Periglaciation

Periglaciation (adjective: "periglacial," also referring to places at the edges of glacial areas) describes geomorphic processes that result from seasonal thawing of snow in areas of permafrost, the runoff from which refreezes in ice wedges and other structures. "Periglacial" suggests an environment located on the margin of past glaciers. However, freeze and thaw cycles influence landscapes outside areas of past glaciation. Therefore, periglacial environments are anywhere that freezing and thawing modify the landscape in a significant manner.

Tundra is a common ecological community in periglacial areas.

Periglaciation became a distinct subject within the study of geology after Walery Łoziński, a Polish geologist, introduced the term in 1909. Łoziński drew upon the early work of Johan Gunnar Andersson. According to Alfred Jahn, his introduction of his work at the 1910 International Geological Congress held in caused significant discussion. In the field trip to Svalbard that followed the congress participants were able to observe the phenomena reported by Łoziński, directly. Łoziński published his contribution to the congress in 1912. From 1950 to 1970, periglacial geomorphology developed chiefly as a subdiscipline of climatic geomorphology that was current in Europe at the time. The journal Biuletyn Peryglacjalny, established in 1954 by Jan Dylik, was important for the consolidation of the discipline.

Albeit the definition of what a periglacial zone is not clear-cut a conservativa estimated is that a quarter of Earth's land surface has periglacial conditions. Beyond this quarter an additional quarter or fifth or Earth's land surface had periglacial conditions at some time during the . In the northern hemisphere larger swathes of northern Asia and northern North America are periglaciated. In Europe parts of Fennoscandia, Iceland, northern European Russia and Svalbard. In addition Alpine areas in the non-arctic northern hemisphere might also be subject to periglaciation. A major outlier in the northern hemisphere is the Tibetan Plateau that stands out by its size and low-latitude location. In the southern hemisphere parts of the Andes, the ice-free areas of Antarctica and the sub-Antarctic islands are periglaciated.

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