pingo

[ ping-goh ]

noun,plural pin·gos.Geology.
  1. a hill of soil-covered ice pushed up by hydrostatic pressure in an area of permafrost.

  2. a hill of similar origin remaining after the melting of permafrost.

Origin of pingo

1
First recorded in 1925–30, pingo is from the Inuit word pinguq

Words Nearby pingo

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How to use pingo in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for pingo

pingo

/ (ˈpɪŋɡəʊ) /


nounplural -gos
  1. a mound of earth or gravel formed through pressure from a layer of water trapped between newly frozen ice and underlying permafrost in Arctic regions

Origin of pingo

1
C20: from Inuktitut

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Scientific definitions for pingo

pingo

[ pĭng ]


Plural pingos pingoes
  1. A large mound or dome of ice covered with soil. Pingos are about 30 to 50 m (98 to 164 ft) high and up to 400 m (1,312 ft) in diameter and are found in Arctic regions. They are believed to form in basins (such as drained lake beds) as a result of the freezing and upward expansion of water held in subsurface soil, which initiates the doming, as well as by the rising and freezing of water trapped beneath or within the permafrost, as a result of hydrostatic pressure.

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