| Title | Coastal geoscience field work near Iqaluit, Nunavut, 2009-2011 |
| Download | Downloads |
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| Licence | Please note the adoption of the Open Government Licence - Canada
supersedes any previous licences. |
| Author | Hatcher, S V; Forbes, D L ; Manson, G K |
| Source | Geological Survey of Canada, Open File 7653, 2014, 65 pages, https://doi.org/10.4095/295628  Open Access |
| Image |  |
| Year | 2014 |
| Publisher | Natural Resources Canada |
| Document | open file |
| Lang. | English |
| Media | on-line; digital |
| File format | pdf |
| Province | Nunavut; Northern offshore region |
| NTS | 25N/09; 25N/10 |
| Area | Iqaluit; Frobisher Bay; Cemetery Beach; Apex Beach; Koojesse Inlet |
| Lat/Long WENS | -68.6167 -68.5500 63.7500 63.7167 |
| Subjects | marine geology; geophysics; sedimentology; Nature and Environment; coastal studies; coastal environment; coastal management; tidal flats; tidal environments; tidal deposits; erosion; geophysical
surveys; side-scan sonar; field work |
| Illustrations | location maps; plots |
| Program | Climate Change Geoscience Coastal Infrastructure |
| Released | 2014 12 24 |
| Abstract | This report describes data collected during five field trips to Koojesse Inlet, Nunavut, between 2009 and 2011. These trips have expedition numbers 2009306, 2010307, 2011303, and 2011307 (includes 2
trips). Koojesse Inlet is in the northwestern end of Frobisher Bay on Baffin Island. Data were collected primarily on foot within the intertidal, but there are some boat-based datasets associated with expedition 2011307. Data collected include:
RTK-GPS transects, sidescan sonar lines, single beam sonar lines, tide and wave recorder deployments, current profiler deployments, surface and grab sediment samples, underwater drop camera lines, and shallow sub-bottom profile lines. Results
show
a complex intertidal zone characterized by a higher slope beachface and ank face at the edge of the low-slope tidal at terrace, with varying concentrations of boulders. Sediment is a mixture of relict glaciomarine overlain by a shallow reworked
sand/mud surficial layer. Sediment in the nearshore varies from fine silts to cobble/gravel deposits in the more exposed areas. This study was unable to resolve significant amounts of erosion on the tidal at surface, but the geomorphological evidence
is irrefutably indicative of an erosional landform. |
| Summary | (Plain Language Summary, not published)
Knowledge about macrotidal tidal flats comes mainly from studies in temperate regions, but the inclusion of sea ice in the Arctic means things look and
behave differently. A better understanding of Arctic tidal flats may help communities adapt to projected changes. This study builds on past work that described the morphology and dynamics of the Iqaluit tidal flats, in an area of 12 m tidal range at
Iqaluit, Baffin Island. We undertook field surveys and instrument moorings in summer and winter over 3 years (2009-2011). The Iqaluit waterfront is formed by storm beaches fronted by wide intertidal mud and sand boulder flats underlain by
glaciomarine clay-silt sediments. It appears that the flats are being actively eroded by a number of processes, including ice push and rafting, tidal currents, surface runoff, and submarine slumping along the edge of the flats. |
| GEOSCAN ID | 295628 |
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