Tunnel of Love (Err, Tunnel of Frost)
When you reach the end of the Permafrost tunnel, you'll be 80 meters below the surface of the Earth taking you far back into the Plesistocene epoch.
What is permafrost? Permafrost is soil that is at or below the freezing point of water for three or more years. Some permafrost will never thaw because of its location, such as near the Poles. The United States Army Cold Research and Engineering Lab has dug a tunnel into the permafrost in Goldstream Creek Valley, Alaska, where scientists can study permafrost up close. Researchers can learn about climate change, the deterioration of permafrost, and the strength of frozen soil.
I'm wearing a hard hat because portions of the tunnel have low ceilings, but even more pressing than that is the threat of collapse. While we were down there, a sizable clump of dirt and silt fell down.
Visiting the permafrost tunnel was an awesome experience because it was like going back in time. The frozen earth locks in all sorts of clues and questions between its silty layers just waiting for scientists to uncover our planet's mysterious geological history.
This is an ice wedge that formed in between the silt layers. The Permafrost tunnel has many outstanding examples.
That's not dirt in that ice wedge. Sometimes an ice wedge has living bacteria in it that has completely frozen. One sample was radiocarbon dated to 25,000 years ago.
http://
Arthur Gelvin is the engineer from the US Army Corp of Engineers that led us through the Permafrost tunnel.
Go With the Flow, Man!
On the way back into Fairbanks, our group stopped at the Trans Alaska Pipeline. The pipeline is an important system that moves valuable oil 800 miles from Northern Alaska to the city of Valdez, Alaska. The pipeline is a whopping 48 inches in diameter and cost $800 billion to construct over 2 years. The pipeline has 420 miles of pipe above ground and 380 miles of pipe below ground. Constructing something that large is serious business. There were 31 deaths directly tied to pipeline construction.
This photo doesn't do it justice, the Alaskan pipeline is 800 miles long. The pipe itself is 3.75 inches thick all the way around.