CGRG Bibliography of Canadian Geomorphology
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Author : England, J.
Date : 1997
Title : Unusual rates and patterns of Holocene emergence, Ellesmere Island, Arctic Canada.
Publication : Journal of the Geological Society [London]
Issue : 154(5):
Page(s) : 781-792.
Abstract
Substantial postglacial emergence (Up to 150 m) characterizes the Canadian High Arctic following the last glacial maximum. Across northern Ellesmere Island, rapid emergence is not observed during the early stages of deglaciation as it is in other parts of Arctic Canada. Rather, the curves show an interval of slow emergence (1 cm per century) during the initial ice retreat. This is attributed to a slow rate of glacial rebound that was countered by a similar rate of eustatic sea-level rise. Normally, isobases drawn on postglacial shorelines define broad cells of uplift that mimic centres of former maximum ice thickness. However, isobases on the 8 ka BP shoreline, surveyed throughout northern Ellesmere Island, indicate more complex patterns of crustal uplift that seem incongruent with reported ice thicknesses. On west-central Ellesmere Island, the isobases (110-150 m a.s.l.) trace a plunging ridge, aligned with geological structure, across an area considered to have had minimal ice cover during the last glacial maximum. The ridge may record and important structural influence associated with the geologically youthful Sverdrup Basin. Collectively, this evidence cautions against the view that postglacial emergence has a universally, predicable signature closely portraying former ice loads.
Bibliography of Canadian Geomorphology