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TitleHolocene fluctuations of Leffert Glacier and nearby outlet glaciers, Ellesmere Island, Nunavut, Canada
 
AuthorBlake, W, Jr.
SourcePolar Record 2011 p. 1-28, https://doi.org/10.1017/S0032247411000349
Image
Year2011
Alt SeriesEarth Sciences Sector, Contribution Series 20100146
PublisherCambridge University Press (CUP)
Documentserial
Lang.English
Mediapaper; on-line; digital
File formatpdf
ProvinceNunavut
NTS39E/11; 39E/12; 39E/13; 39E/14
AreaLeffert Glacier; Ellesmere Island; Cape Herschel
Lat/Long WENS-76.0000 -74.0000 79.0000 78.5000
Subjectssurficial geology/geomorphology; geochronology; Nature and Environment; Holocene; glacial deposits; glaciers; glaciology; radiocarbon dating; glacial history
Illustrationslocation maps; photographs; satellite images; tables
ProgramClimate Change Geoscience
Released2011 10 27
AbstractRadiocarbon age determinations on marine shells in lateral moraines and other deposits several kms behind the present day termini of tidewater outlet glaciers from the Prince of Wales Icefield, east-central Ellesmere Island, Nunavut, Arctic Canada, as well as tidewater glaciers from two nearby ice-caps, show that these glaciers have fluctuated considerably through the Holocene, both in length and in thickness. The terminus of Leffert Glacier, for which the best documentation is available, has been more than 20 km west of the position that it occupied in 1898 - 1899, when it was mapped for the first time. Leffert Glacier was much reduced in size for a period of several thousand years, between roughly 6450 and 1850 14C years BP. Other major outlet glaciers that have experienced significant fluctuations of their termini during the Holocene are: 1) MacMillan, Ekblaw and Tanquary glaciers in the Baird Inlet area, 2) Stygge Glacier and adjacent unnamed glaciers at the head of Jokel Fiord, 3) Benedict Glacier at the head of Sawyer Bay and 4) Parrish Glacier, the southernmost outlet glacier from the Agassiz Ice Cap. Of the glaciers investigated, only Alfred Newton Glacier, south of Cape Herschel, has surged during the period of field observation (1977 to 2009), and this glacier is now receding from the position attained in a surge which commenced in 1981. The terminus of Ekblaw Glacier, at the head of Baird Inlet, is now well forward of the position it occupied in 1950, when
the first aerial photograph coverage was achieved.
GEOSCAN ID286176

 
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