ABSTRACT

Conoco and their Russian partners, Arkangelskgeoldobycha conducted field programs from 1994 to 1996 in support of environmental baseline studies and civil planning and design work for the future development of the Northern Area Fields in the Timan Pechora area of Russia. A major component of both the environmental and engineering design work was characterization of landforms and landscape analysis in this remote arctic tundra environment. A landform/landscape analysis was performed to assist in siting facilities, pads, roads, and pipelines in locations that would minimize environmental impact on the tundra. The field assessments were conducted by a multi-discipline team consisting of geologists, geotechnical engineers, hydrologists, botanists, and arctic landform specialists from Russia, Alaska, and Canada. The methods employed and the results of this landfom/landscape analysis are presented and discussed.

The purpose of the field assessment was to ground truth previously interpreted aerial photographs (false color infrared and black/white orthophotos) to verify soil properties, geothermal characteristics and vegetation communities and correlate these with geotechnical engineering properties. In this early mapping stage, preliminary polygon designations were made identifying unique geologic landforms.

The field assessment included winter season and summer season activities. During the winter, soil borings were drilled typically to a depth of 10 meters, soil samples were obtained and thermistors were installed at some of these borehole locations. During the summer, a thorough field investigation was made of each of the landforms including a description of topography, drainage, vegetation, geocryological features, landform boundary conditions, and extent of any surface disturbance. Soil pits were hand excavated and information collected on soil types, active layer depth, vegetative mat composition, continuity, thickness and water content, and evidence of landform origin. As a final component to the landform/landscape work, a geophysical investigation was completed using ground penetrating radar (GPR) that was processed on-site to provide specific observations of the complex distribution of permafrost that characterizes the Northern Area. The GPR was also used to determine the continuity of soil conditions at prospective building material sites and within designated landform units.

All of this information was compiled and entered into a Geographic Information System (GIS). In total seventeen (17) landform/landscape distinctions were determined, charted, digitized and entered in GIS. The GIS will subsequently be used to evaluate terrain conditions and potential sources of engineering construction materials, environmental baseline mapping and monitoring, and will assist in permitting for the Northern Area Fields.

AAPG Search and Discovery Article #90937©1998 AAPG Annual Convention and Exhibition, Salt Lake City, Utah