Mega-scale glacial lineations, Peel Sound, Canadian Arctic Archipelago

Abstract

The presence of streamlined glacial landforms in the submarine geological record from high-latitude fjords and channels provides evidence with which to identify the manner and direction of glacier flow and to infer subglacial processes. Numerous linear and curvilinear elongate features extending up to 15 km in length have been recognized in Peel Sound, Canadian Arctic Archipelago. These well-preserved sedimentary landforms reflect the former presence of a fast-flowing ice stream that flowed through Franklin Strait and Peel Sound. Multibeam swath-bathymetric imagery from an overdeepened region of Peel Sound near its junction with Franklin Strait, where the trend of the channel changes from NE to north (Fig. 1b, c), is shown in Figure 1a. Water depths here range from 390 to 460 m. Parallel ridge and groove bedforms form prominent seabed features on all the survey transects that …