ABSTRACT: A survey of coastal environments in the vicinity of Nain, Labrador.

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Abstract

On the coast of Labrador in sheltered locations, broad intertidal flats have developed despite isostatic rebound of about 0.3 metre per hundred years. The action of sea ice is a major process controlling the distribution of boulders on the surface, which in turn determines the nature of the substratum and the biota which inhabits it. The stability of the surface, the abundance of boulders and the number and diversity of plants and animals increases from a barren zone near shore to luxuriant growths of algae, barnacles and molluscs at the boulder barricades and associated tide pools near the outer edge, although a number of the burrowing molluscs and polychaetes prefer the finer, softer sediments of the inner and middle intertidal flats. The subtidal environment on exposed coasts and channels consists of a lag of gravel, cobbles and boulders. Encrusting, calcified algae cover the surfaces along with green and brown algae. In protected regions where sand and mud have accumulated, polychaetes dominate to about 15 to 20 m depth on sand, and molluscs and echinoderms are found on the finer sediments below. On exposed, moderately and steeply sloping bedrock shores above high water, a prominent barren zone occurs. Elsewhere, the sand ridges and coastal sand dunes associated with beaches are thickly colonized by grasses. Blowouts are common behind these areas. Salt marshes occur on shores of low slope. These are small compared to salt marshes elsewhere and are made up of a turf of grasses which terminates on the barren surface of the intertidal flats.

Bibliography of Canadian Geomorphology