A soil pattern of central Bathurst Island, Queen Elizabeth Island, Canada
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.26485/BP/1986/30/11Keywords:
polar desert soil, fossil soil, frost processes, isostatic reboundAbstract
Bathurst Island, one of the northern islands of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago, is within the polar desert soil zone. Most of the Polar desert soils on the island, however, do not have well-formed genetic features. A phenomenon ascribed to continuous weathering of the limestone surfaces, as well as to youthful landscape elements. The zonal soil in this report, designated as Polar desert-limestone variant (Polar desert-LV), actually has only minimally developed features. It is similar to the soil described as Arctic ramark by Kubiena (1970). Other soils recognized are Soils of the hummocky ground, Soils of the polar desert-tundra interjacence, Tundra, Bog and Rendzina plus associated lithic varieties.
Solifluction and related frost processes are active throughout the island resulting in poorly differentiated soil horizons - especially in the well-drained to moderately well-drained sectors.
Altitude of the marine limit on Bathurst Island rarely exceeds about 90 m with the value increasing to about 120 m in some of the inlets in the northern part of the island (Blake, 1964). The pattern in the rebound areas tends to be one of poorly drairied soils with much peaty materiał present as compared to the better drained soils with a mineral character above the marine limit. A number of buried soils are present along the middle course of the Goodsir River, two of which yielded C14 dates of 5470 ± 60 (GSC-2315) and 5660 ± 100 (GSC-2302) yr. Pollen in buried soils consisted mainly of Cyperaceae and Gramineae and other high arctic elements.
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