In response to concerns about the effects of global climate change, the Mackenzie Valley was one of three regions selected for the Geological Survey of Canada's 'Integrated Research and Monitoring Area' (IRMA) program. The objective of this program is to identify regions of Canada with geologic conditions or processes especially sensitive to climate change and to determine the response of these conditions and processes to this change. Southern Saskatchewan-southern Alberta (Palliser Triangle) and the Fosheim Peninsula in northwestern Ellsemere Island (High Arctic) were the other areas selected for the IRMA program. Specifically, the purpose of the Mackenzie IRMA was to reconstruct the climate since the end of the Laurentide Ice Age (about 13,000 years B.P.) based on the relationship between climate and vegetation, to produce maps of permafrost and ground ice distribution, and to determine the sensitivity of landscape-altering processes to climate warming.

The GSC has been collecting data on permafrost, the character of frozen ground and geomorphic processes in the Mackenzie Valley since the early 1970s. These studies were initiated in response to engineering and environmental concerns arising from hydrocarbon exploration, pipeline proposals, and highway construction. Later, activities focused on monitoring of the Interprovincial Pipeline built between Norman Wells, NWT and Zama, Alberta. The Mackenzie Valley IRMA represents a convenient umbrella under which this geoscience information was assembled to provide a comprehensive summary of permafrost character, past climate change, and response of processes controlled by ground ice thaw to climate warming. The Mackenzie Valley IRMA report, then, is partly a synthesis of information about permafrost in the Mackenzie Valley. The report is written for a more general rather than specialized scientific audience, with the purpose of presenting each topic in a manner useful for general knowledge, educational purposes, early stages of project planning, and as background for continued scientific research. The report also serves as a reference for use in engineering design and land use planning in areas where information about geology and permafrost is required.

THE PHYSICAL ENVIRONMENT OF THE MACKENZIE VALLEY, NORTHWEST TERRITORIES: A BASELINE FOR THE ASSESSMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL CHANGE, GSC BULLETIN 547.

Editors: L.D. Dyke and G.R. Brooks

Introduction
L.D. Dyke and G.R. Brooks

Physical Setting of the Mackenzie Valley
Glacial History of the Mackenzie Region
A. Duk-Rodkin and D.S. Lemmen
Climate of the Mackenzie Valley
L.D. Dyke
Permafrost Distribution and Ground Ice in Surficial Materials
A. Heginbottom
Surficial Geology, Subsurface Materials, and Thaw Sensitivity of Sediments
J.M. Aylsworth, M.M.Burgess, D.T. Desrochers, A. Duk-Rodkin, and J.A. Traynor
Distribution of Peatlands
J.M. Aylsworth and I. Kettles

Indicators of Past Climate
Post-Glacial Vegetation and Climate
G.M. MacDonald
Tree-Ring Evidence of Recent Climate Changes in the Mackenzie Basin, Northwest Territories
C. Bégin, Y. Michaud, and S. Archambault
Environmental Change Recorded in Dune Fields
Y. Michaud and C. Bégin

Permafrost and Ground Temperatures
Shallow Ground Temperatures
M.M. Burgess and S.L. Smith
Deep Ground Temperatures
A. Taylor, M.M. Burgess, A.S. Judge, and V.S. Allen
Relationship of Ground Temperatures to Air Temperatures in Forests
A. Taylor
Thaw Depth Monitoring
F.M. Nixon
Permafrost and Subsurface Materials along a North-South Transect in the Mackenzie Valley: Observations from the Norman Wells Pipeline
M.M. Burgess and D.E. Lawrence
Shoreline Permafrost along the Mackenzie River
L.D. Dyke

Landscape Processes
Streamflow in the Mackenzie Valley
G.R. Brooks
Channel Changes Along Lower Reaches of Major Mackenzie River Tributaries
G.R. Brooks
Landslides of the Mackenzie Valley and Adjacent Mountainous and Coastal Regions
J.M. Aylsworth, A. Duk-Rodkin, T. Robertson, and J.A. Traynor
Stability of Permafrost Slopes in the Mackenzie Valley
L.D. Dyke

Effects of Climate Change on Permafrost
Potential Changes in Thaw Depth and Thaw Settlement for Three Locations in the Mackenzie Valley
M.M. Burgess, D.T. Desrochers, and R. Saunders
Potential Changes in Permafrost Distribution in the Fort Simpson and Norman Wells Regions
J.F. Wright, M.W. Smith, and A.E. Taylor

Text extracted from Dyke & Brooks (2000).