Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-tj2md Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-18T19:09:56.268Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

A 10,000 yr B.P. Extensive Ice Shelf over Viscount Melville Sound, Arctic Canada

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Douglas A. Hodgson  and
Jean-Serge Vincent
Douglas A. Hodgson
Affiliation:
Geological Survey of Canada, 601 Booth Street, Ottawa, Ontario K1A 0E8, Canada
Jean-Serge Vincent
Affiliation:
Geological Survey of Canada, 601 Booth Street, Ottawa, Ontario K1A 0E8, Canada
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Late Wisconsinan age glacial landforms and deposits indicate that an ice shelf of at least 60,000 km2 flowed northwestward into Viscount Melville Sound, probably from the M'Clintock Dome of the Laurentide Ice Sheet. The ice shelf overlapped coastal areas and laid Winter Harbour Till up to 125 m above present sea level on the southern coast of Melville Island, to 135 m on Byam Martin Island, to possibly 90 m on the northeast tip of Banks Island, and to 150 m on the north coast of Victoria Island. The contemporary sea level was 50 to 100 m higher than present (it now rises eastward). A maximum age of 10,340 ± 150 yr B.P. for the till, and thus the ice-shelf advance, is provided by shells in marine sediments which underlie it, whereas a minimum age of 9880 ± 150 yr B.P. is provided by overlying shells that postdate the ice advance. The major advance of shelf ice into Viscount Melville Sound may be the result of the rapid disintegration of the M'Clintock Dome while the climate ameliorated in the western Arctic.

Type
Research Article
Information
Quaternary Research , Volume 22 , Issue 1 , July 1984 , pp. 18 - 30
Copyright
University of Washington

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Andrews, J.T. Ives, J.D. (1979). “Cockburn” nomenclature and the late Quaternary history of the eastern Canadian Arctic Arctic and Alpine Research 10 617 633 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bishop, J.F. Walton, J.L.W. (1981). Bottom melting under George VI Ice Shelf, Antarctica Journal of Glaciology 27 429 447 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Broeker, W.S. (1975). Floating glacier ice caps in the Arctic Ocean Science 188 1116 1118 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Budd, W.F. (1966). The dynamics of the Amery Ice Shelf Journal of Glaciology 6 335 358 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Crary, A.P. (1958). Arctic ice island and ice shelf studies Arctic 11 2 42 Part 1CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Crary, A.P. (1960). Arctic ice island and ice shelf studies Arctic 13 32 50 Part 2CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Daae, H.D. Rutgers, A.T.C. (1975). Geological history of the Northwest Passage Yorath, C.J. Parker, E.R. Glass, D.J. Canada's Continental Margins and Offshore Petroleum Exploration. Canadian Society of Petroleum Geologists, Memoir. 4 477 500 Google Scholar
Denton, G.H. Hughes, T.J. (1981). The Last Great Ice Sheets Wiley New York Google Scholar
Dreimanis, A. (1982). Synchronism versus diachronism in ice-marginal fluctuations during late Wisconsin in North America Easterbrook, D.J. Havlíček, P. Jäger, K.-D. Shotton, F.W. Quaternary Glaciations in the Northern Hemisphere. Project 73/1/24. International Geological Correlation Program 73 81 PragueGoogle Scholar
Dyke, A.S. (1983). Quaternary geology of Somerset Island, District of Franklin Geological Survey of Canada Memoir 404 Google Scholar
Dyke, A.S. Dredge, L.A. Vincent, J-S. (1982). Configuration and dynamics of the Laurentide Ice Sheet during the late Wisconsin maximum Géographie physique et Quaternaire 36 5 14 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
England, J. Bradley, R.S. Miller, G.H. (1978). Former ice shelves in the Canadian high arctic Journal of Glaciology 20 393 404 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fyles, J.G. (1967). Winter Harbour moraine, Melville Island Report of Activities, Part A. Geological Survey of Canada Paper. 69-1A 194 195 Google Scholar
Gow, A.J. Weeks, W.F. Hendrickson, G. Rowland, R. (1965). New light on the mode of uplift of the fish and fossiliferous moraines of the McMurdo Ice Shelf, Antarctica Journal of Glaciology 5 813 828 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hardy, L. (1977). La déglaciation et les épisodes lacustre et marin sur le versant québécois des bassesterres de la baie de James Géographie physique et Quaternaire 31 261 273 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hattersley-Smith, G. (1974). Present Arctic ice cover Ives, J.D. Barry, R.J. Arctic and Alpine Environments Methuen London 195 223 Google Scholar
Hodgson, D.A. Vincent, J-S. (1982). Surficial geology, central Melville Island, NWT Geological Survey of Canada Open File 874 Google Scholar
Hodgson, D.A. Vincent, J-S. Fyles, J.G. (1984). The Quaternary geology of central Melville Island, Northwest Territories Geological Survey of Canada Paper 83-16 in pressGoogle Scholar
Hopkins, D.M. (1982). Aspects of the paleogeography of Beringia during the late Pleistocene Hopkins, D.M. Matthews, J.V. Jr. Schweger, C.E. Young, S.B. Paleoecology of Beringia Academic Press New York 3 28 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hughes, T.J. Denton, G.H. Grosswald, M.G. (1977). Was there a late-Würm Arctic ice sheet? Nature (London) 266 596 602 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kerr, J.W. (1981). Evolution of the Canadian Arctic Islands: A transition between the Atlantic and Arctic Oceans Mairn, A.E.M. Churkin, M. Jr. Stehli, F.G. The Ocean Basin Margin Vol. 5 Plenum New York 105 199 The Arctic OceanGoogle Scholar
Lowdon, J.A. Blake, W. Jr. (1968). Geological Survey of Canada radiocarbon dates VII Radiocarbon 10 207 245 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lowdon, J.A. Blake, W. Jr. (1973). Geological Survey of Canada radiocarbon dates XIII Geological Survey of Canada Paper 73-7 1 61 Google Scholar
Lowdon, J.A. Blake, W. Jr. (1976). Geological Survey of Canada radiocarbon dates XVI Geological Survey of Canada Paper 76-7 1 21 Google Scholar
Lowdon, J.A. Blake, W. Jr. (1980). Geological Survey of Canada radiocarbon dates XX Geological Survey of Canada Paper 80-7 1 28 Google Scholar
Lowdon, J.A. Fyles, J.G. Blake, W. Jr. (1967). Geological Survey of Canada radiocarbon dates VI Radiocarbon 9 156 197 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Reeh, N. (1969). Calving from floating glaciers: Reply to Professor F. Loewe's comments Journal of Glaciology 8 322 324 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ritchie, J.C. Cwynar, L.C. Spear, R.W. (1983). Evidence from north-west Canada for an early Holocene Milankovitch thermal maximum Nature (London) 305 126 128 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sugden, D.E. Clapperton, C.M. (1981). An ice shelf moraine, George VI Sound, Antarctica Annals of Glaciology 2 135 141 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Thomas, R.H. (1979). The dynamics of marine ice sheets Journal of Glaciology 24 167 177 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Vincent, J-S. (1980a). Les Glaciations Quaternaires de l'île de Banks, Arctique Canadien DSc thesis, Université de Bruxelles 248 Google Scholar
Vincent, J-S. (1980b Surficial Geology—Banks Island, Northwest Territories Geological Survey of Canada Maps 16-1979 (north half) and 17-1979 (south half)Google Scholar
Vincent, J-S. (1982). The Quaternary history of Banks Island, N.W.T., Canada Géographie physique et Quaternaire 36 209 232 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Vincent, J-S. (1983). La géologie du Quaternaire et la géomorphologie de l'île Banks, Arctique canadien Geological Survey of Canada Memoir 405 Google Scholar
Vincent, J-S. (1984). Quaternary stratigraphy of the Western Canadian Arctic Archipelago Fulton, R.J. Quaternary Stratigraphy of Canada—A Canadian Contribution to IGCP Project 24. Geological Survey of Canada Paper 84-10. in pressGoogle Scholar