Holocene emergence along the Ellesmere Island coasts of northernmost Baffin Bay

WESTON BLAKE, JR.

Blake, Jr., W.: Holocen_e emergence along the Ellesmere Island coasts of northemmost Baffin Bay, Norsk Geologisk Tidsskrift, VoL 73, pp, 147-160, Oslo 1993- ISSN 0029-196 X,

The pattern of Holocene emergence at Piliravijuk Bay, innermost Makinson Inlet, south-central Ellesmere Island, is outlined on the basis of radiocarbon age determinations on three samples of marine pelecypod shells and eight samples of far-traveled coniferous driftwood, Emergence of at !east 100 m, perhaps as much as 120 m, has taken place in the last 8800 radiocarbon years, The amount of emergence approaches that documented earlier for Cape Storm and South Cape Fiord on the south coast of Ellesmere Island, and for Cape Herschel on the east-central coast, facing Greenland, This emergence, taken together with the glacial sculpture on Bowman Island, the low amino acid ratios in the single veneer of till on the island and on Swinnerton Peninsula, and the fact that in sit u shells north of the head of the lnlet are -2000 years younger than those at Piliravijuk Bay, suggests that Makinson lnlet was filled with a major outlet glacier ftowing eastward to Baffin Bay in Late W;isconsinan time, The data from Makinson Inlet are similar to those from Cape Herschel, where extensive fieldwork has led to tne conclusion that Smith Sound was filled by a southward-ftowing ice stream in Late Wisconsinan time,

W. Blake, Jr,, Geo/ogical Survep of Canada, 60/ Booth Street, 01/awa, Ontario Kl A OE8, Canada.

Investigations into the Quaternary geology of parts of Ellesmere Island (76° to 79°45'N) and North-West Greenland have been carried out by the writer over the last 25 years (Fig. l ). The aim of this work has been to elucidate the glacial history of this vast region, with considerable emphasis being placed on establishing chronologies for events during and since the last glacia­tion. One of the main research topics has been to docu­ment the emergence of the land from the sea in Holocene time. This emergence, as elsewhere in glaciated terrain (e.g., see Walcott 1972; Sørensen 1979; Mangerud et al. 1992) is interpreted as being the res ult of rebound follow­ing the removal of a much thicker load of glacier ice over the region in Late Wisconsinan time than is present today.

Three major reports on Holocene emergence have been published up to now. Two deal with the raised beaches at Cape Storm (and South Cape Fiord) on the south coast of Ellesmere Island (Blake, 1970, 1975a), and the third report provides an analysis of data from Cape Herschel on the east-central coast, dose to both the Prince of Wales Icefield and to Inglefield Land, Greenland (Blake 1992a). The present paper indudes both the curve for Cape Herschel, modified by the addition of an age determination from lnglefield Land, and a new emer­gence curve for Piliravijuk Bay in inner Makinson Inlet. The latter site is situated approximate1y mid-way be­tween Cape Storm and Cape Herschel (Fig. 1).

Following publication of the original paper, in which the concept of a Late Wisconsinan Innuitian lee Sheet was proposed (Blake 1970), a considerable debate arose. The leading advocate of a restricted Late Wisconsinan ice cover over the Queen Elizabeth Islands, based on fieldwork in northernmost Ellesmere Island, has been J.

England (1976, 1978, 1987, 1990). The controversy con­tinues to the present day, as is evident from a series of maps and summaries published within the last decade by Prest ( 1984), Dyke & Prest ( 1987), Fulton ( 1989), Hodg­son (1989, 1991) and Lemmen & England (1992). Geophysical data which can most easily be explained by the presence of a significant thickness of ice over the Queen Elizabeth Islands have been presented by Tush­ingham (1991).

Geological setting

The three sites occupy somewhat different geologic posi­tions with regard to both bedrock and the proximity of present-day ice caps: (l) Cape Storm is situated in the Interior Platform, comprised of gently northward�dip­ping lower Paleozoic sedimentary rocks, mainly carbon­ates (Kerr 1970), although the outer part of nearby South Cape Fiord is within the Franklinian Mobile Belt; (2) Piliravijuk Bay, near the head of the western arm of Makinson Inlet, is also in the Interior Platform, but is only 20 km west of outcrops of the Archean basement; and (3) Cape Herschel Iies near the northern edge of the Canadian Shield ( Christie 1962a; Frisch 1984a, b; Okulitch 1991; Trettin 1991). As is shown in Fig. l , the raised beaches at Cape Storm are situated same 35 km to the west and south west of the nearest out1et glaciers from the Sydkap lee Cap ( although smaller ice caps are doser), and the Pi1iravijuk Bay site is 25 km west-south­west of the nearest outlet glaciers of the Prince of Wales Icefield, the !argest of the glacier - ice cap complexes in the southern half of Ellesmere Island (cf. Fig. 2). Cape Herschel, on the other hand, is located within the narrow

148 W. Blake, Jr. NORSK GEOLOGISK TIDSSKRIFT 73 (1993)

o AGASS/Z ICECAP

ISLAND

BA FF IN

BAY

GREENL::AND

o

O camp Centllry

-- 500 m DEPTH CONTOUR

-" EMERGENCE CURVE SITE

Fig. l. Location map. The black arrows identify Cape Storm, Piliravijuk Bay and Cape Herschel.

( < 5 km) ice-free zone on the east side of the same icefield, facing Smith Sound and Greenland (Fig. 1).

Prior to the surge of geological activity in the post­World War Il era, when R. L. Christie of the GSC reconnoitered much of the east coast by dog sledge (Christie 1962a, b), by far the most significant work carried out in the southern half of Ellesmere Island was that of the Second Norwegian Arctic Expedition in the

'Fram' 1898-1902, under the leadership of Otto Sver­drup. This magnificently successful expedition made many important observations and collections, including extensive dredge samples of living marine molluscs and cirripeds (Grieg 1909). These samples have provided invaluable reference material for correcting radiocarbon­age determinations on molluscs of Holocene age (cf. Mangerud & Gulliksen 1975; Blake 1975a, b, 1979).

NORSK GEOLOGISK TIDSSKRIFT 73 (1993) Holocene emergence a/ong the Ellesmere Island coasts 149

Fig. 2. LANDSAT image of Makinson Intet. The fonner direction of ice flow eastward out Makinson Intet is indicated by the straight black arrows. Collection sites (9) for dated marine pelecypod shells are identified by the letter S. Starting at the outer east coast, the sites are: Clarence Head, the west side of Bentham Fiord, the west side of the southem arm of Makinson Intet (R. L Christie collection, 1960), the north side of Piliravijuk Bay (2 siles), beside Hook Glacier, opposite Glacier 7A-45 (S. B. McCann collection, 1973), and east and northeast of the head of Vendom Fiord (2 siles; D. A. Hodgson collections, 1972). August 20, 1974. Image E-1758-17500, spectral band 7.

Curiously enough, the geologist with the 'Fram' Expe­dition, Per Schei, despite the location of the expedition's first wintering base (1898-1899) in Rice Strait (Fig. l), an area of especially well-developed glacial sculpture, stated (Schei 1903, pp. 64-65):

After examining the unglaciated parts of the region with the view to discover­ing whether they may possibly have been subjected to glaciation at some earlier period, I arrived at results of a negative character. I nowhere observed roches

moutonnees, neither did I observe striæ or scourings. Nay, further, I did not perceive any loose materials that could with any degrce of likelihood be ascribed to the effects of glacier ice. Moreover, in several places I noticed marine terraces at a great height above the sea, running immediately in front of the existing glaciers, and in such a position that it is scarcely conceivable that they could have been formed with the sea at its corresponding elevation if there bad existed glaciation of even the same intensity as that which now obtains, to sa y nothing of a greater intensity. I believe I may venture to say, that in those regions the existing glaciation represents a maximum, such as has never been attained before, and if this conclusion should turn out to be sound, it is one, I need hardly say, of considerable importance from the point of view of physical as well as of biological geography.

I have no ready explanation for Schei's conclusions and, as quoted above, Schei ( 1903) did note the presence of marine molluscs and terraces high above present sea leveL His observations, including many extracted from his diaries, were published by Holtedahl ( 1917). Schei's record of a terrace at l 05 m on Pim Island is similar to

the highest elevation at which I collected Holocene shells nearby, on the west side of Rice Strait (Blake 1992a).

As illustrated in Figs. 3 and 4, Pim Island and the Cape Herschel peninsula are characterized by intense glacial scouring, including polished surfaces and sculp­tured features in the Archean orthopyroxene granites (Blake 1977). Similar spectacular features have been carved in biotite granite on Bowman Istand in Makinson Inlet (Blake 1978), as shown in Figs. 5 to 7. Bowman Island has Paleozoic erratics, derived from the terrane to the west and north, on its top at 570 m a.s.l. As water depths to the north of the island range from 400 m to over 600 m (Sadler 1973), a glacier thickness of at least 1200 m would be required to fill the fiord and transport debris to the top.

Evidence for the Late Wisconsinan age of the glacial sculpture at Pim Island/Cape Herschel and on the oppo­site shore of Smith Sound, in Inglefield Land, Greenland, has been presented in a series of pa pers ( Blake 1977, 1992a, b; Blake et aL 1992), and the same reasoning for Late Wisconsinan age is applicable to Makinson Inlet. In a preliminary report after the 1977 field season I illus­trated the landscape features there and noted the con­trast between the extremely fine glacial sculpture on

150 W. Blake, Jr.

J•w•ll Ol•clet

l�

Fig. 3. View west at a sculptured bedrock knob on the plateau of Pim Island near its southeast corner, elevation - 440 m. This striated granite outcrop displays the typical rounded stoss side (to the right) and plucking on the lee side (teft). lee of the 'Smith Sound lee Stream' formert y ftowed across the plateau of Pim Island from north to south, precisely at right angles to the present·day ftow direction of Leffert Glacier (arrow), a major outlet glacier from the Prince of Wales lcefield. July 21, 1977. GSC-203241.

C. ltobello l

Fig. 4. View southward from the Cape Herschel plateau, with Cape Isabella in the distance (cf. Fig. 1). Note the striated and polished granite in the foreground created by the 'Smith Sound lee Stream', and the veneer of till ( shell-bearing) between the outcrops. August 15, 1987. GSC-205365.

Fig. 5. Telephoto view southeastward at Bowman Island from the plateau on the north side of Makinson lnlet. The top of the istand is at -570 m a.s.l.; the ice-capped mountains beyond, on the south side of the intet, rise to over l 000 m. The southern shoulder of Bowman Island, where Figs. 7 and 8 were taken, is indicated by the arrow. July 9, 1977. GSC-203262-D.

NORSK GEOLOGISK TIDSSKRIFT 73 (1993)

Fig. 6. View eastward along the shoulder on the south side of Bowman Island, at -250 m a.s.l. Note the smoothed and polished granite in the foreground, with R. J. H. Richardson for scale. July 14, 1977. GSC-203262-E.

Fig. 7. View southward at shaped and plucked granite on the southern shoulder of Bowman Island, at -260 m a.s.l., with shell-bearing till (cf. Table l) between the outcrops. The p la tea u ( > 600 m a.s.l.) in the distance is covered by a thin carapace of ice. July 14, 1977. GSC-203262-F.

Bowman Island ( especially on the southern shoulder of the island at 250-260 m a.s.l.; cf. Figs. 5 to 7) and the development of incipient tors, or tor-like landforms, on the adjacent plateau to the north (Blake 1978). Twenty­five kilometres west of Bowman Island, on top of the headlands at the eastern end of Swinnerton Peninsula (Figs. 2 and 8), the dolomite on the plateau surface exhibits striae at elevations between 300 and 345 m. Still further west, atop the plateau north of innermost Pili­ravijuk Bay, striae are present at ""360 m a.s.l. (Fig. 9). However, Boulton (1979, p. 377) disagreed with my reasoning and stated:

Blake ( 1978) has noted in southeast Ellesmere Island that lower parts of the landscape show relatively fresh features of glacial scouring whilst higher areas show blockfields and tors. Blake suggests that the fresh sculpture gives the true age of the landscape which he considers to be of late Wisconsin age, and he invokes Sugden's (1977) suggestion that preglacial blockfields may have remained uneroded by ice in areas where the basal part of the ice sheet was below the metting point. Alternatively one could regard the blockfields and tors as indica­!!lrs of the great antiquity of the last glaciation of !hose areas, and the areas of relatively fresh glacial sculpture as having been protected from weathering by relatively impermeable till which has recently been removed by high Holocene sea levels or fluvial erosion or mass wasting.

NORSK GEOLOGISK TIDSSKRIFT 73 (1993) Ho/ocene emergence a/ong the Ellesmere Island coasts 151

Fig. 8. Telephoto view northward at the eastem tip of Swinnerton Peninsula and the north arm of Makinson lnlet. Two siles with striated dolomite at 300 and 345m a.s.l. are indicated by arrows. At the northem locality shell fragments (cf. Table l) were abundant in the overlying till. July, 7, 1977. GSC-203262-B.

With regard to these comments it is important to note that: (l) the sculptured features on the southern shoulder of Bowman Island are, at 250-260 m, more than 100 m above the highest features related to Holocene emergence that I have found anywhere in the southern half of Ellesmere Island; (2) there are no significant streams flowing on Bowman Island; and (3) there is no field evidence that mass wasting has recently removed a till

cover from the glacially polished and smoothed surfaces. On the contrary, because the outer edges of the 'shoul­ders' on Bowman Island are topographically higher than the inner parts, a protective cover of till could not have been removed by mass wasting to expose the features illustrated in Figs. 6 and 7. To me, Sugden's (1977) suggestion still makes eminently good sense!

The till on Bowman Island (sand: silt: clay ratios of 50: 31: 10, 56: 32: 12 and 46: 36: 18) contains a significant amount of carbonate material derived from the Paleozoic terranes to the west According to T. E. Bolton (pers. comm. 1977 and 1993), the well-preserved pygidium and incomplete thorax of a trilobite found in a limestone cobble in the till on the southern shoulder of Bowman Island is the Late Silurian species Encrinurus (Frammia) arcticus (Haughton). This species is a characteristic fau­na! element of the Read Bay Group [Douro Formation], earlier known as the Read Bay Formation (Bolton 1965). The locality nearest to Bowman Island where rocks of the Douro and Cape Storm Formations outcrop is close to the entrance to the north arm of Makinson Inlet, some 35 km to the northwest (Okulitch 1991).

In addition, the veneer qf till overlaying striated bedrock on both the tip of the Swinnerton Peninsula and on Bowman Island contains fragments of marine pelecy­pods, dredged from the bottom of Makinson Inlet by the seaward-flowing trunk glacier. The first amino acid ra-

Fig. 9. View northeastward out Pilira"ijuk Bay from the plateau west of base camp. Prince of Wales Icefield in the distance. The section studied (cf. Fig. Il) is indicated by the curved arrow. Raised beaches in the right foreground. Hammer and entrenching tool (arrows) are aligned parallel to striae preserved in dolomite bedrock under a thin veneer of till. August 3, 1977. GSC-1993-198.

152 W. Blake, Jr. NORSK GEOLOGISK TIDSSKRIFT 73 (I993)

Table /. Amino acid ratios for pelecypod shells, Makinson Intet, Ellesmere Island.

Alle: Ile ratios in the total hydrolysate (HYD) and free fractions2

Amino acid

Field sample Site location and Laboratory la bora tory HYD Free

no. elevation Species dating no. 14C age' no. 1st run 2nd run 1st run 2nd run

BS-77-256 N coast Piliravijuk Hiatella arctica GSC-2519 8930 ± 100 AAL-522 A 0.016 N.D.

Bay, 40 m B 0.017 N.D. c 0.017 N.D.

BS-77-52 NE corner Hiatella arctica AAL-520 A 0.053 0.26 Swinnerton B 0.053

Peninsula, 345 m c 0.053 Mya truncata AAL-886 A 0.027 0.13 0.14

B 0.022 0.027 0.21 0.21 C- 0.15 0.16

BS-77-73 Bowman Island, Hiatel/a arctica AAL-521 A 0.058 0.19 250-270 m B 0.045 0.26

c 0.040 0.18 Mya truncata AAL-885 A 0.020 0.10

B 0.037 0.16 c 0.031 O.Q30 0.15

1 Radiocarbon age determination data as in Table 2, footnote d. o13C = + 1.4%o for GSC-2519. 2 Standard procedure for determining isoleucine epimerization ratios (alle/Ile - formerly abbreviated allojiso) at the Amino Acid Laboratory (AAL), INSTAAR,

University of Colorado, is to analyze three valves from each sample (Miller and Hare 1980). The samples listed here were treated under Preparation B (Miller 1985). ND= not detectable. All shells analyzed were determined to be aragonitic by powder x-ray diffraction ( courtesy of A. C. Roberts, Mineralogy Section, Geological Survey of Canada).

tios, using Hiatella arctica, were reported in Blake ( l980a). Since then additional deterrninations have been made, on Mya truncata from both localities. All available ratios for shells from Makinson Intet are listed in Table l . Although additional analyses would be desirable, it is of interest to note that two of the total Alle: Ile ra ti os on Mya truncata fragments in till are especially low. They compare favourably with equally low ratios from the uppermost pre-Holocene marine unit at Cape Storm (Blake l980b), a unit from which numerous radiocarbon ages in the 35 000 to 45 000 year range have been ob­tained - on marine algae (Laminaria sp. and Sphace/aria p/umosa), on a sternum from a dovekie, Alle alle, and on Mya truncata shells as well as on the siphonfperios­tracum from this species (Blake 1992b). Also, numerous 14C determinations on terrestrial organic detritus from a si te beside Glacier 7 A-45, 5 km north of the north arm of Makinson Inlet (Fig. 2), have yielded ages in the 20 000 to 43 000 year range (Blake 1992b). For ice-free condi­tions to have prevailed there at that time, it is necessary for the whole of Makinson Inlet to have opened up. Thus marine fauna could invade the intet, providing material to be dredged up during a subsequent Late Wisconsinan readvance.

Holocene emergence

Cape Herschel

The pattern of Holocene emergence at Cape Herschel has been discussed at length recently (Blake 1992a), and the curve is reproduced here (Fig. l O). The single age deter­mination (T0-923; 7780 ± 70 years) on a fragment of Mya truncata from near the Holocene marine limit on the Greenland side (a si te near Kap Inglefield, Blake et al. 1992) of Smith Sound has been added to Fig. 10, and it agrees closely with the data from Cape Herschel and environs (cf. Table l in Blake l992a), some 45-55 km distant. Following the suggestion made by Mørner & Funder (1990) for the Wolstenholme Fjord area of Greenland, no additional correction for marine reservoir effects has been applied to T0-923. However, were the same 300-year correction made for this sample as for those from Ellesmere Island, it would still fit perfectly onto the emergence curve for Cape Herschel.

Makinson In/et

Raised beaches are better developed in inner Makinson Intet than on the outer east coast at Cape Herschel. This

Fig. JO. Time-elevation diagram for Cape Herschel, showing the pattern of Holocene emergence. Elevations of samples are uncorrected for the eustatic rise of sea levet. The single dated shell sample from Inglefield Land, Greenland, 45-55 km away on the opposite side of Smith Sound, has been added to the original diagram (published in the Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences 29, p. 1970, 1992).

NORSK GEOLOGISK TIDSSKRIFT 73 (1993) Holocene emergence along the Ellesmere Island coasts 153

90 -Cl) ø "--ø E -

z o l- 70 <( > w ...1 w 60

50

40

30

20

10 dtl

'--'l 10 9

•••••••• South side Cape Herschel Peninsula (Herschel Bay)

•••••••• 'Rice Strait Pond ·

Samples from Rice Strait Pond ·

j\t � North side Cape Herschel

Peninsula

o Marine pelecypod, Kap lnglefield

Marine pelecypods and cirripeds, C. Herschel & Rice Strait Pond

\ \ \ \ \ t • \ '-../

\ \

ti\ u, \ \ \ \ \

\......,-*

®

*

.a.

o

•

E2l= t t0• �

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Marine pelecypods, Brevoort Island

Organic pond sediment

Whale bone (organic fraction)

Driftwood

Charred material, archeological sites

Narwhal tusk

Position of shoreline in relation to dated sample

Estimated limit of Holocene marine submergence

Main curve

Subsidiary curve for Cape Herschel Peninsula only

Alternative curve- possible transgression - 5000 14C years ago

Correction for apparent age of sea water for Ellesmere Island samples

Samples near----\.)? . . ,, ,,t Herschel

~ Bay ?�

0--· �

8 7 6 5 1

AGE IN THOUSANDS OF YEARS (conventional radiocarbon years before 1950)

o

154 W. Blake, Jr.

is primarily because the presence of slabby sedimentary rocks has provided a source for shingle from which beaches could be constructed. The presence of raised beaches in Piliravijuk Bay was noted first by Bentham (1941) on a sledging journey in 1937, and the first collection of shells for 14C dating was made by R. L. Christie in 1960 on the west side of the southernmost arm of Makinson Inlet (Fig. 2). His collection, at an elevation of -73 m, gave 8200 ± 220 years (GSC-146; Dyck & Fyles 1964), and he noted that the marine limit, based on the presence of both shell fragments and rounded cobbles, was at -103 m (pers. commun. from R. L. Christie, 1993).

In 1961, J. G. Fyles worked on Swinnerton Peninsula, and of particular interest is a sample of marine pelecy­pods that he collected at ....., 85 to 91 m. The whole shells and fragments of Hiatel/a arctica, Mya truncata and Astarte sp. were from a sandy ground surface, at approx­imately the upper limit of raised beaches, and Fyles' interpretation was that they were from a beach (pers. commun. from J. G. Fyles, 1993). Two determinations were made. In the standard preparation, the o u ter l 0% of shell material was removed by HCl leach. The l i­l 00% leach fraction gave 29 430 ± 680 years ( GSC-134). In the second preparation, nearly two-thirds of the shell material was removed, and the 63-100% 1each fraction gave 29 800 ± 220 years (also GSC-134). As Fyles pointed out (in Dyck & Fy les 1964), the el ose correspon­dence of the two age values on different fractions sug­gests the absence of major contamination and hence the results may approximate the true age of the sample. However, as the elevation of the sample is below the limit of Holocene submergence at two nearby localities, the dated shells may well have been washed out of the shell-bearing til!.

Finally, D. A. Hodgson visited the western part of Makinson Inlet, including Piliravijuk Bay, in 1972, 1973 and 1974. He made the first collection of driftwood from the raised beaches at the head of the ba y (cf. Tab le 2), and he mapped the surficial deposits (Hodgson 1979). In addition, he determined the elevation of several features which he designated as kame deltas along the west side of the north arm, all of whose apices lie between 85 and 100 m a.s.l. (Hodgson 1985).

Nearly all the data from Piliravijuk Bay were gathered during a single field season, and the work was aided by the fortuitous siting of our 1977 field camp close to both raised beaches and a stream-cut section (Fig. Il). In the brief time available no clearly defined limit of Holocene marine submergence was found. The highest beach ob­served was at approximately 100 m a.s.l., close to the value measured by Christie some 20 km to the southeast. However, as Fig. 12 shows, the Holocene marine limit may be as high as 120 m, assuming that the emergence curve has the correct inclination in its upper half. A value of 120 m would be close to the 130 m recorded for Cape Storm ( Blake 1975a), 175 km to the southwest of

NORSK GEOLOGISK TIDSSKRIFT 73 (1993)

Piliravijuk Bay, and the 135 m estimated for Cape Her­schel (Blake 1992a), 225 km to the northeast.

The flights of raised beaches west of the base camp contain a fair number of far-traveled coniferous drift­wood logs, and these allow precise dating of the passage of the shoreline over the past 6000 radiocarbon years. This is in marked contrast to two pieces of locally derived Arctic willow (Salix sp.) extracted from a nearby stream section (Fig. Il ). Both Holocene wood and Pleis­tocene wood (cf. Ta ble 2) were collected at an elevation of approximately 43 m in a massive stony silt unit (sand: silt: clay ratios of 8: 76: 16, 8: 77: 15 and 10: 73: 17), sev­eral meters below the present-day surface of the stream terrace. Reworked wood samples such as these have been reported from the head of Vendom Fiord by Hodgson ( 1973), and there are abundant occurrences of 'old' wood in terrace deposits to the north (cf. Fy les 1989). Al­though the Arctic willow dated at 7920 ± 110 BP (GSC-2712) is of no use in defining the position of the shoreline, as it sank into relatively deep water, the result tells us that woody plants lived in the area at this time and it confirms the validity of the age determination on in situ Mya truncata shells in the same 1.7 m thick silt unit (Blake 1979; cf. Table 2 in the present paper).

Dating results and discussion All the new 14C age determinations from the north side of innermost Piliravijuk Bay are listed in Table 2. A calibrated age BC ( cal BC) also has been produced for each determination (except T0-113) by R. P. Beukens of IsoTrace Laboratory, University of Toronto (pers. comm. 1991 and 1993), and the cal BC ages have been converted to cal BP ages by following Stuiver & Pearson ( 1986), where cal BP = 1949 + cal BC.

The oldest marine shells ( three Portlandia arctica valves), from -40 m a.s.l. in the 15 m high section stud­ied on the north side of Piliravijuk Bay, are 9150 ± 60 radiocarbon years old (T0-224). The shells are from 0.5 to 0.8 above the base of a unit interpreted as being glaciomarine silt. This reddish appearing clayey-silt (Munsell colour brown - 7.5Y R 5/2; sand: silt: clay ra­tios of 4: 70: 26 and 5: 58: 37) is underlain directly by a l+ m thick non-fossiliferous unit with many more stones ( 40% > 2 mm), with numerous striated cobbles and with a sand: silt: clay ratio of 44: 42: 14. This stony unit, olive­gray (5Y 5/2) at the base and grayish-brown (IOY R 5/2) at the top, is interpreted as a till.

The age of the Portlandia arctica shells at Piliravijuk Bay is similar to a date of 9270 ± 110 years (GSC-3180) on shells of the same species from 65 m a.s.l. on the east side of the north arm of Makinson Inlet, near Hook Glacier (Fig. 2; see also Fig. 3, Blake 1981 ). At that si te the shells occur in a 3 cm thick band in silt, 2 m below the present surface of a terrace.

Opposite Glacier 7 A-45, north of the extreme northern end of the north arm (of Makinson Inlet) (Fig. 2) and

NORSK GEOLOGISK TIDSSKRIFT 73 (1993) Holocene emergence along the Ellesmere Island coasts 155

Table 2. Radiocarbon age determinations, Piliravijuk Bay, Makinson Intet, Ellesmere Island.

Corrected age Sam p le ( conventional Sam p le elevation La bora tory o13c 14C years before Calibrated weight m a.s.l." Dated materialb Field sample no dating no.• %o 1950)d range• (g) Comments

-82* Hiatella arctica BS-77-277 GSC-2692 +1.4 8090 ± 70 9138-8980 46.4 Highest leve! Holocene shells found in the area. Shells are aragonitic. Other species: Mya truncata,

Macoma calcarea, C/inocardium ciliatum. -42* Mya truncata BS-77-2538 GSC-2701 + 1.8 8040 ± 110}

9142-8947 59.2 Outer fraction ( I l -55%). Outermost l 0% removed

GSC-2701 + 1.7 8060 ± 100 by HCI leach. Inner fraction (56-100%).

-42* Salix sp. BS-77-252 T0-113 41 260 ± 400 1.0 Single stick 5.9 cm long, 1.2 x 0.7 cm in maximum x-section size. Considerable Fe-staining.

-42* Salix sp. BS-77-249 GSC-2712 -28.3 7920 ± I lO 8995-8560 7.3 Single willow, !argest slem is 25 cm long. Sample mixed with dead gas for counting.

-40* Hiatella arctica BS-77-256 GSC-2519 +1.4 8930 ± 100 9824-9489 46.0 Other species: Mya truncata, Macoma ca/carea

-40* Portlandia arctica BS-77-256 T0-224 9150 ± 60 9964-9854 0.349 Sam p le is three large teft valves ( l . 7-1.8 cm long, I.l cm high). 50% preleach with HCI.

32.0 Picea sp. BS-77-386 GSC-2713 -24.5 5930 ± 60 6851-6728 11.6 Log 1.85 m long, 12 cm max. diam. Ends exposed but mid-section covered by beach shingle.

30.5 Picea sp. BS-77-385 GSC-3703 -23.4 5630 ± 70 6486-6400 11.4 Large log ( near stump) - exposed part is 60 cm long, 27 cm diam.

23.0 Larix sp. BS-77-364 GSC-2705 -25.3 4900 ± 60 5661-5588 11.7 Small log, 30 cm exposed; 49 cm total length, 5 cm max. diam.

21.0 Picea sp. BS-77-362 GSC-2651 -25.6 4600 ± 60 5326-5287 11.8 Small log, 35 cm exposed; 92 cm total length, T0-238 4730 ± 30 5568-5331 -0.200 16 cm diam. (above fork).

21.0 Picea sp. BS-77-361' GSC-3411 -24.3 4590 ± 90 5329-5255 12.5 Small log 1.35 m long, 18 cm in diam. 15 cm buried under shingle.

19.5 Picea sp. BS-77-359 GSC-3456 -23.8 4480 ± 60 5288-5029 11.3 Log 3.7 m long, lO cm diam., lying in its own depression in beach shingle.

4.6 Picea sp. BS-77-357 GSC-5055 -24.5 2880 ± 60 3086-2941 12.2 Small log, 45 cm exposed; 70 cm total length, 9 cm max. diam.

3.0 Picea sp. HCA-72-26 7-88 GSC-1836 -24.4 2060 ± 50 2071-1958 13.2 Log ! .2 m long, I0-15 cm in diam., exposed 50 cm below surface in coastal section.

a Elevations marked by asterisks determined by surveying altimeter. Leveled elevations (Wild NK-10) have been rounded off to the nearest half-metre. b Marine molluscs and cirripeds identified by W. Blake, Jr.; most wood samples identified L. D. Farley-Gill, plus two by H. Jette and one by R. J. Mott. c Laboratory designations: GSC - Geological Survey of Canada; TO - IsoTrace Laboratory, University of Toronto. dAll age determinations from the Radiocarbon Da ting Laboratory, Geological Survey of Canada, are based on a 14C half-life of 5568 ± 30 years and 0.95 of the

activity of the NBS oxalic acid standard. Ages are quoted in conventional radiocarbon years before present (BP) where 'present' is taken to be 1950. All finite age determinations from this laboratory are based on the 2u criterion; i.e., there is a 95% probability that the correct age in conventional radiocarbon years Iies within the stated limits of error. ne 12C ratios were determined at the Department of Earth Sciences, University of Waterloo, under the direction of P. Fritz, R. J. Drimmie and M. E. Patton. Relative to the PDB standard, it is GSC practice to normalize o ne values on terrestrial organic materials and bones of all types to -25.0%o, whereas marine shells are normalized to 0.0%o (Lowdon and Blake 1970). The lsoTrace results are the average of two machine-ready targets (normal precision), measured on different occasions. T0-113 has been corrected for natura! and sputtering fractionation to a base of o13C = -25%o, and the result has also been corrected for a total system background of 0.077 ± 0.005 pM C. T0-224 has been corrected for natura! and sputtering fractionation to a base of J ne= O%o, equivalent to a reservoir correction of 410 years. The TO-ages are quoted in uncalibrated radiocarbon years using the Libby 14C meanlife of 8033 years. The errors represent 68.3% confidence limits. Preparation of the machine-ready sample causes the fractionation of the sample material to vary systematically from the top to the bottom of the !arget. The computer analysis program uses the ne; 12C ratio obtained during the measurement, which is the product of this fractionation and the natura! fractionation of the sample, to correct the 14Cj12C ratio appropriately. While this procedure yields a highly reliable result for the 14Cj12C ratio, at no time during the measurement is a value of the natura! fractionation alone obtained (see IsoTrace Laboratory, 1984 Annua! Report, 84.12.31, Chapter II.2, p. 31-64, Radiocarbon Analysis, byR. P. Beukens).

• The procedure for obtaining calibrated ages is described in the text. r Log 77-361 (at 20.8 m) is slightly below 77-362 (at 21.2 m). • This wood was the first unknown sample processed by the IsoTrace Laboratory (in 1983). Eight determinations were made, using -200 mg for each run.

about 36 km north of the shell site beside Hook Glacier, Hiatel/a arctica shells were collected by S. B. McCann in a silt/ela y unit at "'36 m a.s.l. These shells, the northern­most found in the Makinson Inlet drainage basin, gave an age of 7330 ± 80 BP ( GSC-1972), and the collection also contained Portlandia arctica and Mya truncata. The only other sample related to past positions of sea levet at the head of the northern arm of Makinson Inlet is a deeply imbedded large driftwood log (Larix sp.) collected between Glacier 7 A-45 and ice-dammed Split Lake, at -47 m a.s.l. (Fig. 2). This log is 6260 ± 60 years old (GSC-3688; Blake 1983), and this sample plots close to, but slightly above, the emergence curve for Piliravijuk

Bay (Fig. 12). The presence of this dated log shows that when the 7330-year-old pelecypods were alive, relative sea levet had to have been at an elevation higher than that at which the wood was found. Comparison with the emergence curve suggests that the shells relate to a sea levet at 60 m or above, yet the surface elevation at the apex of the delta is given as 87 m by Hodgson ( 1985; and pers. comm. 1993).

If we assume that these shells relate to the initial marine incursion, coinciding with the progression of a calving bay northward up this arm of Makinson Inlet, then it took approximately 2000 radiocarbon years for the ice to retreat the 36 km from Hook Glacier to this

156 W. Blake, Jr. NORSK GEOLOGISK TIDSSKRIFf 73 (1993)

Fig. 11. View northward at stream section, north side of Piliravijuk Bay. The 1.7 m thick stony silt unit containing both willow (GSC-2712 and T0-113) and marine pelecypod shells (GSC-2701) is indicated by the open arrow. Bedrock is exposed at stream leve! behind R. J. H. Richardson, and it is overlain, in turn, by lill and glaciomarine silt. Dales GSC-2519 and T0-224 were obtained on marine shells from the basal silt unit ( - leve) of the white arrow). Scale is provided by the 4 m-long rod, the top and bottom of which are indicated by the small black arrows. August 2, 1977. GSC 174642.

site, a rate in the range of 1.8 to 2.1 kmjcentury. On the other hand, if there are older Holocene marine deposits now buried below the alluvium in the valley below Glacier 7 A-45, then the rate of retreat was even more rapid. However, it is worth noting that the date of 7330 ± 80 years (GSC-1992) is only slightly older than two ages on marine shells east of the head of Vendom Fiord (Fig. 2): 7010 ± 80 years (GSC-18.'i8) and 6980 ± 90 years (GSC-1957; both in Hodgson 1985). Hiatella arctica was used for these age determinations, and in both cases the relevant sea level was >53 m. Still further north, Hiatel/a arctica shells collected on the crest of an end moraine at 56 m a.s.l. at the head of Strath­cona Fiord (Fig. l) are 6780 ± 80 years old (GSC-3765; Hodgson 1985), and "'7 km southeast of the head of this fiord Mya truncata shells collected by the writer and R. J. H. Richardson in silt at -22 m a.s.l. are 6570 ± 80 years old (T0-2209). Thus the 7330-year-old shells north of Makinson Inlet fit well into the regional picture of a northward- and eastward-retreating ice front, the youngest age being one of 5730 ± 70 BP (T0-530) on algae in a lake at "'830 m, 23 km southeast of the head of Strathcona Fiord (Blake 1989).

The highest sample of Holocene shells found near Piliravijuk Bay, at approximately 82 m a.s.l., is only 8090 ± 70 years old (GSC-2692), and it is this sample which defines the upper half of the emergence curve (Fig. 12). Some 1000 radiocarbon years earlier, when Port­

landia arctica was the dominant species, relative sea leve) was probably dose to 120 m. An estimated 80 m of emergence, approximately two-thirds of the total amount, occurred in the span of 2500 years between, roughly, 8800 and 6300 BP. P. arctica, an Arctic species which thrives in

silt-laden waters near river mouths and glaciers and which can live at depths from 3 to 400 m (e.g., see Odhner 1915; Ockelmann 1958; Beklemishev et al. 1977; Funder 1978; Spjeldnæs 1978; Lubinsky 1980; Bennike 1987), is not present in the 8000-year-old sample.

Because of the presence of early Holocene shells at elevations above 100 m at several sites along the south coast of Ellesmere Island (as well as whale bones at 118 m near Cape Storm; Blake 1975a) and shells at 107.5 m near Cape Herschel to the northeast (Biake 1992a; cf. Fig. 10 in the present paper), it seems reason­able to relate the pelecypod shells at -40 m at Piliravi­juk Bay to an equally high relative sea level. The alternative, that these 9000-year-old shells define a posi­tion of relative sea level only slightly above the elevation at which the fossils now occur, and that sea level then rose to a point above the 8000-year-old shells now at "'82 m, is not indicated by the nature of the enclosing sediments, which directly overlie till; the coarsening-up­ward sequence at the site records only a gradual shallow­ing. Furthermore, shells at 50-52 m at Clarence Head, on the outer east coast of Ellesmere Island (Fig. 2) are 9220 ± 90 years old (GSC-2531, Mya truncata) and 9330 ± l 10 years old (GSC-3183, Hiatel/a arctica; both results in Lowdon & Blake 1981). These shells were collected on a loose talus slope, where they almost cer­tainly have been subjected to downward creep. Thus sea level when the pelecypods lived was an unknown amount above 52 m, perhaps at "'80 m, where there is a morpho­logical break in the slope. Finally, as noted earlier, Portlandia arctica shells at 65 m a.s.l. at Hook Glacier, only 27 km northeast of Piliravijuk Bay, are 9270 ± 110 years old (GSC-3180).

NORSK GEOLOGISK TIDSSKRIFT 73 (1993) Holocene emergence along the Ellesmere Island coasts 157

-(/) Q) ... -Q) E -

z o .... <( > w ...J w

10 9

-....)

Jl

8

Jo· • • • • • • • • • • based on inclination of emergence curve

•••••.•••••• based on field observations

•••••••••••••••••• bas ed on field observations

• Marine pelecypods

• Local wood

Driftwood

Position of shoreline in relation to dated sample

-- Curve based on uncalibrated ages

• Driftwood (Split Lake)

AAAA Estimated limit of Holocene marine submergence (2 possibilities)

• • • • • • Possible highest beach

....., Pumice on beach

V Correction for apparent age of sea water

7 6 5 4 3 2 1

AGE IN THOUSANDS OF YEARS (conventional radiocarbon years before 1950)

o

Fig. /2. Time-elevation diagram for ioner Piliravijuk Bay, Makinson Inlet, showing the pattem of Holocene emergence. Elevations of samples, all collected within 2 km of base camp (Fig. 2), are uncorrected for the eustatic rise of sea leve!. One other driftwood sample, from -47 m near Split Lake, 55 km to the north, is included in the diagram for comparative purposes.

158 W. Blake, Jr.

The 'apparent age' of marine shells or 'reservoir effect' - that is, the time necessary for atmospheric co2 to mix with the surface water of the sea - has been widely discussed in the literature (cf. Mangerud & Gulliksen 1975). Because the dissolved bicarbonate derived from atmospheric co2 is used by molluscs and other marine organisms to construct their shells, a correction must be applied to the resultant 14C ages. The correction neces­sary for both Cape Herschel and Piliravijuk Bay is approximately 300 years, based on the analysis of several turn-of-the-centuJy collections of marine pelecypods and cirripeds from Ellesmere Island and North-West Green­land waters (Blake 1987, l 992a). This value is dose to the 325 ± 45 years figure given by Stuiver et al. ( 1986; cf. also Stuiver & Braziunas 1993) for southeastern Elles­mere Island. The 300 years is in addition to the built-in 41 0-year correction to 14C age determinations on marine shells (normalized to 0% on the PDB scale) at the Geological Survey of Canada ( GSC) and, at the time that sample T0-224 was processed, at the IsoTrace Lab­oratory, University of Toronto. The additional 30 0-year correction means that the 9150 of T0-224 becomes 8850, the 8930 of GSC-2511 becomes 8630, etc., as indicated in Fig. 12. The effect of this correction is to make the upper part of the Makinson Inlet curve slightly steeper than it would be otherwise, but there is no effect on the lower part of the curve, which is based entirely on age determi­nations on far-traveled coniferous driftwood.

Another feature of the Makinson Inlet curve is that a slight lessening in the rate of emergence is suggested at approximately 5000 BP in order to accommodate the 14C ages on driftwood ( question mark in Fig. 12). A decrease in the rate of emergence at this time would agree with the data from both Cape Storm and Cape Herschel (cf. Blake, 1970, 1975a, b, 1992a). Data from those two sites indicate that a slight transgression or, at the very least, a balance between isostatic rise and the eustatic rise of sea leve! took place some 5000 radiocarbon years ago.

This transgressiqn or period of balance occurred just at the time that a pumice drift reached Jones Sound and Makinson Inlet, and hence the pumice became concen­trated over a narrow vertical interval on the beaches. Pumice was not abundant on the beaches in Piliravijuk Bay, and the two pieces found were between 20. 5 and 22.5 m a.s.l. Driftwood at 23.0 m is 4900 ± 60 years old, whereas at Cape Storm the abundant pumice at 22. 0-22.5 m is bracketed by radiocarbon-dated logs at 22.0 m (5040 ± 60 BP, GSC-1410) and 22.5 m (5100 ±50 BP, GSC-826; Blake 197 0, l 975a). In outer South Cape Fiord (Fig. 1), where the pumice is concentrated at 17.5 m and is just below a pronounced notch in the raised beaches, driftwood logs at 17.0 m and 21.0 m are 4710 ± 60 BP (GSC-1047) and 5220 ± 80 BP (GSC-1912), respectively (Biake l 975a). The ages of the driftwood are dose enough to show that a single pumice drift is involved, providing a useful time line for correlating beaches throughout the region.

NORSK GEOLOGISK TIDSSKRIFf 73 (1993)

Although pumice was not discovered on the raised beaches at Cape Herschel, we can deduce from the emergence curve that the shoreline of 5000 radiocarbon years aga falls somewhere between 22.5 and 25. 0 m a.s.l. (Biake 1992a). If 22.5 m is the correct value, then this shoreline is at a similar elevation to the pumice at Piliravijuk Bay and Cape Storm, and the isobase for the 50 00-year-old shoreline is oriented roughly northeast­southwest. As I have discussed previously (Blake 1992a), all the available data indicate the 5 000-year-old shoreline is higher to the northwest and lower toward the south­east.

Conclusions A study of raised marine features on the north shore of Piliravijuk Bay in south-central Ellesmere Island leads to similar condusions to those arrived at earlier from inves­tigations at Cape Storm and South Cape Fiord, both on the south coast of the island, and at Cape Herschel, on the east-central coast facing Smith Sound and Green­land.

l. The highest marine pe1ecypods of Holocene age were collected at an elevation of ""82 m. An age determination on Hiatella arctica shells from this collection gave 8090 ± 70 years BP ( GSC-2692).

2. The oldest pelecypods (Portlandia arctica), repre­senting a deeper water deposit at ""40 m a.s.l .. were 9150 ± 60 years old (T0-224). As this species can live at considerable depths, and because the shells are ""1000 years older than the collection at 82 m, this age determination probably provides a close approximation for the age of the Holocene marine limit, estimated to be somewhere in the range of 100 to 120 m. At Cape Herschel, where the curve is hetter controlled, the highest Holocene shells relate to a sea leve! a bo ve l 0 8 m.

3. The age determinations on marine pelecypod shells, together with a series of eight 14C ages on far-trav­eled driftwood of Picea and Larix, have allowed construction of an emergence curve. At Piliravijuk Bay approximately two-thirds of the emergence took place in the first 2500 radiocarbon years, i.e., between ""8800 and 6300 BP, at a mean rate of approximately 3.2 mjcentury.

4. No field evidence was found around Piliravijuk Bay or elsewhere in inner Makinson Inlet for a genera­tion of older marine features topographically above the limit of Holocene marine submergence. To the east of the study area, the collection site for the 28 000 to 30 000-year-old shells, interpreted as a beach at the time the collection was made in 1961, is lower in elevation than the highest Holocene marine features recorded by both the writer and R. L. Christie.

NORSK GEOLOGISK TIDSSKRIFT 73 (1993) Holocene emergence along the Ellesmere Island coasts 159

5. One sample of locally derived Salix sp., in a deep­water silt deposit at --42 m a.s.l., shows that Arctic willow was growing at the si te by "'8000 BP. The other age for Salix sp., 41 260 ± 400 BP (T0-113), together with the two earlier dates on shells of 2 8 000 to 30 000 years and a few low amino acid ratios on shells in till, supports the concept of the mid-Wisconsinan Cape Storm Nonglacial Interval proposed for the region, based on extensive data from Cape Storm on the south coast of Ellesmere Island, from the east coast near Cape Herschel, and from the north arm of Makinson Inlet ( Blake 1992b ). The growing body of evidence for an ice­free interval (or intervals) in mid-Wisconsinan time is well documented in Spitsbergen (Mangerud & Svendsen 1992), and a whole series of major <5180 fluctuations are recorded in the ice cores from Greenland between 25 000 and 40 000 calendar years BP (Johnsen et al. 1992).

6. The sum of available observations and data - the Holocene emergence at Piliravijuk Bay, the pres­ence of single thin veneer of shell-bearing till in which some marine pelecypod shells have low amino acid ratios, the freshness of the glacier sculp­ture on Bowman Island, and the difference in ages of in situ shells between Piliravijuk Bay and the head of the north arm of Makinson Inlet - pro­vides strong evidence that a major trunk glacier filled Makinson Inlet and fiowed eastward to Baffin Bay in Late Wisconsinan time. The same conclusion has been reached in a previous study (Blake 1992a) for the Smith Sound area, where coalescing ice from Greenland and Ellesmere Island flowed southward into northernmost Baffin Bay.

Acknow/edgements. - Excellent logistical support during the 1977 field season was provided by the Polar Continental Shelf Project, then directed by G. D. Hobson). Both base camp facilities and additional logistical support were generously provided by Tom Frisch, GSC. Rick Richardson, now of the Alberta Geological Survey, gave first-dass assistance in the field and office. Most of the 14C age determinations were provided by the GSC Radiocarbon Dating Laboratory under the supervision of J. A. Lowdon (until 1981); a few determinations were done under the direction of R. N. McNeely. The IsoTrace ages were produced by Roelf Beukens, who also kindly calculated the calibrated ages using his copy­righted calibration program CI4CAL. The lowermost driftwood sample, GSC-1836, was collected in 1972 by D. A. Hodgson, and l have benefited from numerous discussions with him about the glacial geology of Ellesmere Island. Wood identifications were carried out by L. D. Farley-Gill, H. Jette and R. J. Mott, shell mineralogy was determined by A. C. Roberts, and grain-size analyses have been made under the direction of R. G. Kelly and P. J. Lindsay. The photographs were printed by R. J. Kelly, Figs. l, 10 and 12 were drafted by T. Barry, and the manuscript was typed by S. Leslie. Valuable comments which have helped to improve the manuscript significantly have been made by S. Bjiirck (Lund), G. H. Miller (Boulder, Colorado), B. R. Pelletier (GSC, Ottawa), and J. I. Svendsen (Bergen), but responsibility for the conclusions is mine alone. This article is Geological Survey of Canada Contribution No. 43792; Cape Herschel Project Contribution No. 49.

Manuscript received February 1993

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