A dome-shaped mound consisting of a layer of soil over a large core of ice, occurring in permafrost areas.
‘What's left behind are new surfaces: kettle moraines, outwash plains, pingos, scoured barren grounds.’
‘Less widespread, but equally distinctive, are ice-cored mounds, or pingos.’
‘The review by Watson of the periglacial environment in Britain concluded that continuous permafrost was present long enough for widespread formation of features such as ice wedges and pingos.’
‘The seabed comprised steep rock formations normally associated with glaciated landscapes, except on this occasion it was the seafloor that had U-shaped valleys, arretes (wall of ice) and pingos (small conical hill of ice).’
‘You'll see pingos (giant earth cones with hearts of ice) and plenty of wildlife: beluga whales, caribou, polar bears, and musk oxen.’
Origin
1920s from Inuit pinguq ‘nunatak’.
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