The story
Term composed of cryo- + pedology first introduced by the American geologist Kirk Bryan (1888-1950) in "Cryopedology, the study of frozen ground and intensive frost-action, with suggestions on nomenclature," American Journal of Science, vol. 244, no. 9 (September 1, 1946), pp. 622-42.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.