The glacial geology of northeastern Ellesmere Island, N.W.T., Canada

• Published in: Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences
• Main Author: England, John
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Canadian Science Publishing 1978
• Subjects: Ellesmere Island; Franklin Bay; glacier*; Greenland; Ice Sheet; Lady Franklin Bay
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1139/e78-065; http://www.nrcresearchpress.com/doi/pdf/10.1139/e78-065

Thirty-five radiocarbon dates associated with former ice sheet margins and raised marine deposits are presented from northeastern Ellesmere Island. Along the southern margin of Hazen Plateau, and in inner Archer Fiord, a prominent morpho-stratigraphic boundary is marked by the Hazen Moraines. These moraines represent a restricted ice advance during the last glaciation and date ca. 8130 ± 200 BP. On the immediate distal side of the Hazen Moraines, eastward for 100 km towards northwestern Greenland, the majority of dates on marine limits show synchronous emergence beginning ca. 7500 BP. This zone of synchronous emergence is considered to represent an ice-free corridor isostatically unloaded between the margins of the receding Greenland and Ellesmere island ice sheets.A more widespread till, above and beyond the Hazen Moraines, extends out of Archer Fiord–Lady Franklin Bay to Robeson and Kennedy channels. This maximum ice advance is considered to predate the last glaciation on the basis of 14 C and amino acid dates from ice-marginal deposits; however, alternative interpretations of the data are presented. Previous evidence suggesting an older advance of the Greenland Ice Sheet onto this coastline is confirmed. Several glaciers in the area are presently at their maximum postglacial positions.