CGRG Bibliography of Canadian Geomorphology
Search Results
Author : Atkinson, N.
Date : 1999.
Title : The last glaciation and relative sea level history of Central Baumann Ford, Southwest Ellesmere Island, Canadian High Arctic (Nunavut).
Publication : Unpublished M.Sc. thesis. University of Alberta, Edmonton.
Issue :
Page(s) : 79 p.
Abstract
Baumann Fiord is a major re-entrant on southwest Ellesmere Island, measuring >100 km long, and 20 km wide. This thesis reconstructs the glacial and sea level history of central Baumann Fiord, based on surficial geological mapping, interpretations of glacial landforms and associated sediments, surveys on raised marine deposits and radiocarbon dating marine shells. Striated bedrock, and the distribution of granite erratics throughout the study area record the inundation of central Baumann Fiord with ice from the Prince of Wales Icefield, and its SW advance across Bjorne Peninsula, en route to Norwegian Bay. Deglacial marine sediments (dating 9.3 ka BP) distributed along Baumann Fiord record the entry of marine fauna, occasioned by the progressive retreat of trunk ice during the early Holocene. Collectively, these data suggest extensive ice cover on southwest Ellesmere Island during the Last Glacial Maximum. Geomorphic and sedimentary signatures indicate that the removal of trunk ice from Baumann Fiord facilitated retreat of tributary glaciers occupying Svendsen and Bjorne peninsulas. Deglaciation was likely promoted by both ongoing eustatic sea level rise and well documented early Holocene warming. Geomorphic evidence records the progressive retreat of terrestrial ice margins from the coast of Baumann Fiord to the interior of southwest Ellesmere Island, from 8.5 ka BP. Isobases drawn on the 8.0 ka shoreline for central Baumann Fiord exhibit a rise to the NW, towards Eureka Sound. The isobase pattern indicates that during the Late Wisconsinan, the thickest ice in the region occupied Eureka Sound.
Bibliography of Canadian Geomorphology