PROBLEM OF GLACIATION IN THE WESTERN ISLANDS OF ARCTIC CANADA

Abstract

This paper deals with the Western Islands of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago (that part of the Archipelago which lies west of approximately the 95° meridian of West Longitude). It directs attention to some important aspects of the study of former glaciation in this region, and attempts to shed light on the extent and character of this glaciation. The following major conclusions have been reached: The islands south of Viscount Melville Sound (with the possible exception of Somerset Island) clearly appear to have been glaciated by ice moving off the continental mainland. Evidence suggests that this ice advanced into the Archipelago more than once but there is no indication that it ever extended north of Viscount Melville Sound. In the northern islands the highest upland surfaces may have been occupied by local glaciers. Ice flowage is suggested at Resolute Bay on Cornwallis Island, in the Deer Bay region on Ellef Ringnes Island, and may be the cause of furrows and striae on bedrock near the head of Liddon Gulf, Melville Island. The negative character of the photographic evidence in the other northern islands does not preclude the possibility of former local glaciation. Dormant or semidormant snowfields or ice caps similar to the one now on Meighen Island may have been widely distributed at one time.