Prehistoric Site Location Strategies in the North Devon Lowlands, High Arctic Canada

1992 ◽  
Vol 19 (3) ◽  
pp. 291 ◽  
Author(s):  
James W. Helmer
Keyword(s):  
High Arctic ◽  
Site Location ◽  
Arctic Canada ◽  
The North ◽  
Location Strategies

scholarly journals Living at a High Arctic Polynya: Inughuit Settlement and Subsistence around the North Water during the Thule Station Period, 1910–53

ARCTIC ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 69 (5) ◽  
pp. 1 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bjarne Grønnow
Keyword(s):  
Raw Materials ◽  
High Arctic ◽  
Ringed Seal ◽  
Site Location ◽  
Ice Cap ◽  
The North ◽  
North Water Polynya ◽  
Annual Range ◽  
North Water ◽  
The Rich

The settlement and subsistence patterns of the Inughuit of the Avanersuaq (Thule area) are described and analyzed for the years 1910 to 1953, when Knud Rasmussen’s trading station at Dundas was active. Inughuit subsistence was based on the rich biotic resources of the North Water polynya between Ellesmere Island and Greenland, but the analysis shows that trade, primarily with fox furs at the Thule Station, also played a major role in shaping the settlement pattern of the period. During the Thule Station Period, the named winter settlements amounted to c. 40 sites; however, only 10–15 of them were settled at any given time. The Inughuit settlement close to the station, Uummannaq, soon became the largest site in the area. The sources enable us to follow changes of residence of some hunting families over four decades. By moving their winter sites every second or third year, the families gained primary knowledge of the topography and seasonal variation of the hunting grounds in the entire Thule district during their active years. In the same way, they connected with diverse family networks through the years. Tracing the sledge routes that connected the sites over great distances reveals how decisive proximity to main and escape routes over the Ice Cap was for site location. Dog sledge technology, and thus capacity to transport people, gear, and stored food, boomed during the Thule Station Period with the wealth created from trade and access to raw materials. Mapping the main hunting grounds on the sea ice and modeling the hunters’ annual range of possibilities for accessing different game—mainly walrus, ringed seal, narwhal, and sea birds (plus some caribou)—showed that ringed seal formed the bread and butter of the subsistence economy. However, bulk resources, gained in particular from intensive spring walrus hunts at a few hot spots, as well as carefully timed consumption and sharing of the stored meat and blubber, were keys to life at the North Water polynya. Temporary settlement at the trading stations in the area—a couple of winters at a time—was also part of the risk management strategy of the Inughuit.

Paleomagnetism and U–Pb geochronology of Franklin dykes in High Arctic Canada and Greenland: a revised age and paleomagnetic pole constraining block rotations in the Nares Strait regionThis is a companion paper to Denyszyn, S.W., Davis, D.W., and Halls, H.C. Paleomagnetism and U–Pb geochronology of the Clarence Head dykes, Arctic Canada: orthogonal emplacement of mafic dykes in a large igneous province. Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences, 46(3): 155–167.

2009 ◽  
Vol 46 (9) ◽  
pp. 689-705 ◽  
Author(s):  
Steven W. Denyszyn ◽  
Henry C. Halls ◽  
Don W. Davis ◽  
David A.D. Evans
Keyword(s):  
High Arctic ◽  
Companion Paper ◽  
North American Plate ◽  
Large Igneous Province ◽  
Arctic Canada ◽  
Age Progression ◽  
The North ◽  
Paleomagnetic Poles ◽  
The Difference ◽  
Key Pole

U–Pb baddeleyite ages and paleomagnetic poles obtained for dykes on Devon Island and Ellesmere Island in the Canadian Arctic and the Thule region of Greenland show that they are associated with the Franklin magmatic event. This study is the only one devoted to Franklin igneous rocks where a primary paleomagnetic remanence and U–Pb age have been obtained from the same rocks. Ages from this study range from 721 to 712 Ma, but paleomagnetic directional data show no clear age progression. The paleomagnetic poles from each of the two regional subsets are significantly different at the 95% confidence level from paleomagnetic results previously published for the Franklin event in the Canadian Shield. The difference in the pole locations can be accounted for, to first approximation, by a simple model of early Cenozoic block rotations among the North American plate, Greenland, and a hypothesized ancient microplate comprising Ellesmere, Devon, Cornwallis, and perhaps Somerset islands. A new grand-mean paleopole for the Franklin event, including restoration of Greenland and the proposed “Ellesmere microplate” to North America, is located at (8.4°N, 163.8°E, A95 = 2.8°, N = 78 sites) and is a key pole for Neoproterozoic supercontinent reconstructions.

scholarly journals Characteristics of Arctic tides at CANDAC-PEARL (80° N, 86° W) and Svalbard (78° N, 16° E) for 2006–2009: radar observations and comparisons with the model CMAM-DAS

2011 ◽  
Vol 29 (10) ◽  
pp. 1939-1954 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. H. Manson ◽  
C. E. Meek ◽  
X. Xu ◽  
T. Aso ◽  
J. R. Drummond ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Middle Atmosphere ◽  
Radar Data ◽  
High Arctic ◽  
Wind Component ◽  
Meteor Radar ◽  
The North ◽  
Wave Numbers ◽  
Central Canada ◽  
June July ◽  
Abstract Operation

Abstract. Operation of a Meteor Radar (MWR) at Eureka, Ellesmere Island (80° N, 86° W) began in February 2006: this is the location of the Polar Environmental and Atmospheric Research Laboratory (PEARL), operated by the "Canadian Network for the Detection of Atmospheric Change" (CANDAC). The first 36 months of tidal wind data (82–97 km) are here combined with contemporaneous tides from the Meteor Radar (MWR) at Adventdalen, Svalbard (78° N, 16° E), to provide the first significant evidence for interannual variability (IAV) of the High Arctic's diurnal and semidiurnal migrating (MT) and non-migrating tides (NMT). The three-year monthly means for both diurnal (DT) and semi-diurnal (SDT) winds demonstrate significantly different amplitudes and phases at Eureka and Svalbard. Typically the summer-maximizing DT is much larger (~24 m s−1 at 97 km) at Eureka, while the Svalbard tide (5–24 m s−1 at 97 km)) is almost linear (north-south) rather than circular. Interannual variations are smallest in the summer and autumn months. The High Arctic SDT has maxima centred on August/September, followed in size by the winter features; and is much larger at Svalbard (24 m s−1 at 97 km, versus 14–18 m s−1 in central Canada). Depending on the location, the IAV are largest in spring/winter (Eureka) and summer/autumn (Svalbard). Fitting of wave-numbers for the migrating and non-migrating tides (MT, NMT) determines dominant tides for each month and height. Existence of NMT is consistent with nonlinear interactions between migrating tides and (quasi) stationary planetary wave (SPW) S=1 (SPW1). For the diurnal oscillation, NMT s=0 for the east-west (EW) wind component dominates (largest tide) in the late autumn and winter (November–February); and s=+2 is frequently seen in the north-south (NS) wind component for the same months. The semi-diurnal oscillation's NMT s=+1 dominates from March to June/July. There are patches of s=+3 and +1, in the late fall-winter. These wave numbers are also consistent with SPW1-MT interactions. Comparisons for 2007 of the observed DT and SDT at 78–80° N, with those within the Canadian Middle Atmosphere Model Data Assimilation System CMAM-DAS, are a major feature of this paper. The diurnal tides for the two locations have important similarities as observed and modeled, with seasonal maxima in the mesosphere from April to October, and similar phases with long/evanescent wavelengths. However, differences are also significant: observed Eureka amplitudes are generally larger than the model; and at Svalbard the modeled tide is classically circular, rather than anomalous. For the semi-diurnal tide, the amplitudes and phases differ markedly between Eureka and Svalbard for both MWR-radar data and CMAM-DAS data. The seasonal variations from observed and modeled archives also differ at each location. Tidal NMT-amplitudes and wave-numbers for the model differ substantially from observations.

Paleomagnetism and U–Pb geochronology of the Clarence Head dykes, Arctic Canada: orthogonal emplacement of mafic dykes in a large igneous province

2009 ◽  
Vol 46 (3) ◽  
pp. 155-167 ◽  
Author(s):  
Steven W. Denyszyn ◽  
Don W. Davis ◽  
Henry C. Halls
Keyword(s):  
Remanent Magnetization ◽  
High Arctic ◽  
Large Igneous Province ◽  
Dyke Swarm ◽  
Canadian High Arctic ◽  
The North ◽  
Igneous Province ◽  
The Difference ◽  
Age Range ◽  
Chemical Remanent Magnetization

The north–south-trending Clarence Head dyke swarm, located on Devon and Ellesmere Islands in the Canadian High Arctic, has a trend orthogonal to that of the Neoproterozoic Franklin swarm that surrounds it. The Clarence Head dykes are dated by the U–Pb method on baddeleyite to between 716 ± 1 and 713 ± 1 Ma, ages apparently younger than, but within the published age range of, the Franklin dykes. Alpha recoil in baddeleyite is considered as a possible explanation for the difference in ages, but a comparison of the U–Pb ages of grains of equal size from both swarms suggests that recoil distances in baddeleyite are lower than those in zircon and that the Clarence Head dykes are indeed a distinctly younger event within the period of Franklin magmatism. The Clarence Head dykes represent a large swarm tangential to, and cogenetic with, a giant radiating dyke swarm ∼800 km from the indicated source. The preferred mechanism for the emplacement of the Clarence Head dykes is the exploitation of concentric zones of extension around a depleting and collapsing plume source. While the paleomagnetism of most Clarence Head dykes agrees with that of the Franklin dykes, two dykes have anomalous remanence directions, interpreted to be a chemical remanent magnetization carried by pyrrhotite. The pyrrhotite was likely deposited from fluids mobilized southward from the Devonian Ellesmerian Orogeny to the north that used the interiors of the dykes as conduits and precipitated pyrrhotite en route.

Why do we monitor? Using seabird eggs to track trends in Arctic environmental contamination

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kristin Bianchini ◽  
Mark L. Mallory ◽  
Birgit Braune ◽  
Derek C.G. Muir ◽  
Jennifer F. Provencher
Keyword(s):  
Emerging Contaminants ◽  
Monitoring Program ◽  
High Arctic ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Arctic Canada ◽  
Seabird Species ◽  
Contaminant Monitoring ◽  
History Of ◽  
Low Arctic ◽  
High Level

Contaminant levels and trends have been monitored in eggs of seabirds from the Canadian Arctic since 1975. Nearly 50 years of monitoring have provided key information regarding the temporal and spatial variation of various contaminant classes in different seabird species. However, previous work has primarily assessed individual or related contaminant classes in isolation. There is therefore a need to collectively consider all of the contaminants monitored in seabird eggs to determine where monitoring has been successful, to find areas for improvement, and to identify opportunities for future research. In this review, we evaluated monitoring data for the major legacy and emerging contaminants of concern in five seabird species from three High Arctic and three Low Arctic colonies in Canada. We review the history of Canada’s Arctic seabird egg monitoring program and discuss how monitoring efforts have changed over time; we summarize temporal, spatial, and interspecies variations in Arctic seabird egg contamination and identify important knowledge gaps; and we discuss future directions for ecotoxicology research using seabird eggs in Arctic Canada. Ultimately, this paper provides a high-level overview of the egg contaminant monitoring program and underscores the importance of long-term and continued seabird contaminant monitoring in Arctic Canada.

Contact between the Norse Vikings and the Dorset culture in Arctic Canada

Antiquity ◽  
2008 ◽  
Vol 82 (315) ◽  
pp. 189-198 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert W. Park
Keyword(s):  
Native American ◽  
Indigenous Peoples ◽  
Archaeological Research ◽  
Cultural Interaction ◽  
Arctic Canada ◽  
The North

Instances of cultural interaction between Norse and native American have long been accepted. But current archaeological research recognises that the indigenous peoples of the north were themselves diverse and had diverse histories. Here the author shows that the culture of one of them, the Dorset people, owed nothing to the Norse and probably had no contact with them.

Patterned-Ground Plant Communities along a bioclimate gradient in the High Arctic, Canada

2008 ◽  
Vol 38 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 23-63 ◽  
Author(s):  
Corinne M. Vonlanthen ◽  
Donald A. Walker ◽  
Martha K. Raynolds ◽  
Anja Kade ◽  
Patrick Kuss ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Plant Communities ◽  
High Arctic ◽  
Arctic Canada ◽  
Patterned Ground

scholarly journals Dynamics of Ice-Island Motion Near the Coast of Axel Heiberg Island, Canadian High Arctic

1989 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
pp. 152-156 ◽  
Author(s):  
W.M. Sackinger ◽  
M.O. Jeffries ◽  
H. Tippens ◽  
F. Li ◽  
M. Lu
Keyword(s):  
Surface Wind ◽  
High Arctic ◽  
The Arctic ◽  
Movement Direction ◽  
Canadian High Arctic ◽  
North West ◽  
The North ◽  
Pack Ice ◽  
Axel Heiberg Island ◽  
Ice Force

The largest ice island presently known to exist in the Arctic Ocean has a mass of about 700 × 106 tonnes, an area of about 26 km2, and a mean thickness of 42.5 m. Known as Hobson’s Ice Island, this large ice feature has been tracked almost continuously since August 1983 with a succession of Argos buoys. In this paper, two particular ice-island movement episodes near the north-west coast of Axel Heiberg Island are described: 6–16 May 1986 and 14–21 June 1986. Each movement episode is analyzed in terms of the forces acting on the ice island, including wind shear, water drag, water shear, Coriolis force, sea-surface tilt, and pack-ice force. Ice-island movement is generally preceded by an offshore surface wind, and a threshold wind speed of 6 m s°1 appears to be necessary to initiate ice-island motion. An angle of 50° between surface wind and ice-island movement direction is noted during one episode. The pack-ice force, which appears to be the dominant arresting factor of ice-island motion for these two episodes, varies from 100° to 180° to the left of the ice-island velocity direction, depending upon whether the ice island is accelerating or decelerating.

Paleoeskimo Occupations of Central and High Arctic Canada

1976 ◽  
Vol 31 ◽  
pp. 15-39 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert McGhee
Keyword(s):  
Temporal Distribution ◽  
High Arctic ◽  
Central Core ◽  
Hudson Bay ◽  
Arctic Canada ◽  
The Core ◽  
The Past ◽  
Archaeological Collections ◽  
Distribution Of Components ◽  
Cultural Discontinuities

Most of our knowledge regarding the Paleoeskimos of Arctic Canada is derived from the “core area” of Paleoeskimo occupation, a rough circle of some 1,000 km diameter including the coasts of Fury and Hecla Strait, Hudson Bay, and Hudson Strait. This is the area in which Dorset culture was first recognized, the source of most of our larger collections, and the area where continuity of development throughout the Paleoeskimo sequence has been demonstrated (Meldgaard 1962; Taylor 1968a; Maxwell 1973). The number and size of archaeological collections from this area suggest that it supported a larger Paleoeskimo population than did other regions of Arctic Canada, while the temporal distribution of components and continuities of style suggests that the region was occupied continuously throughout the Paleoeskimo period.In the fringe areas surrounding this central core, continuous occupation has not yet been demonstrated through any major segment of the Paleoeskimo sequence. Work in these fringe areas has rapidly progressed during the past decade, and it now seems certain that most of the temporal gaps and cultural discontinuities are not the result of poor archaeological sampling but reflect a situation of sporadic occupation occurring at different times in different regions. One of the striking features of the Paleoeskimo population was its propensity for expanding and retracting its geographical range, and this is the phenomenon which this paper will attempt to document. The primary aim of the paper is to sort out who lived where and when; a secondary aim is to suggest how they may have got there and what happened to them.

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