Late winter – early spring sedimentation off the Great Whale River, southeastern Hudson Bay

• Published in: Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences
• Main Authors: d'Anglejan, B., Biksham, G.
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Canadian Science Publishing 1988
• Subjects: General Earth and Planetary Sciences; Hudson Bay; Hudson; Great Whale River; Sea ice
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1139/e88-091; http://www.nrcresearchpress.com/doi/pdf/10.1139/e88-091

Sediment traps were used to measure particle-settling fluxes in serial moorings offshore of Great Whale River (Hudson Bay), both under the late winter sea-ice cover and during and after breakup. Before breakup, the settling fluxes ranged between 0.25 and 2 g cm −2 100 a −1 , increasing from April to May in response to the progressively larger under-ice algal biomass. Fluxes also increased with depth. During and after breakup, including the early summer period of peak runoff, sedimentation rates increased to values of up to 33 g cm −2 100 a −1 . These fluxes agree with the mean sedimentation rate determined from 210 Pb activities in the underlying sediments.