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Pingo

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Encyclopedia of Planetary Landforms

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Definition

Perennially frozen ice-cored (non-glacial) mound formed primarily by the injection of water (Harris et al. 1988).

Category

A type of periglacial landform

Proposed origin for some mesoscale positive relief landforms on Mars

Synonyms

(Not recommended) bulgunniakh, hydroaccolith (Harris et al. 1988); ice-cored hill, nongenetic: ice mound. The term pingo-like form (both pitted and mound shaped) is used for putative pingos on Mars (Burr et al. 2009a).

Description/Morphometry

Meters to hundreds of meters in diameter; up to ~50 m in height; shape ranges from circular/subcircular to elongate. Often show radial (tension-induced) cracking.

Planetary Analogs

On Mars, pingo-like mounds (Fig. 4) have been reported in parts of the equatorial regions and the middle latitudes of the northern plains, including Acidalia Planitia (Lucchitta 1981), the Athabasca Valles and the Cerberus plains (Balme and Gallagher 2009; Burr et al. 2005; Page and Murray 2006; Page 2007), Maja Valles (Theilig...

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References

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Geography, Dawson College, Montreal, Canada

    Richard Soare

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  1. Richard Soare
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Correspondence to Richard Soare .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest, Hungary

    Henrik Hargitai

  2. Institute for Advanced Study, Collegium Budapest, Budapest, Hungary

    Ákos Kereszturi

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Soare, R. (2022). Pingo. In: Hargitai, H., Kereszturi, Á. (eds) Encyclopedia of Planetary Landforms. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-9213-9_259-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-9213-9_259-2

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  • Print ISBN: 978-1-4614-9213-9

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4614-9213-9

  • eBook Packages: Springer Reference Earth and Environm. ScienceReference Module Physical and Materials ScienceReference Module Earth and Environmental Sciences

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Chapter history

  1. Latest

    Pingo
    Published:
    15 November 2022

    DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-9213-9_259-2

  2. Original

    Pingo
    Published:
    18 June 2014

    DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-9213-9_259-1

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