The glacial geology of northeastern Ellesmere Island, N.W.T., Canada

1978 ◽  
Vol 15 (4) ◽  
pp. 603-617 ◽  
Author(s):  
John England
Keyword(s):  
Ice Sheet ◽  
Greenland Ice Sheet ◽  
Ellesmere Island ◽  
Glacial Geology ◽  
Radiocarbon Dates ◽  
Previous Evidence ◽  
Marine Deposits ◽  
Last Glaciation ◽  
Distal Side ◽  
Stratigraphic Boundary

Thirty-five radiocarbon dates associated with former ice sheet margins and raised marine deposits are presented from northeastern Ellesmere Island. Along the southern margin of Hazen Plateau, and in inner Archer Fiord, a prominent morpho-stratigraphic boundary is marked by the Hazen Moraines. These moraines represent a restricted ice advance during the last glaciation and date ca. 8130 ± 200 BP. On the immediate distal side of the Hazen Moraines, eastward for 100 km towards northwestern Greenland, the majority of dates on marine limits show synchronous emergence beginning ca. 7500 BP. This zone of synchronous emergence is considered to represent an ice-free corridor isostatically unloaded between the margins of the receding Greenland and Ellesmere island ice sheets.A more widespread till, above and beyond the Hazen Moraines, extends out of Archer Fiord–Lady Franklin Bay to Robeson and Kennedy channels. This maximum ice advance is considered to predate the last glaciation on the basis of 14C and amino acid dates from ice-marginal deposits; however, alternative interpretations of the data are presented. Previous evidence suggesting an older advance of the Greenland Ice Sheet onto this coastline is confirmed. Several glaciers in the area are presently at their maximum postglacial positions.

scholarly journals Postglacial Isobases from Northern Ellesmere Island and Greenland: New Data

2007 ◽  
Vol 40 (3) ◽  
pp. 299-305 ◽  
Author(s):  
John England ◽  
Jan Bednarski
Keyword(s):  
Response Times ◽  
Ice Sheets ◽  
Ice Sheet ◽  
Greenland Ice Sheet ◽  
Ellesmere Island ◽  
Radiocarbon Dates ◽  
Sea Levels ◽  
Ice Caps ◽  
History Of ◽  
Considerable Range

ABSTRACT Over seventy new 14C dates on former relative sea levels from Hall Land, northwest Greenland, and Clements Markham Inlet, northern Ellesmere Island, are combined with previous data to revise the regional isobases for this area. These isobases show : 1) a centre of maximum postglacial emergence over northwest Greenland extending to; 2) an intervening cell of lower emergence over northeast Ellesmere Island which was isostatically-dominated by the Greenland Ice Sheet; in turn, extending to 3) a higher centre of emergence over the Grant Land Mountains, northernmost Ellesmere Island, associated with the independent history of local ice caps there. Radiocarbon dates from raised marine shorelines show a 2000 year lag between glacial unloading on northwest Greenland and northernmost Ellesmere Island. This lag in glacioisostatic adjustments suggests a considerable range in the glacier response times and/or glacioclimatic regimes in this area. Throughout the area the last ice limit was ca. 5-60 km beyond present ice margins. Maximum emergence at these ice limits is marked by shorelines built into a full glacial sea which range from 124 m asl in Clements Markham Inlet to 150 m asl in Hall Land. This indicates that similar emergence (120-150 m) in other areas does not necessarily require the removal of entire ice sheets although this has been commonly assumed in the literature. The geophysical implications of this warrant consideration.

The last glaciation and sea level history of Fosheim Peninsula, Ellesmere Island, Canadian High Arctic

1996 ◽  
Vol 33 (7) ◽  
pp. 1075-1086 ◽  
Author(s):  
Trevor Bell
Keyword(s):  
High Arctic ◽  
Radiocarbon Dates ◽  
The Holocene ◽  
Ice Caps ◽  
Marine Deposits ◽  
Last Glaciation ◽  
Maximum Elevation ◽  
Glacier Runoff ◽  
History Of ◽  
Ice Conditions

The last glaciation of Fosheim Peninsula is reconstructed on the basis of landform and sediment mapping and associated radiocarbon dates. Ice growth involved the expansion of cirque glaciers and accumulation on upland surfaces that are now ice free. Limited ice buildup, despite lowering of the paleoglaciation level by 700–800 m, is attributed to the hyperaridity of the region during glacial conditions. Marine deposits in formerly submerged basins beyond the ice margins are interpreted to represent (i) sedimentation caused by local ice buildup and marine transgression by 10.6 ka BP, (ii) increased ablation and glacier runoff [Formula: see text]9.5 ka BP, and (iii) marine regression during the Holocene. Holocene marine limit reaches a maximum elevation of approximately 150 m asl along northern Eureka Sound and Greely Fiord and descends southeastwards to 139–142 m asl near the Sawtooth Mountains. A synchronous marine limit is implied where the last ice limit was inland of the sea. The magnitude and pattern of Holocene emergence cannot be fully explained by the glacioisostatic effects of the small ice load during the last glaciation of the region. Deglaciation of the peninsula was underway by 9.5 ka BP; however, local ice caps may have persisted through the wannest period of the Holocene until 6–5 ka BP. This was likely a function of reduced sea ice conditions and increased moisture availability which benefited low-lying coastal icefields, but had negligible effect on interior highland ice caps.

Glacial geology and Quaternary marine stratigraphy of the Robeson Channel area, northeastern Ellesmere Island, Northwest Territories

1986 ◽  
Vol 23 (7) ◽  
pp. 1001-1012 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael J. Retelle
Keyword(s):  
Greenland Ice Sheet ◽  
Free Fraction ◽  
High Arctic ◽  
Ellesmere Island ◽  
Major Advance ◽  
Total Acid ◽  
Radiocarbon Dates ◽  
The Holocene ◽  
Acid Hydrolysate ◽  
Field Area

Glacial and marine deposits associated with two phases of glaciation are exposed along a 60 km corridor on Ellesmere Island that borders Robeson Channel. The oldest sediments, tentatively dated at ≥ 70 000 BP, were deposited during a major advance of the northwest Greenland ice sheet across Robeson Channel. During subsequent retreat of this ice mass, glaciomarine sediments containing a High Arctic macro- and microfauna were deposited in the isostatic downwarp on Ellesmere Island. This marine unit was radiocarbon dated at 31 300 ± 900 and > 32 000 BP; mean aIle/Ile ratios are 0.218 ± 0.03 for the free fraction and 0.063 ± 0.011 for the total acid hydrolysate.The last ice advance (late Wisconsin – early Holocene) did not extend into the field area from either interior Ellesmere Island or northwest Greenland. The ice-marginal sea transgressed to the marine limit (~116 m) and overlapped the deposits of the previous maximum Greenland advance. Local plateau ice caps did, however, spill over into one major valley and delayed the establishment of the marine limit in this location. Radiocarbon dates on the Holocene marine limit shorelines indicate initial emergence between 8000 and 8600 BP. A mean aIle/Ile ratio of 0.037 was found for the total acid hydrolysate; aIle was undetectable in the free fraction of the Holocene shells.The Holocene and pre-Holocene glacial and marine chronologies in the Robeson Channel area are similar to chronologies demonstrated from other locations in Arctic regions. Tentative correlations based upon aminostratigraphy suggest that the field area has remained, for the most part, ice free since at least 70 000 BP.

Holocene emergence at Cape Herschel, east-central Ellesmere Island, Arctic Canada: implications for ice sheet configuration

1992 ◽  
Vol 29 (9) ◽  
pp. 1958-1980 ◽  
Author(s):  
Weston Blake Jr.
Keyword(s):  
Ice Sheet ◽  
Greenland Ice Sheet ◽  
Convincing Evidence ◽  
Ellesmere Island ◽  
East Central ◽  
Radiocarbon Age ◽  
Ice Stream ◽  
Emergence Curve ◽  
Late Wisconsinan

Twenty-five radiocarbon age determinations on marine molluscs, basal organic pond sediments, charred remains in archeological sites, and a variety of other materials have allowed the construction of an emergence curve for Cape Herschel, east-central Ellesmere Island (78°35′N, 74°40′W). Only a narrow fringe of land is present between the Prince of Wales Icefield and Smith Sound, yet emergence of the order of 135 m has taken place during the last 8500–8700 radiocarbon years. The highest in situ shells were collected at an elevation of 107.5 m, and ages of 8470 ± 100 BP (GSC-3314) and 8230 ± 70 BP (TO-230) were obtained on this material.The spectacular and fresh-appearing glacial sculpture along both sides of Smith Sound, coupled with the rapid emergence in Holocene time and the fact that the oldest dates on marine shells at the fiord heads to the west are 3000–4000 years younger than those at Cape Herschel, provides convincing evidence that an ice stream filled Smith Sound (> 500 m deep) during the Late Wisconsinan glacial maximum. The Smith Sound Ice Stream drained southward from the Greenland Ice Sheet and the Innuitian Ice Sheet, which were confluent over Kane Basin, and it overrode the top of Pim Island (550 m asl). Massive melt-off of ice must have been occurring at the transition from Pleistocene to Holocene time, and this melting continued until the mid-Holocene, when all investigated outlet glaciers were behind their present positions.

Greenland Ice Sheet History Since the Last Glaciation

1974 ◽  
Vol 4 (4) ◽  
pp. 429-440 ◽  
Author(s):  
Norman W. Ten Brink ◽  
Anker Weidick
Keyword(s):  
Average Rate ◽  
Ice Sheet ◽  
Greenland Ice Sheet ◽  
Ice Cores ◽  
Large Area ◽  
West Greenland ◽  
Last Glaciation ◽  
History Of ◽  
Inland Ice

The position of the Inland Ice margin during the late Wisconsin-Würm glaciation (ca. 15,000 yr BP) is probably marked by offshore banks (submarine moraines?) in the Davis Strait. The history of the Inland Ice since the late Wisconsin-Würm can be divided into four principal phases: (1) Relatively slow retreat from the offshore banks occurred at an average rate of approximately 1 km/100 yr until ca. 10,000 yr BP (Younger Dryas?) when the Taserqat moraine system was formed by a readvance. (2) At ca. 9500 yr BP, the rate of retreat increased markedly to about 3 km/100 yr, and although nearly 100 km of retreat occurred by ca. 6500 yr BP, it was punctuated by frequent regional reexpansions of the Inland Ice that formed extensive moraine systems at ca. 8800-8700 yr BP (Avatdleq-Sarfartôq moraines), 8400-8100 yr BP (Angujârtorfik-Fjord moraines), 7300 yr BP (Umîvît moraines), and 7200-6500 yr BP (Keglen-Mt, Keglen moraines). (3) Between 6500 and 700 yr BP, discontinous ice-margin deposits and ice-disintegration features were formed during retreat, which may have continued until the ice margin was near or behind its present position by ca. 6000 yr BP. Most of the discontinuous ice-margin deposits occur within 5–10 km of the present ice margin, and may have been formed by two main phases of readvance at ca. 4800-4000 yr BP and 2500-2000 yr BP. (4) Since a readvance at ca. 700 yr BP, the Inland Ice margin has undergone several minor retreats and readvances resulting in deposition of numerous closely spaced moraines within about 3 km of the present ice margin. The young moraines are difficult to correlate regionally, but several individual moraines have the following approximate ages: A.D. 1650, 1750, and 1880–1920.Inland Ice fluctuations in West Greenland were very closely paralleled by Holocene glacial events in East Greenland and the eastern Canadian Arctic. Such similarity of glacier behavior over a large area strongly suggests that widespread climatic change was the direct cause of Holocene glacial fluctuations. Moreover, historical advances of the Inland Ice margin followed slight temperature decreases by no more than a few decades, and 18O data from Greenland ice cores show that slight temperature decreases occurred frequently throughout the Holocene. Therefore, we conclude that construction of the major Holocene moraine systems in West Greenland was caused by slight temperature decreases, which decreased rates of ablation and thereby produced practically immediate advances of the ice sheet margin, but did not necessarily affect the long-term equilibrium of the ice sheet.

The last glaciation of Marvin Peninsula, northern Ellesmere Island, High Arctic, Canada

1989 ◽  
Vol 26 (12) ◽  
pp. 2578-2590 ◽  
Author(s):  
Donald S. Lemmen
Keyword(s):  
High Arctic ◽  
Ellesmere Island ◽  
North Coast ◽  
Radiocarbon Dates ◽  
The North ◽  
Last Glaciation ◽  
Ice Retreat ◽  
Late Wisconsinan ◽  
Glaciomarine Sediments ◽  
North And South

The limit of the last glaciation on Marvin Peninsula, northernmost Ellesmere Island, is recorded by extensive ice-marginal landforms and early Holocene glaciomarine sediments. While glaciers occupied most valleys on the peninsula, other areas remained ice free, as did most of the adjacent fiords. Beyond the ice limit, sparse erratics and degraded meltwater channels within weathered bedrock are evidence of older, more extensive glaciation(s). Shorelines and marine shells 50 m above the limit of the Holocene sea along the north coast relate to these older glacial events.Thirty-four new radiocarbon dates provide a chronology of ice buildup and retreat. Glaciers reached their limit after 23 ka, and locally as late as 11 ka. This was achieved by both expansion of existing glaciers and accumulation on plateau and lowland sites, which are presently ice free. Late Wisconsinan climate was characterized by cold and extreme aridity. Five dates ranging from 11 to 31 ka BP on subfossil bryophytes suggest that ice-free areas were biologically productive throughout the last glaciation. Ice retreat and postglacial emergence had begun by 9.5 ka and was associated with a marked climatic amelioration. The deglacial chronology confirms a pronounced disparity in the timing of ice retreat on the north and south sides of the Grant Land Mountains.

Late Quaternary glacial and sea-level events, Clements Markham Inlet, northern Ellesmere Island, Arctic Canada

1986 ◽  
Vol 23 (9) ◽  
pp. 1343-1355 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jan Bednarski
Keyword(s):  
Sea Level ◽  
Late Quaternary ◽  
Ellesmere Island ◽  
Glacial Retreat ◽  
Radiocarbon Dates ◽  
Ice Caps ◽  
Marine Deposits ◽  
Ice Retreat ◽  
Level Ice ◽  
Small Valley

Clements Markham Inlet cuts into the Grant Land Mountains of the northernmost coast of Ellesmere Island. The head of the inlet is bounded on three sides by mountain ice caps that surround lowlands mantled by extensive raised marine deposits. Fieldwork and mapping of late Quaternary sediments were used to determine the limits of past glaciations and the nature of ice retreat from the inlet head. Forty-five radiocarbon dates on driftwood and marine shells provide a deglacial chronology and document related sea-level adjustments.High-level ice-marginal meltwater channels and mountain summit erratics indicate that ice once inundated all of Clements Markham Inlet. During at least one of these undated glaciations, ice flowed unconstrained by the local topography. In contrast, the most recent glaciation involved confluent trunk glaciers, which terminated near the head of the inlet. Beyond this terminus, smaller glaciers entering the sides of the inlet debouched into a glacioisostatically depressed sea (full glacial sea). Retreat from the last glaciation is documented by moraines, kame terraces, and ice-contact deltas.Inside the ice limit at the head of the inlet, sections commonly show that a marine transgression occurred immediately after the retreat of the ice. Conversely, sections outside the last ice limit, along the sides of the inlet, show complex intercalations of marine and glacigenic sediments. These indicate proximal ice-front conditions where small valley glaciers locally contacted the sea.The oldest date on the last ice limit is 9845 BP. After this, slow retreat was in progress, and some glaciers were within 6 km of their current positions by ca. 9700 BP. At the head of the inlet, the mouths of the confluent valleys became ice free by 8000 BP. After 8000 BP, glacial retreat accelerated greatly, so that the entire lowland became ice free within 400 years.Relative sea-level curves from the inlet indicate ice-load changes that confirm this pattern of ice retreat. Outside the last ice limit, the full glacial sea reached 124 m asl by at least 10 000 BP. Emergence from this sea occurred slowly between at least 10 000 and 8000 BP (0.72 m 100 year−1). This period was followed by "normal" rapid postglacial emergence, which decelerated to the present.The marine limit of the full glacial sea rises from 92 m asl, at the outer coast, to 124 m asl near the last ice limit at the head of the inlet. Initial emergence from the full glacial sea occurred simultaneously throughout the inlet. On the proximal side of the last ice limit, the marine limit descends in the up-ice direction and becomes progressively younger. Individual strandlines tilt up in a southwesterly direction towards the central Grant Land Mountains, suggesting a former centre of glacio-isostatic loading in that area.

Late Wisconsinan buildup and wastage of the Innuitian Ice Sheet across southern Ellesmere Island, Nunavut

2004 ◽  
Vol 41 (1) ◽  
pp. 39-61 ◽  
Author(s):  
John H England ◽  
Nigel Atkinson ◽  
Arthur S Dyke ◽  
David JA Evans ◽  
Marek Zreda
Keyword(s):  
Ice Sheet ◽  
Greenland Ice Sheet ◽  
Ellesmere Island ◽  
Laurentide Ice Sheet ◽  
Subsequent Removal ◽  
Baffin Bay ◽  
Late Wisconsinan ◽  
Global Sea Level ◽  
The Last Glacial Maximum ◽  
The Last Glacial

During the Late Wisconsinan, a precursor of the Prince of Wales Icefield, southern Ellesmere Island, formed a prodigious ice divide of the Innuitian Ice Sheet. Initial buildup occurred after 19 ka BP, when the icefield advanced west (inland) across Makinson Inlet from margins similar to present. Subsequent reversal of flow to the east required ice divide migration to the west onto a plateau that is largely ice-free today. From this divide, a trunk glacier flowed eastward through Makinson Inlet to join the Smith Sound Ice Stream en route to nothern Baffin Bay. Westward flow from this divide filled Baumann Fiord, depositing a granite dispersal train that extends a further 600 km across the archipelago to the polar continental shelf. Deglaciation of most of Makinson Inlet occurred catastrophically at ~9.3 ka BP, forming a calving bay that thinned the Innuitian divide, thereby triggering deglaciation of most of Baumann Fiord by 8.5 ka BP. Ninety 14C dates on Holocene shells and driftwood constrain deglacial isochrones and postglacial emergence curves on opposite sides of the former Innuitian divide. Isobases drawn on the 8 ka BP shoreline rise northwest towards Eureka Sound, the axis of maximum former ice thickness. Ice margins on Ellesmere Island were similar to present from ~50–19 ka BP (spanning marine isotope stages 3 and 2). However, significant regional variation in ice extent during this interval is recorded by ice rafting from the Laurentide Ice Sheet into Baffin Bay. Later buildup of the Innuitian Ice Sheet occurred during the low global sea level that defines the last glacial maximum (18 ka BP). We also suggest that the Innuitian Ice Sheet was influenced by the buttressing and subsequent removal of the Greenland Ice Sheet along eastern Ellesmere Island.

Advance of the Greenland Ice Sheet on to north-eastern Ellesmere Island

Nature ◽  
1974 ◽  
Vol 252 (5482) ◽  
pp. 373-375 ◽  
Author(s):  
JOHN ENGLAND
Keyword(s):  
Ice Sheet ◽  
Greenland Ice Sheet ◽  
Ellesmere Island ◽  
North Eastern

Glacial geology of the Torngat Mountains, Labrador

1988 ◽  
Vol 25 (8) ◽  
pp. 1184-1198 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter U. Clark
Keyword(s):  
Soil Profile ◽  
Late Quaternary ◽  
Ice Sheet ◽  
Laurentide Ice Sheet ◽  
Glacial Geology ◽  
Coastal Regions ◽  
Radiocarbon Dates ◽  
Areal Distribution ◽  
Profile Development

Two late Quaternary alloformations are identifed throughout the Torngat Mountains by degree of soil profile development in till with a granitic composition, morphologic expression of deposits, and their relative areal distribution. The two alloformations are interpreted to represent two, successively limited glaciations of the Torngat Mountains by the Laurentide Ice Sheet. Deposits of the Shoal Cove Alloformation mantle hillslopes distal to deposits of the younger Saglek Alloformation. Deposits are primarily soliflucted till found around coastal regions. Soils developed in till of the Shoal Cove Alloformation are characterized by well-expressed Bw horizons ≥ 19 cm thick. Deposits of the younger Saglek Alloformation are characterized by prominent, well-preserved moraines, outwash fan surfaces, and ice-marginal channels. Soils described in till are poorly developed, with A horizons directly overlying Cox horizons, or separated from Cox horizons by thin, transitional (AC, CA) horizons or poorly expressed Bw horizons. During deposition of this alloformation, the Laurentide Ice Sheet was confined to major valleys and fiords, leaving large areas of the mountains ice free. Old radiocarbon dates on shells from diamictons on the Iron Strand coast do not provide a unique age for glacial events on the Labrador coast. Age of marine limit on the coast suggests deglaciation from the event depositing the Saglek Alloformation began 9 000 – 10 000 years BP.

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