GPR research of subaerial taliks along the federal highways “Lena” and “Vilyuy” in the permafrost of Central Yakutia

The paper presents the results of GPR sounding of key areas in Central Yakutia along the federal highways “Vilyui” and “Lena” to search for suprapermafrost subaerial taliks. Suprapermafrost taliks are characterized by complex structures and dynamic seasonal and annual variations in geometric and physical parameters. The measurements were carried out using 150 MHz, 250 MHz, and 400 MHz OKO-3 GPRs with the GPR profiling technique. The survey depth exceeded 25 meters in sandy frozen rocks. The data show that the main indicator of taliks is the presence of a thaw-frozen boundary below the seasonally thawed layer. This boundary is clearly visible on radarograms due to the contrast in dielectric permittivity coefficients. Suprapermafrost subaerial taliks with thicknesses ranging between 5 and 20 meters were detected in 28 % of the GPR profiles. The depth of the seasonally thawed layer varied from 2.3 to 4.0 meters. The GPR technique for detecting and mapping talik zones, tested in the Shestakovka River basin, proved effective for identifying taliks in Central Yakutia. The most effective frequencies for solving the assigned tasks turned out to be in the range of 75÷225 MHz, which corresponds to the frequency range of the energy level of the signal spectrum of the antenna unit with a central frequency of 150 MHz.

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