New radiocarbon dates from the University of Washington's Quaternary Isotope Laboratory are given for Cornwallis Island, Northwest Territories, Canada, and these and other radiocarbon dates for the area are assembled in a diagram, including the envelope of a tentative emergence curve. Most of the new dates are derived from surface collections but appear to represent a consistent altitude–age relationship confirming the pattern of previously published dates for the general region.The oldest of the new Holocene dates on marine shells indicate that the Resolute Bay area began emerging by at least 9700 years BP. The highest well developed marine strandlines recognized to date are at an altitude of ca. 105 m. However, the postglacial marine limit is probably some 10 m or more higher. As in adjacent regions, early postglacial emergence was initially rapid, of the order of an average 8.3 m/100 years for the first recorded 75 m, then slowed to an average 0.5 m/100 years for the last 40 m.
Geology, Keskarrah Bay area, District of Mackenzie, Northwest Territories