Holocene sediments from a coastal lake on northern Devon Island, Nunavut, Canada

• Published in: Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences
• Main Authors: Courtney Mustaphi, Colin J., Gajewski, Konrad
• Other Authors: Lian, Olav
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Canadian Science Publishing 2013
• Subjects: General Earth and Planetary Sciences; Arctic; Nunavut; Canada; Devon Island; permafrost
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1139/cjes-2012-0143; http://www.nrcresearchpress.com/doi/full-xml/10.1139/cjes-2012-0143; http://www.nrcresearchpress.com/doi/pdf/10.1139/cjes-2012-0143

Sediment cores from Lake DV09, northern Devon Island, Nunavut, Canada (75°34′34″N, 89°18′55″W), were studied to reconstruct the lake ontogeny through analysis and interpretation of the sediment stratigraphy. The lake was uplifted from marine inundation ∼7600 cal BP. After a millennium of rapid sediment accumulation, which coincided with the Holocene Thermal Maximum in the region, accumulation rates decreased over the past 6000 years as the Arctic became colder. This resulted in the deposition of very fine laminae that were interpreted as varves. The uppermost laminated sediments provided a ∼1600 year history of annual sediment transport and deposition into the lake. During periods of warmer temperatures, such as between 6000 and 7500 cal BP and during the Medieval Climate Anomaly (∼950–1300 CE; CE, Christian Era), hydroclimatic and permafrost slope processes increased sedimentation rates into the basin.