The analysis of the structure of the cryolithozone, facies, and thicknesses of the Quaternary sediments and the results of the physico-chemical mathematical modeling of the modern shelf of the western part of the Laptev Sea support the influence of the Late Pleistocene glaciations on the heat conditions and the distribution of the permafrost in the area. A ˜200m thick glacier formed under aerial conditions from atmospheric precipitation represented the metamorphosed snow cover. According to the modeling, the long-living (from 60-50 to 10-4 ky) glacier reduced the thickness of the permafrost rocks in the reviewed shelf area for 280-360 m. The Holocene marine transgression additionally decreased the thickness from 50-140 m on the inner shelf to 220-350 m on the outer shelf. The modern submarine cryolithozone 450-0 m thick is widespread in the studied region from the coast to the shelf boundary (isobaths of 130-140 m), where it pinches out at a distance of ˜380 km from the coast at a depth of ˜250 m above the sea level.
