DISTRIBUTION OF SUBSEA PERMAFROST (FROZEN GROUND) IN THE LAPTEV SEA BASED ON SEISMIC REFRACTION DATA

For the first time, for an area of 454 thousand km2 of the Laptev Sea, processing and comprehensive analysis of a large volume of records of the first arrivals of refracted waves of common shot gathers was carried out along 113 CDP seismic lines of JSC MAGE with a total length of about 20.7 thousand km. Fundamentally new information was obtained on the state of the subsea cryolithozone, and the boundary between the predominant distribution of frozen (Southern zone) and thawed (Northern zone) ground was identified. It was substantiated that a number of identified through taliks in the Southern zone have an endogenous genesis and are associated with large disjunctive displacements. High seismic activity in the central part of the Laptev Sea improves faults permeability, which contributes to the activation of subvertical migration of deep fluid flows and enhances the role of the endogenous factor in the degradation of permafrost (frozen ground) and gas hydrates. A large thawed zone was discovered in the North Western area of JSC MAGE activities, approaching close to the coast of Taimyr. A comparison of the results obtained with the data of the stratigraphic well DL-1, drilled in 2022 by FSBI VSEGEI and JSC Rosgeologia near the eastern border of the Laptev Sea, showed their complete correspondence, clearly indicating completed degradation of subsea permafrost in a significant part of the seas of Eastern Siberia.

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