ABSTRACT
The problem of submarine permafrost zone typification was recently considered by V. A. Kudrysvtsev and N. N. Romanovskiy, Danilov and L. Zhigarev, and in part by Are. The most comprehensive typification was made by Kudryavtsev and Romanovskiy. The cryolithozone of the Arctic shelf could be divided into three types. First, the part of the shelf with undersea deposits saturated with saline water, the water temperature being below 0°C. The origin of the water is marine. Second, the layers of ice-bonded deposits in the shelf structure. They are the result of the continental development of the shelf during its exposure; and third, the perennially frozen rocks of the shelf that were formed under coastal conditions, often beneath a layer of low-temperature saline water. Some islands in the Soviet Arctic, for instance, have disappeared from sight in one generation.
