Category
page 1Palsas

pingo
thumb|Ibyuk pingo near Tuktoyaktuk, northern Canada
thumb|View from top of a pingo towards another, within a partly drained lake, the Arctic Ocean in the background (near Tuktoyaktuk). July 20, 1975.

palsa
300px|thumb|upright=1.4|A group of well developed palsas as seen from above
Palsas are peat mounds with a permanently frozen peat and mineral soil core. They are a typical phenomenon in the polar and subpolar zone of discontinuous permafrost. One of their characteristics is having steep slopes that rise above the mire surface. This leads to the accumulation of large amounts of snow around them. The summits of the palsas are free of snow even in winter, because the wind carries the snow and deposits on the slopes and elsewhere on the flat mire surface. Palsas can be up to in diameter and can re