The majestic glory of fjords: geomorphometry and sedimentology of selected fjords on Cumberland Peninsula and the northeast coast of Baffin Island.

Carter, Johnathan (2021) The majestic glory of fjords: geomorphometry and sedimentology of selected fjords on Cumberland Peninsula and the northeast coast of Baffin Island. Masters thesis, Memorial University of Newfoundland.

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Abstract

This thesis presents a morphometric database of 13 parameters across 29 Baffin Island fjords, and the postglacial sedimentology and chronology of three fjords on Cumberland Peninsula. For the morphometric analysis, the fjords were partitioned into two regional groups (northeast coast and Cumberland Peninsula), and a one-way ANOVA test was conducted for each parameter. Fjords were found to be significantly larger along the northeast coast of Baffin Island than on Cumberland Peninsula, attributable to the Laurentide Ice Sheet supporting larger outlet glaciers than those emanating from the Penny Ice Cap and local alpine glaciation on the peninsula. Sub-bottom acoustic profiles of three Cumberland Peninsula fjords (Boas Fiord, Durban Harbour, and Akpait Fiord) were observed to feature the archetypal postglacial stratigraphy for Canadian east-coast fjords (ice-contact overlain by glaciomarine and marine units), in addition to local facies associated with specific fjord features (deltas, sills, and spillover deposits). Sediment cores from these three fjords contained a total of six lithofacies, which were associated with acoustic facies and sediment sources, and provided new calibrated radiocarbon dates (ranging from 0.9 to 9.6 cal ka BP). One of these new radiocarbon dates from Durban Harbour, when combined with Cowan’s (2015) earlier interpretation, associates the postglacial sea-level lowstand with the Preboreal-Cockburn transition (9.5 cal ka BP). Moreover, the sedimentology of these Cumberland Peninsula fjords was found to be comparable to fjords on the northeast coast of Baffin Island in terms of sedimentary sequence and sedimentation rates, but had overall thinner deposits.

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