The characteristics of the permafrost along National Highway No. 214(G214) in Qinghai province(between kilometer markers K310 and K670),including the distribution patterns of permafrost and seasonally frozen ground(SFG), ground ice content and mean annual ground temperature(MAGT), were analyzed using a large quantity of drilling and measured ground temperature data. Three topographic units can be distinguished along the highway: the northern mountains, including Ela Mountain and Longstone Mountain; the medial alluvial plain and the southern Bayan Har Mountains.The horizontal distribution patterns of permafrost can be divided into four sections, from north to south: the northern continuous permafrost zone(K310-K460),the island permafrost zone(K460-K560), the southern continuous permafrost zone(K560-K630),and the discontinuous permafrost zone(K630-K670).Vertically, the permafrost lower limits(PLLs) of the discontinuous zone were 4200/4325 m, 4230/4350 m,and 4350/4450 m on the north-facing/south-facing slopes of Ela Mountain, Longstone Mountain and Bayan Har Mountains, respectively. The permafrost was generally warm, with MAGTs between-1.0°C and0°C in the northern continuous permafrost zone,approximately-0.5°C in the island permafrost zone,between-1.5°C and 0°C in the southern continuous permafrost zone, and higher than-0.5°C in the discontinuous permafrost zone. In contrast, the spatial variations in ground ice content were mainly controlled by the local soil water content and lithology.The relationships between the mean annual air temperature(MAAT) and the PLLs indicated that the PLLs varied between-3.3°C and-4.1°C for the northern Ela and Longstone Mountains and between-4.1°C and-4.6°C in the southern Bayan Har Mountains.
Engineering construction has major influence on the permafrost environment.This paper analyzes the interaction between engineering construction and permafrost environment along the Chaidaer-Muli Railway(simply,CMR) based on the press-state-response(PSR) framework.The permafrost environmental system is divided into three subsystems,consisting of permafrost thermal stability,proneness to the freeze-thawing erosion and permafrost ecological fragility.Each subsystem considers its most important influencing factors.Catastrophe Progression Method(CPM) is applied to calculate the current environment condition along the railway.The result indicates that:(1) as far as the thermal stability is concerned,most sections along the CMR are mainly concentrated in rank Ⅲ(fair situation),and a few in Ⅱ(good situation) and Ⅳ(bad situation),respectively;(2) for the proneness tothe freeze-thawing erosion,the entire railway route falls largely in rank Ⅱ(good situation);(3) along the CMR,the ecological fragility of the permafrost environment is in rank Ⅱ(good situation),or slightly fragile;(4) overall,the permafrost environments along the CMR are in rank Ⅲ(fair situation) or Ⅱcondition(good situation).In general,the permafrost environment along the CMR is fair.It is mainly because a series of active measures of protecting permafrost were taken for stabilizing the CMR foundation soils.On the one hand,we should try our best to minimize the influences that engineering activities have exerted on ecology and environment,on the other hand,the positive measures have made improvements to prevent the permafrost environment from deterioration.
CAO WeiSHENG YuCHOU Ya-lingWU Ji-chunLI JingWANG Sheng-ting
