Pingo
pingo (pin'-go) (a) A large frost mound, esp. a relatively large conical mound of soil-covered ice
(commonly 30-50 m high and up to 400 m in diameter), raised in part by hydrostatic pressure of water
within or below the permafrost of Arctic regions (esp. Canada), and of more than one year's duration;
an intrapermafrost ice-cored hill or mound. Its crest is sometimes ruptured or collapsed due to melting
of the ice, thus forming a star-shaped crater; the term has also been applied to such a depression
(Monkhouse, 1965, p.237). The mound itself often resembles a small volcano. The term was introduced
for this feature by Porsild (1938, p.46). PI: pingos. See also: ground-ice mound; ice laccolith. Syn:
boolgoonyakh. (b) The term has been used in several related senses, as a conical hill or mound, or as a
hill completely covered by an ice sheet but revealing its presence by surface indications (ADTIC, 1955,
p.61). Etymol: Eskimo, "conical hill". Syn: pingok." Glossary of Geology 5th Edition
