Glacial geomorphology of the east-central Canadian Arctic

Abstract

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This article describes palaeoglaciological mapping of the portion of the Canadian Arctic formerly covered by the north-easternmost Laurentide Ice Sheet. The mapped area stretches between the meridians 106°W and 61°W, and the parallels 60°N and 75°N, embracing an area of 3.19 x 10⁶ km². The work was focused on determining the location of landforms that are required as input for a glaciological inversion model, i.e. glacial lineations, eskers, moraine ridges, ribbed moraine and De Geer moraines; and forms the basis of a reconstruction of the geometry and evolution of palaeo-ice streams in this portion of the Laurentide Ice Sheet. Emerged areas were mapped through the geomorphological interpretation of Landsat 7 Enhanced Thematic Mapper Plus (ETM+) satellite images. Information on striae and other minor indicators of glacial activity were extracted from maps and reports by the Geological Survey of Canada, published articles and, for a few locations, by the author's own observations. Information on landforms located on some submerged areas where extracted from publicly available sonar surveys. All data were digitally processed within a Geographical Information System and stored in a spatially enabled database. The results are presented as a printable map at 1:2,400,000 scale.