With support from the Government of Canada's Climate Change Action Fund (CCAF), the Geological Survey of Canada (GSC) has initiated community case studies examining infrastructure sensitivity to the impacts of permafrost degradation under climate warming. Much of the infrastructure in northern communities relies on the properties of frozen materials for stability. As the Mackenzie Valley area has undergone the most warming (+1.7°C) over the last century in Canada (Environment Canada, 1995), and is expected to experience continued significant warming, warming of the ground could degrade the performance of many existing and future structures including roads, foundations, utilities, and embankments. This report represents a summary of present permafrost, surficial geology, and infrastructure conditions in Norman Wells, chosen as a pilot community for the project. The material includes data compilation and reviews of the community (history, population, services, economic activities), climatic conditions (current air temperature and precipitation, general trends, and climate change), terrain conditions (bedrock and surficial deposits as well as their geotechnical and geothermal properties), permafrost (distribution, temperature profiles, ground ice distribution), and infrastructure, including buildings, transportation, communication, municipal service facility (past and present, associated foundation, maintenance history and performance). A brief discussion is also presented on how climate change could affect the infrastructure in Norman Wells and possible costs associated with the development of adaptation strategies.

Contents

Abstract

Résumé

List of Tables

List of Figures

1. Introduction
   1. Introduction
   2. Objectives and context
   3. Rationale: The impact of climate change upon infrastructure in northern communities
      1. Introduction
      2. Impacts on infrastructure
   4. Conclusion
2. Community Profile
   1. Location
   2. Oil production: engine of development
   3. Population, services and economy
   4. Infrastructure types in Norman Wells
      1. Construction types
3. Climate
   1. Present conditions
      1. Temperature
      2. Precipitation
   2. Trends and climate warming
   3. Climate change scenarios
4. Surficial Geology
   1. General surficial geology
   2. Depth to bedrock>/li>
   3. Drainage and vegetation
5. Permafrost
   1. Introduction
   2. Permafrost distribution
   3. Permafrost temperatures and thicknesses
      1. Undisturbed terrain
      2. Disturbed terrain
6. Properties of permafrost soils important to engineering
   1. Physical and geotechnical properties
      1. Grain size distribution
      2. Gravimetric water content and previous works
      3. Water content versus material texture and landform
      4. Percentage of soils frozen and visible ice; previous works
      5. Dry density and specific gravity
      6. Atterberg limits and indexes
      7. Coefficient of volume compressibility (Mv)
      8. Consolidation parameters
      9. Void ratio and porosity
      10. Uniaxial strengths (compressive and tensile)
      11. Wave velocity (v) and deformability properties (E, n)
   2. Thermal properties
      1. Thermal conductivity (k)
      2. Heat capacity (c) and volumetric heat capacity (C )
      3. Thermal diffusivity (a)
      4. Latent heat of fusion (L)
7. Infrastructure foundation systems and performance
   1. Foundation types in permafrost
      1. Shallow foundations
      2. Deep foundations
      3. Special foundations
      4. Evolution of foundations in Norman Wells
      5. Classification of foundation systems
   2. Infrastructure in the community of Norman Wells
      1. Remarks on the existing infrastructure and associated foundations and performance
8. Infrastructure and climate change impacts
   1. Introduction
   2. Infrastructure
      1. General impact
      2. Housing and buildings
      3. Transportation facilities
      4. Linear structures
      5. Other impacts
   3. Conclusion

Acknowledgments

References

Appendice

• Appendix A: Norman Wells Borehole Database Metatable
• Appendix B: Norman Wells Borehole Water Content by Soil Texture
• Appendix C: Norman Wells Borehole Water Content by Landform Class
• Appendix D: Detailed notes on performance of infrastructure and their associated foundation systems in Norman Wells