CGRG Bibliography of Canadian Geomorphology
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Author : Dyke, A.S.; Morris, T.F.; and Hooper, J.
Date : 1989
Title : Postglacial history of the bowhead whale and driftwood penetration, central and eastern Canadian Arctic
Publication : Abstracts of the 18th Annual Arctic Workshop, April 13-15, 1989 : theme : Global environmental change and the Arctic. - Lethbridge, Alta.
Issue :
Page(s) :
Abstract
Changes in the summer range of the bowhead whale (Balaena mysticetus) throughout postglacial time are compared to changes in frequency of penetration of boreal driftwood during the same time interval in the same areas. The current and former range of the whale is governed by sea ice conditions. The postglacial period is here divided into four parts: (1) 11-8.5 ka, a large bowhead population extended in the summer from Beaufort Sea to Baffin Bay with the first animals arriving in the central Arctic from Beaufort Sea; no driftwood reached the central or eastern Arctic because of a lack or scarcity of sea ice to advect it; (2) 8.5-5 ka, bowheads were excluded from the central Arctic channels and occurred less frequently than before in the eastern Arctic channels but the small amounts of advected driftwood indicate congestion by moving pack ice rather than by landfast ice; (3) 5-3 ka, bowheads from Baffin Bay reoccupied the channels either inlower numbers or less frequently than during the early Holocene; driftwood arrived in increased abundance in the central Arctic but not in the eastern Arctic; (4) 3 ka-present, bowheads were excluded from the central Arctic channels during most summers but frequency of driftwood penetration reached its postglacier maximum. Major moraine deposition (Cockburn, Flint and age equivalents throughout the Arctic Islands) occurred during periods of more open water. Periods of aridity (8.5-5 ka) caused slow glacier retreat.
Bibliography of Canadian Geomorphology