resistivity, DEM, UAV, Natural field method, Frequency sounding, Geophysical study, Norilsk, Geocryological structure

Abstract: The article analyses production volumes and consumption patterns of heat and electricity in the Arkhangelsk region, based on statistical and corporate data. The work reveals that, despite the fact that the number of generation facilities operating on the base of local biofuels is rapidly increasing, the region remains highly dependent on hydrocarbon, mainly imported from the other regions. Currently, some two-third of all boiler houses and a significant part of power plants use local wood fuel, but the transition to biofuels primarily affects low-capacity generating facilities. As a result, the total share of biofuels in energy production in the region is no more than 10%, with a large and still underutilized volume of wood waste and other renewable energy resources. At the same time, a significant part of the wood fuel used is firewood, primarily in rural areas. The work proposes an assessment of the energy potential of logging waste. It shows that with the existing volumes of wood harvesting, the wood waste share in energy production in the region may amount to 15-50%, depending on the degree of the waste use. The author also identified other renewable energy resources in the region and their possible role in its energy supply: hydro, wind, solar, peat, and tidal energy. The auhtor identified the districts of the region where creation and development of energy based on local renewable energy resources is most in demand. Mainly there are districts beyond the system of centralized power supply network, that cover some 19% of the region's area with more than 9% of its rural population, there electricity is supplied with dozens of small-scaled diesel power plants. For them there were assessed the volume of needed autonomous power capacities on the base of the local renewable resources.

Keywords: hydropower, electricity production, heat production, industrial waste, Arkhangelsk region, bioenergy, logging and timber processing, renewable energy sources, wind energy, rural areas

Abstract: Currently, there is a problem of reliability of buildings and structures built on permafrost soils according to principle I, which is due to the dependence of standard design solutions on the climatic component. The solution to this problem involves the introduction of methods of active thermal stabilization of soils, which makes it possible to effectively manage heat flows and ensure the preservation of the base soils in a frozen state. One of the key solutions proposed by the authors is the use of a heat pump with the placement of a cooling circuit in a soil massif. The use of heat pumps in construction on sites with permafrost soils is an innovative approach that ensures the safety and efficiency of building operation. In the article, using a specific example of a building in Salekhard, the possibility of using a heat pump on a site with a sunken roof of icy permafrost rocks is considered.Research methods include the analysis and generalization of literary sources and multivariate computational experiments to study the temperature field of the building foundation soils using a heat pump. The main conclusion of the study is the expediency of using heat pumps in the construction of buildings in areas with a sunken roof of icy permafrost. The innovative method proposed in this article for preserving the soils of the base in a frozen state, when applied in practice, will prove to be an effective solution against the background of a new natural challenge — global climate warming. In addition to keeping the foundation soils in a frozen state and ensuring stable operation of buildings and structures in the cryolithozone, heat pumps provide significant economic benefits by reducing operating costs. Heat pumps also contribute to reducing emissions of carbon dioxide and other pollutants, which is important in the context of global climate change and the pursuit of sustainable development.

Keywords: innovative approach, thermal stabilization, Salekhard, cooling of the base, heat pumps, air temperature rise, icy rocks, sunken roof, permafrost soils, construction

Abstract: This work delineates the macroelements compositions in the Late Pleistocene syngenetic ice wedges (IW-5 and IW-7) situated in the bottom section of the Batagay Yedoma complex. Ice samples were extracted from ice wedges at 10 cm intervals using Makita and Bosch GSR drills equipped with steel ice crowns of 51 mm in diameter. The composition of macroelements in the ice wedges was analyzed using the ion chromatograph "Steyer." The concentrations of potassium, sodium, calcium, magnesium, chlorine, nitrates, and sulfates were measured. The mineralization of Late Pleistocene ice wedges ranges from 67 to 425 mg/L. In the analyzed ice wedges, calcium predominates among the cations (IW-5 ranging from 17.8 to 82.5 mg/L, IW-7 from 12.0 to 52.1 mg/L). Magnesium ranks second (IW-5 ranging from 3.1 to 13.6 mg/L, IW-7 ranging from 2.6 to 8.3 mg/L). Sodium and potassium cations are present in minimal concentrations: Na – IW-5 ranges from 0.8 to 6.8 mg/L, IW-7 from 0.45 to 4.0 mg/L, and K – IW-5 from 17.8 to 82.5 mg/L, IW-7 from 1.1 to 5.6 mg/L. Nitrates dominate among the anions. The nitrate concentration varies from 6.9 to 27.9 mg/L for IW-5 and from 5.0 to 54.8 mg/L for IW-7. Mean nitrate concentration IW-5: 14.5 mg/L; IW-7: 12.2 mg/L. In IW-5, the concentration of sulfate anions ranges from 2 to 17 mg/L, with an average of 6.4 mg/L, whereas the chloride concentration ranges from 1.08 to 7 mg/L, averaging 2.6 mg/L. The sulfate concentration in IW-7 ranges from 1.4 to 40.5 mg/L, with an average of 5.79 mg/L; the chloride concentration ranges from 1.13 to 4.5 mg/L, with an average of 1.96 mg/L. In IW-5, the chloride-to-sulfate ratio ranges from 0.16 to 1.45, with an average of 0.44; in IW-7, the ratio ranges from 0.04 to 1.12, with an average of 0.47. Upon comparing these data with the chloride to sulfate ratios in ground ice and surface water in North-West Siberia, we observe that the ratios most closely resemble those found in the snowfields of the Seyakha (Mutnaya) River valley on the northern Yamal Peninsula, where the chloride to sulfate ratio is 0.54, in rainwater on the Yamal Peninsula with a ratio of 1.44, and in segregated ice on the first terrace of Bely Island, where the ratio is 1.08. The chloride to sulfate ratio in IW-5 and IW-7 significantly differs from that of cryopegs (ratio 49.45) and the majority of the massive ice in the Yamal Peninsula (68.91; 26.39; 9.77, etc.). The ionic composition of the ice wedges indicative that they was formed from thawed snow generated under the influence of continental air masses.

Keywords: Yakutia, Siberia, Batagay, major elements, ionic composition, cryogeochemistry, radiocarbon age, ice wedge, yedoma, permafrost

Abstract: This article is dedicated to analysis of influence of cyclical freeze-thaw on dispersity of sandy soils. Effect of 120 freeze-thaw cycles on dispersity of water-saturated sands of different mineral composition, with surface films and after their removal, under different freezing temperatures is described. For this study quartz, feldspar and carbonate model sands were chosen as objects. To determine the influence of surface films a part of quartz sand sample was subjected to chemical treatment to remove them from the surface of grains. Granulometric composition of sand samples was determined using the sieving method. Changes in contents of separate fractions were analyzed as well as values of various parameters, in addition to this published data of the other researchers was used. Determining and describing changes in granulometric composition in polydisperse sands proved to be a challenge because of absence of parameters tailored to this task for such soils in contrast to monodisperse sands. According to the results it was found that in relation to mineral composition a decrease in intensity of cryogenic fragmentation was observed in a row: carbonate, feldspar, quartz sand (without surface films), which is explained by quartz’s high resilience to various processes in supergene zone. Quartz’s resilience to cryogenic fragmentation is strongly impacted by surface films on grains, with the increase in their specific surface area quartz’s intensity of cryogenic fragmentation increases due to higher physical – chemical activity of surface film matter. New parameter was proposed – coefficient of cryogenic grinding, reflecting increase in content of products of fragmentation of soil particles due to one freeze-thaw cycle. On the basis of this coefficient and method of analogy a way to forecast changes in granulometric composition due to freeze-thaw cycles was proposed and an example provided.

Keywords: physico-chemical activity, sand mouns, embankment structures, forecast of changes in granulometric composition, particle fragmentation, cyclic freeze-thaw, granulometric composition, surface films, mineral composition of grains, sandy soils

Abstract: The study focuses on palsa and high-centered polygonal peatlands. Engineering surveys for construction in bumpy permafrost peatlands are complicated by the lack of clear criteria for distinguishing between different types of mounds, such as palsa and high-centered polygonal peatlands. These mounds differ in height, shape, and distribution of their main engineering components. These two kinds of bumpy permafrost peatlands respond to human impact in rather different ways throughout structure operation, necessitating distinct safeguards. In this sense, techniques for more precise mound identification needs to be developed early on in engineering and environmental surveying. Examining the distribution of the carbon to nitrogen ratio in the peat that covers the mounds could be one strategy. The remaining landforms known as high-centered polygonal peat blocks were created "passively" by thermokarst processes along the frost-breaking cracks, with vein ice separating them. Palsa peat massifs are mostly found in the sporadic permafrost zone, though they are also frequently observed in the discontinuous and even continuous permafrost development zones, such as the Norilsk region, the Putorana plateau, the Mirny region of Yakutia, Chukotka and Kamchatka, etc. The thickness of peat on both convex and flat surfaces It is typically high, ranging from 1 to 3 meters, but rising to 5 meters and occasionally 8 to 9 meters on convex mounds. Palsa and high-centered polygonal peatlands exhibit distinctive genesis, height, shape, and distribution of engineering and geological characteristics, particularly ice content. Improved methods for identifying mounds during early stages of engineering and environmental studies are needed. One approach could be to analyze the carbon and nitrogen ratios in the peat covering the mounds. Palsa peatlands have higher carbon content (50-55% on average) and lower nitrogen content (0.5-2.0%) compared to high-centered polygonal peatlands (35-40% carbon and 1.5-2.5% nitrogen). The C/N value in peatlands varies, with palsa ranging from 30-36 (reaching -240) and high-centered polygonal peatlands rarely exceeding 25-27 (often 10-20).

Keywords: palsa, High-centre polygon, iciness, carbon, nitrogen, carbon nitrogen ratio, Holocene, Siberia, ice wedge, permafrost