Thawing causing cemetery to sink

Observation by Jeff Luther:

What can be done about melting permafrost at graves? A trench is forming in between some graves towards the middle, as you can see some crosses have toppled over. Probably an issue that can't be funded, but any ideas/tips for us to try and slow the process? Perhaps start insulating the top part of the grave with styrofoam to try and insulate the permafrost below? In the top right corner of the photo, the graves that were near the riverside were relocated, and that's the photo with the multiple graves toppled over. We have a new gravesite we opened up, at 1st daylight I can go fly the drone & take a photo of the new location, along with both other location showing you where the others are located with distances from take off area. Here also are photos of the graves. You can see me at the end of the graves road, and then town is about 2/3 of a mile away near the top left corner, next photo with about half of the crosses toppled over is 2800 ft away, and the graves with the bare land around it is 4900 ft away from me, close to a mile from end of the road where I am sitting.

Comment by LEO Network Editors:

Thank you Jeffrey for sharing your observation and the excellent drone imagery. I wonder if changes in the cemetery are a recent development? We have copied Tom Wolforth with the Department of Military and Veterans Affairs. Tom helps communities with assessments of burial sites and recently did an assessment of the erosion of St. Michael's cemetery in the wake of storm Merbok. Noatak was also impacted by storm Merbok. It brought extreme rain, high water and erosion. As described by Jeffrey Luther in his September 2022 post (attached). Could the storm have impacted the ground at the cemetary site as well? Maintenance of the grave sites definitely increases when there is a problem with the ground sinking. This is importance to make sure the markers are are not lost that identify the remains. On the topic of how to prevent settling from occurring, we reached out to Dr. Vladimir Romanovsky with the UAF Permafrost Lab. His comments are provided below. We also added some photos with example of covered graves and cemeteries from Louisiana and Eklutna Alaska, some interesting ways for keeping the snow, rain and sun off the sinking ground. M. Brubaker

Comment by Vladimir Romanovsky:

The settling you are seeing at the cemetery could be the result of thawing permafrost, or it could simply be ground settlement. "The permafrost in the Noatak area is more or less thermally stable but this stability could be easily disturbed by some changes at the ground surface. One questions is when they were digging the grave, if they encountered any permafrost. As far as preventing more settling, the first things to try is to add some materials (fill) to any low areas, to help with proper drainage. If you have a low area, the water will of course collect and this will make the ground warmer. This is why good drainage is so important. Another thing you can do in winter, is to remove snow from the area. This helps to make the ground colder. Another approach which can help in some circumstances, is finding a way to cover the area. Like a roof if it is above the ground and does not attract heat, a free standing cover can keep off the snow, the rain and create shade.