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Creswell Bay
Creswell Bay is an Arctic waterway in Qikiqtaaluk Region, Nunavut, Canada. It is an arm of western Prince Regent Inlet in eastern Somerset Island. Its northeastern landmark, Fury Point, is approximately west of Baffin Island. While the bay does not have any permanent settlements, it remains an important Inuit habitation site. Geography Creswell Bay is large and almost semicircular. Its habitat is characterized by tundra, rivers, streams, mud, saline sand flats, a freshwater lake, open sea, inlets, coastal marine features, coastal cliffs, and rocky marine shores. The elevation is above sea level. Stanwell-Fletcher Lake is joined to the bay by the Union River; crystalline rocks are notable along the way. The Creswell River also empties into the bay. The Devonian Peel Sound Formation outcrops at the bay. The formation consists of sandstone, grit, and conglomerate which is predominantly limestone. Fauna The bay is a Canadian Important Bird Area (#NU062). Notable bird species inc ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Prince Regent Inlet
Prince Regent Inlet () is a body of water in Nunavut, Canada between the west end of Baffin Island (Brodeur Peninsula) and Somerset Island on the west. It opens north into Lancaster Sound and to the south merges into the Gulf of Boothia. The Arctic inlet's northern portion is approximately wide; the southern portion is approximately wide. It is deep throughout and there are no islands within the inlet. During the quest for the Northwest Passage it was entered several times until it was realized that Prince Regent Inlet-Gulf of Boothia is a cul-de-sac for practical purposes. In 1819 William Edward Parry penetrated more than 100 miles south before turning back. In 1829 John Ross passed through it and was frozen in the Gulf of Boothia for four years before escaping. In 1852 Bellot Strait, the frozen western exit, was discovered. In 1858 Francis Leopold McClintock Sir Francis Leopold McClintock (8 July 1819 – 17 November 1907) was an Irish explorer in the British Roya ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
King Eider
The king eider (pronounced ) (''Somateria spectabilis'') is a large sea duck that breeds along Northern Hemisphere Arctic coasts of northeast Europe, North America and Asia. The birds spend most of the year in coastal marine ecosystems at high latitudes, and migrate to Arctic tundra to breed in June and July. They lay four to seven eggs in a scrape on the ground lined with grass and down. Taxonomy and etymology When he first described the king eider in 1758, in the 10th edition of his opus Systema Naturae, Carl Linnaeus assigned it to the genus ''Anas'', along with the rest of the ducks. In 1819, William Elford Leach moved it and the other large eiders to the genus ''Somateria'', where it has remained since. It is very closely related to the other members of its genus, and is known to hybridise with the common eider. Despite its very large range, it is monotypic. The genus name ''Somateria'' is a combination of the Greek words ''sōma'', meaning "body", and ''erion'', meanin ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bays Of Qikiqtaaluk Region
A bay is a recessed, coastal body of water that directly connects to a larger main body of water, such as an ocean, a lake, or another bay. A large bay is usually called a gulf, sea, sound, or bight. A cove is a small, circular bay with a narrow entrance. A fjord is an elongated bay formed by glacial action. A bay can be the estuary of a river, such as the Chesapeake Bay, an estuary of the Susquehanna River. Bays may also be nested within each other; for example, James Bay is an arm of Hudson Bay in northeastern Canada. Some large bays, such as the Bay of Bengal and Hudson Bay, have varied marine geology. The land surrounding a bay often reduces the strength of winds and blocks waves. Bays may have as wide a variety of shoreline characteristics as other shorelines. In some cases, bays have beaches, which "are usually characterized by a steep upper foreshore with a broad, flat fronting terrace".Maurice Schwartz, ''Encyclopedia of Coastal Science'' (2006), p. 129. Bays were sig ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dorset Culture
The Dorset was a Paleo-Eskimo culture, lasting from to between and , that followed the Pre-Dorset and preceded the Thule people (proto-Inuit) in the North American Arctic. The culture and people are named after Cape Dorset (now Kinngait) in Nunavut, Canada, where the first evidence of its existence was found. The culture has been defined as having four phases due to the distinct differences in the technologies relating to hunting and tool making. Artifacts include distinctive triangular end-blades, oil lamps () made of soapstone, and burins. The Dorset were first identified as a separate culture in 1925. The Dorset appear to have been extinct by 1500 at the latest and perhaps as early as 1000. The Thule people, who began migrating east from Alaska in the 11th century, ended up spreading through the lands previously inhabited by the Dorset. There is no strong evidence that the Inuit and Dorset ever met. Modern genetic studies show the Dorset population were distinct from later ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Thule People
The Thule (, , ) or proto-Inuit were the ancestors of all modern Inuit. They developed in coastal Alaska by the year 1000 and expanded eastward across northern Canada, reaching Greenland by the 13th century. In the process, they replaced people of the earlier Dorset culture that had previously inhabited the region. The appellation "Thule" originates from the location of Thule (relocated and renamed Qaanaaq in 1953) in northwest Greenland, facing Canada, where the archaeological remains of the people were first found at Comer's Midden. The links between the Thule and the Inuit are biological, cultural, and linguistic. Evidence supports the idea that the Thule (and also the Dorset, but to a lesser degree) were in contact with the Vikings, who had reached the shores of Canada in the 11th century as part of Norse colonization of North America. In Viking sources, these peoples are called the ''Skrælingjar''. Some Thule migrated southward, in the "Second Expansion" or "Second Phase". ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Archaeological Site
An archaeological site is a place (or group of physical sites) in which evidence of past activity is preserved (either prehistoric or historic or contemporary), and which has been, or may be, investigated using the discipline of archaeology and represents a part of the archaeological record. Sites may range from those with few or no remains visible above ground, to buildings and other structures still in use. Beyond this, the definition and geographical extent of a "site" can vary widely, depending on the period studied and the theoretical approach of the archaeologist. Geographical extent It is almost invariably difficult to delimit a site. It is sometimes taken to indicate a settlement of some sort although the archaeologist must also define the limits of human activity around the settlement. Any episode of deposition such as a hoard or burial can form a site as well. Development-led archaeology undertaken as cultural resources management has the disadvantage (or the ben ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Narwhals
The narwhal, also known as a narwhale (''Monodon monoceros''), is a medium-sized toothed whale that possesses a large "tusk" from a protruding canine tooth. It lives year-round in the Arctic waters around Greenland, Canada and Russia. It is one of two living species of whale in the family Monodontidae, along with the beluga whale, and the only species in the genus ''Monodon''. The narwhal males are distinguished by a long, straight, helical tusk, which is an elongated upper left canine. The narwhal was one of many species described by Carl Linnaeus in his publication ''Systema Naturae'' in 1758. Like the beluga, narwhals are medium-sized whales. For both sexes, excluding the male's tusk, the total body size can range from ; the males are slightly larger than the females. The average weight of an adult narwhal is . At around 11 to 13 years old, the males become sexually mature; females become sexually mature at about 5 to 8 years old. Narwhals do not have a dorsal fin and thei ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Beluga Whales
The beluga whale () (''Delphinapterus leucas'') is an Arctic and sub-Arctic cetacean. It is one of two members of the family Monodontidae, along with the narwhal, and the only member of the genus ''Delphinapterus''. It is also known as the white whale, as it is the only cetacean to regularly occur with this colour; the sea canary, due to its high-pitched calls; and the melonhead, though that more commonly refers to the melon-headed whale, which is an oceanic dolphin. The beluga is adapted to life in the Arctic, with anatomical and physiological characteristics that differentiate it from other cetaceans. Amongst these are its all-white colour and the absence of a dorsal fin, which allows it to swim under ice with ease. It possesses a distinctive protuberance at the front of its head which houses an echolocation organ called the melon, which in this species is large and deformable. The beluga's body size is between that of a dolphin and a true whale, with males growing up to l ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Arctic Char
The Arctic char or Arctic charr (''Salvelinus alpinus'') is a cold-water fish in the family Salmonidae, native to alpine lakes and arctic and subarctic coastal waters. Its distribution is Circumpolar North. It spawns in freshwater and populations can be lacustrine, riverine, or anadromous, where they return from the ocean to their fresh water birth rivers to spawn. No other freshwater fish is found as far north; it is, for instance, the only fish species in Lake Hazen which extend up to on Ellesmere Island in the Canadian Arctic. It is one of the rarest fish species in Great Britain and Ireland, found mainly in deep, cold, glacial lakes, and is at risk there from acidification. In other parts of its range, such as the Nordic countries, it is much more common, and is fished extensively. In Siberia, it is known as ''golets'' () and it has been introduced in lakes where it sometimes threatens less hardy endemic species, such as the small-mouth char and the long-finned char ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
White-rumped Sandpiper
The white-rumped sandpiper (''Calidris fuscicollis'') is a small shorebird that breeds in the northern tundra of Canada and Alaska. This bird can be difficult to distinguish from other similar tiny shorebirds; these are known collectively as "peeps" or "stints". These birds are not often spotted. In the summer, they are rarely seen because they are in such an obscure breeding location. Similarly, in the winter they are rarely seen because they travel too far south for many birdwatchers. Therefore, the majority of sightings occur during the spring or fall in temperate regions and are generally in small numbers around water. Taxonomy The white-rumped sandpiper is placed in the order Charadriiformes along with gulls, alcids, plovers and oystercatchers. Its family, Scolopacidae, encompasses all sandpipers, and as a stint it is classified in the genus Calidris. It is classified as monotypic species, meaning that no population differentiation or subspecies have been described. The gen ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sanderling
The sanderling (''Calidris alba'') is a small wading bird. The name derives from Old English ''sand-yrðling'', "sand-ploughman". The genus name is from Ancient Greek ''kalidris'' or ''skalidris'', a term used by Aristotle for some grey-coloured waterside birds. The specific, ''alba'', is Latin for "white". It is a circumpolar Arctic breeder, and is a long-distance migrant, wintering south to South America, South Europe, Africa, and Australia. It is highly gregarious in winter, sometimes forming large flocks on coastal mudflats or sandy beaches. It is somewhat unlike other sandpipers in appearance, which has led to the suggestion that it should be placed into a monotypic genus ''Crocethia''. A more recent review (Thomas ''et al.'', 2004) indicates, however, that the sanderling is a fairly typical "stint" or small sandpiper and should be separated from the large knots with its closest relatives in a distinct genus. This bird is similar in size to a dunlin, but stouter, with a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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