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Ice-Sheet Dynamics and Glacial History of Southeasternmost Baffin Island and Outermost Hudson Strait

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Gifford H. Miller ,
Paul J. Hearty  and
Jay A. Stravers
Gifford H. Miller
Affiliation:
Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research and Department of Geological Sciences, University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado 80309-0450
Paul J. Hearty
Affiliation:
Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research and Department of Geological Sciences, University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado 80309-0450
Jay A. Stravers
Affiliation:
Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research and Department of Geological Sciences, University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado 80309-0450
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Abstract

Southeasternmost Baffin Island is mantled by Hudson Strait drift; it contains abundant limestone erratics and 20 to 50% carbonate in the matrix. To the northwest, it is replaced by drift dominated by locally derived rock of the Canadian Shield. The sense and orientation of ice-erosional features demonstrate that Hudson Strait drift is associated with northeasterly ice flow that crossed the tip of Meta Incognita Peninsula; local drift, associated with ice flow S10°W along the Hudson Strait coast, was derived from a dispersal center on the peninsula. Erratic lithologies contained in the Hudson Strait drift indicate a Labradorean provenance. Large-scale bedrock molding and the distribution of cirques indicate NE-flowing ice has been dominant throughout the middle and late Quaternary. Radiocarbon dates of in situ shells confirm that deglaciation began more than 11,000 yr ago, with the Frobisher Bay coast becoming ice free by 9300 yr ago. Five dates from Hudson Strait suggest that the strait was deglaciated before 9000 yr BP. However, ice from the Labradorean Sector recrossed Hudson Strait during the Cockburn Substage, about 8500 yr ago, damming drainage from the west. Final retreat of Labradorean ice from Baffin Island was complete by 8000 yr ago, at which time the sea was able to penetrate Hudson Bay.

Type
Research Article
Information
Quaternary Research , Volume 30 , Issue 2 , September 1988 , pp. 116 - 136
Copyright
University of Washington

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