Autumn Swamp (3) : The ‘pingo’

Autumn Swamp (3) : The ‘pingo’

This landscape shot shows the warm coloured swampy peat moors of ‘Hohes Venn’ in autumn.

‘Hohes Venn’ is the greatest (4500 ha) and oldest National Park of Belgium and the most unique nature biotope in the land.
The whole area is full of vast and desolate swamps.

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The small pond in the shot is a ‘pingo’ (also known as ‘palsa’ or ‘lithansa’).

I guess that most of you have never heard of a 'pingo', but it's a striking natural event !
Simple and brief : a ‘pingo’ is a geomorphological phenomenon as a result of the freezing of swamp water around a permanent frozen ice core (permafrost)

EXTREMELY rare in western Europe ! (is most common in northern Scandinavia and Siberia)

Location : Brackvenn