CGRG Bibliography of Canadian Geomorphology
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Author : Aitken, A.C.; and Solsten, B.L.
Date : 2005.
Title : Climate change, global sea-level rise and terrain disturbance in Auyuittuq National Park Reserve, Nunavut.
Publication : Annual Meeting of the Canadian Association of Geographer. Tuesday, May 31 to Saturday, to June 4, 2005. University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario.
Issue :
Page(s) :
Abstract
The potential impacts of climate change in the Canadian Arctic include thawing of permafrost, accompanied by mass wasting, and sea-level rise, accompanied by shoreline erosion. The northern coastline of ANPR is sensitive to mass wasting and onging coastal submergence. The combination of these processes is threatening culturally significant archaeological resources within the park. This study employed a Geographic Information System (GIS) to identify areas within ANPR that are sensitive to mass wasting and coastal submergence under a warming climate scenario (2X CO2 by 2025). Data related to surficial geology, the nature of permafrost, and slope angle were used in an overlay analysis to assess terrain susceptibility to mass wasting. Geomorphologic evidence of coastal submergence, combined with estimates of sea-level rise, was employed to identify terrain susceptible to erosion by marine processes. A matrix consisting of mass wasting potential versus predicted sea-level rise was utilized to rank the relative risk of terrain disturbance in the vicinity of 44 archaeological sites along the northern coastline of ANPR: 6 sites occur in areas with no risk of disturbance; 10 sites occur in areas of low risk of disturbance; 4 sites occur in areas of moderate risk of disturbance; and 24 sites occur in areas of high risk to disturbance.
Bibliography of Canadian Geomorphology