Climatic evolution of the eastern Canadian Arctic and Baffin Bay during the past three million years

• Published in: Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London. B, Biological Sciences
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: The Royal Society 1988
• Subjects: Arctic; Baffin Bay; Baffin Island; Baffin; Foraminifera*; Ice Sheet
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rstb.1988.0028; https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/pdf/10.1098/rstb.1988.0028

The outer east coast of Baffin Island is characterized by a series of sedimentary forelands. These contain a variety of litho- and biofacies associated with glacial marine and marine deposition into sea levels higher than those of the present. These high relative sea levels were associated with glacial isostatic loading and unloading of the crust by the NE sector of the Laurentide Ice Sheet. On the basis of amino acid epimerization ratios, eleven chronologically distinct units are delimited. The youngest unit is less than or equal to 10 ka, but all others are at or beyond the limits of radiocarbon dating. Based on biostratigraphy and amino acid data, the oldest units exposed in the forelands may be Pliocene in age. Molluscs, Foraminifera, and the palynology of buried soils and organics, indicate that the vast bulk of the exposed sequences contain floras and faunas that represent environments warmer than those at present. An analysis of modern and fossil pollen spectra suggests a steady decrease in low arctic conditions throughout the Quaternary.