Abstract

New infrastructure corridors within the Slave Geological Province could provide transportation, electric, and communications links to mineral-rich areas of northern Canada, and connect southern highway systems and Arctic shipping routes. Relatively little information on permafrost and ground ice is available compared to other regions, particularly in the north of the corridor. Improved knowledge of permafrost and ground ice conditions is required to inform planning and management of infrastructure. Work within the Geological Survey of Canada's (GSC) GEM-GeoNorth program includes mapping periglacial terrain features, synthesizing existing permafrost and surficial data, and modelling ground ice conditions along the Yellowknife-Grays Bay corridor. Here we present initial modelling of ground ice abundance in the region using a methodology developed for the national scale Ground ice map of Canada (GIMC), and higher resolution surficial geology mapping. The results highlight the increased estimated abundance of potentially ice-rich deposits compared to the GIMC when using more detailed surficial geology as model inputs.

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