Lake sediments and glacial history in the High Arctic; evidence from east-central Ellesmere Island, Arctic Canada, and from Inglefield Land, Greenland

Abstract

Deciphering glacial history in many High Arctic localities is difficult because: 1) surficial deposits are often thin or nonexistent, 2) vast tracts are underlain by soft and friable bedrock, 3) the churning effects of frost action and slope processes tend to eradicate traces of glaciation, 4) cold based ice caps leave little trace of their former presence, except where marginal drainage channels form on uphill slopes, and 5) significant areas still are covered by glacier ice. Where present, striae show that an area has been glaciated, hut until a technique is devised to determine when a given set of striae was inscribed, or when a striated surface became exposed to daylight (e.g. Phillips et al. 1986: Elmore & Phillips 1987), the timing of the glacial event responsible remains an enigma.