CGRG Bibliography of Canadian Geomorphology
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Author : Campeau, S.; and Héquette, A.
Date : 1995.
Title : Reconstruction of barrier island migration using diatom analysis and ground penetrating radar, southern Canadian Beaufort Sea
Publication : Congress program and abstracts : The 1st SEPM Congress on Sedimentary Geology, August 13-16, 1995, St. Pete Beach, Florida
Issue : 1:
Page(s) : 36.
Abstract
The coastline of the southern Canadian Beaufort Sea is essentially composed of eroding bluffs and unconsolidated Quaternary sediments, complex embayments formed by the breaching of thermokarst lakes, and spits and barrier islands which are experiencing rapid landward migration. Three boreholes were drilled on a barrier island and a barrier-spit, near Atkinson Point on the Tuktoyaktuk Peninsula. Ground penetrating radar profiles were also obtained on the same sites. These coastal accumulation landforms are presently migrating landward at a rate of 1.7 m/a. The ecological coding of diatom species provides a valuable tool for reconstructing coastal sedimentary environments. This approach has rarely been used to document barrier island evolution. The migration of Atkinson Point barrier islands was reconstructed from the stratigraphic record by comparing the relative abundance of diagnostic taxa (ice, thermokarst lakes, lagoonal and marineplanktonic, tychoplanktonic and epipsammonic diatom species). This method provided additional evidence for the identification of sediments deposited in lacustrine and lagoonal basins, tidal channels and washover deltas. Ground penetrating radar profiles allowed stratigraphic correlations between boreholes and enabled us to extend the biostratigraphic record to the entire barrier island.
Bibliography of Canadian Geomorphology