The Arctic Cordillera is a terrestrial
ecozone An Ecozone may refer to:
* Ecozone (Canada), one of 15 first-level ecological land classifications in Canada
* Biogeographic realm, the broadest biogeographic division of Earth's land surface (referred to as ''ecozone'' by BBC)
* Biome, a large ...
in northern Canada characterized by a vast, deeply dissected chain of
mountain range
A mountain range or hill range is a series of mountains or hills arranged in a line and connected by high ground. A mountain system or mountain belt is a group of mountain ranges with similarity in form, structure, and alignment that have ari ...
s extending along the northeastern flank of the
Canadian Arctic Archipelago from
Ellesmere Island
Ellesmere Island ( iu, script=Latn, Umingmak Nuna, lit=land of muskoxen; french: île d'Ellesmere) is Canada's northernmost and third largest island, and the tenth largest in the world. It comprises an area of , slightly smaller than Great Br ...
to the northeasternmost part of the
Labrador Peninsula
The Labrador Peninsula, or Quebec-Labrador Peninsula, is a large peninsula in eastern Canada. It is bounded by the Hudson Bay to the west, the Hudson Strait to the north, the Labrador Sea to the east, and the Gulf of Saint Lawrence to the so ...
in northern
Labrador
, nickname = "The Big Land"
, etymology =
, subdivision_type = Country
, subdivision_name = Canada
, subdivision_type1 = Province
, subdivision_name1 ...
and northern
Quebec
Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirte ...
, Canada. It spans most of the eastern coast of
Nunavut
Nunavut ( , ; iu, ᓄᓇᕗᑦ , ; ) is the largest and northernmost territory of Canada. It was separated officially from the Northwest Territories on April 1, 1999, via the '' Nunavut Act'' and the '' Nunavut Land Claims Agreement Act'' ...
with high glaciated peaks rising through ice fields and some of Canada's largest ice caps, including the
Penny Ice Cap
The Penny Ice Cap, formerly Penny Icecap, is a ice cap in Auyuittuq National Park of Baffin Island, Nunavut, Canada. It forms a high barrier on the Cumberland Peninsula, an area of deep fjords and glaciated valleys. It is a remnant of the last ic ...
on
Baffin Island
Baffin Island (formerly Baffin Land), in the Canadian territory of Nunavut, is the largest island in Canada and the fifth-largest island in the world. Its area is , slightly larger than Spain; its population was 13,039 as of the 2021 Canadia ...
. It is bounded to the east by
Baffin Bay
Baffin Bay (Inuktitut: ''Saknirutiak Imanga''; kl, Avannaata Imaa; french: Baie de Baffin), located between Baffin Island and the west coast of Greenland, is defined by the International Hydrographic Organization as a marginal sea of the Arc ...
,
Davis Strait and the
Labrador Sea
The Labrador Sea (French: ''mer du Labrador'', Danish: ''Labradorhavet'') is an arm of the North Atlantic Ocean between the Labrador Peninsula and Greenland. The sea is flanked by continental shelves to the southwest, northwest, and northeast. It ...
while its northern portion is bounded by the
Arctic Ocean
The Arctic Ocean is the smallest and shallowest of the world's five major oceans. It spans an area of approximately and is known as the coldest of all the oceans. The International Hydrographic Organization (IHO) recognizes it as an ocean, a ...
.
Overview
The range is mostly located in Nunavut but extends southeast into the northernmost tip of Labrador and northeastern Quebec. The system is divided into a series of ranges, with mountains reaching heights of more than . The highest is
Barbeau Peak __NOTOC__
Barbeau Peak is a mountain in Qikiqtaaluk, Nunavut, Canada. Located on Ellesmere Island within Quttinirpaaq National Park, it is the highest mountain in Nunavut and the Canadian Arctic. The mountain was named in 1969 after Marius Barbea ...
on Ellesmere Island at , which is the highest point in eastern
North America
North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and th ...
. The system is also one of Canada's three mountain systems, the others being the
Western Cordillera of
Western Canada
Western Canada, also referred to as the Western provinces, Canadian West or the Western provinces of Canada, and commonly known within Canada as the West, is a Canadian region that includes the four western provinces just north of the Canada� ...
[Arctic Cordillera Ecozone](_blank)
Retrieved on 2008-02-10 and the Canadian extension of the
Appalachian Mountains
The Appalachian Mountains, often called the Appalachians, (french: Appalaches), are a system of mountains in eastern to northeastern North America. The Appalachians first formed roughly 480 million years ago during the Ordovician Period. The ...
into the
Gaspé Peninsula
The Gaspé Peninsula, also known as Gaspesia (; ), is a peninsula along the south shore of the Saint Lawrence River that extends from the Matapedia Valley in Quebec, Canada, into the Gulf of Saint Lawrence. It is separated from New Brunswick ...
and
Atlantic Provinces.
The landscape is dominated by massive polar ice fields, alpine glaciers, inland fjords, and large bordering bodies of water, distinctive of many similar arctic regions in the world. Although the terrain is infamous for its unforgiving conditions, humans maintained an established population of 1000 people – 80% of whom were Inuit. In addition, the landscape is 75% covered by ice or exposed bedrock, with a continuous permafrost that persists throughout the year, making plant and animal life somewhat scarce. The temperature of the Arctic
Cordillera
A cordillera is an extensive chain and/or network system of mountain ranges, such as those in the west coast of the Americas. The term is borrowed from Spanish, where the word comes from , a diminutive of ('rope').
The term is most commonly us ...
ranges from 6 °C in summer down to −16 °C in winter. Vegetation is largely absent in this area due to permanent ice and snow.
The Arctic Cordillera is a narrow
ecozone An Ecozone may refer to:
* Ecozone (Canada), one of 15 first-level ecological land classifications in Canada
* Biogeographic realm, the broadest biogeographic division of Earth's land surface (referred to as ''ecozone'' by BBC)
* Biome, a large ...
compared to other Canadian ecozones.
[ It is one of fifteen ecozones identified in Canada—Northern Arctic, Southern Arctic, Taiga Cordillera, Taiga Plains, Taiga Shield, Hudson Plains, Boreal Cordillera, Boreal Plains, Boreal Shield, Prairies, Montane Cordillera, Pacific Maritime, Atlantic Maritime, and Mixedwood Plains.] The majority of this ecozone borders the
Northern Arctic
The Northern Arctic Ecozone, as defined by the Commission for Environmental Cooperation (CEC), is a Canadian terrestrial ecozone which includes most of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago, the Boothia and Melville Peninsulas of Nunavut, and the nort ...
, while the small segment within Labrador borders the
Taiga Shield. While the Arctic Cordillera mountain system includes most of the Arctic islands and regions such as
Bathurst Island,
Cornwall Island,
Amund Ringnes Island
Amund Ringnes Island is one of the Sverdrup Islands in the Qikiqtaaluk Region, Nunavut, Canada. It is located in the Arctic Ocean, between 78 and 79 degrees of latitude. It lies east of Ellef Ringnes Island, west of Axel Heiberg Island. Hassel ...
,
Ellef Ringnes Island, Ellesmere Island, Baffin Island,
Bylot Island
Bylot Island lies off the northern end of Baffin Island in Nunavut Territory, Canada. Eclipse Sound to the southeast and Navy Board Inlet to the southwest separate it from Baffin Island. Parry Channel lies to its northwest. At it is ranked 71st ...
and Labrador, the Arctic Cordillera Ecozone only covers Ellesmere Island, Baffin Island,
Axel Heiberg Island
Axel Heiberg Island ( iu, ᐅᒥᖕᒪᑦ ᓄᓈᑦ, ) is an uninhabited island in the Qikiqtaaluk Region, Nunavut, Canada. Located in the Arctic Ocean, it is the 32nd largest island in the world and Canada's seventh largest island. Accordin ...
, Bylot Island and Labrador.
Geography
Regions
The Arctic Cordillera is geographically diverse. Much of Ellesmere Island is covered by the Arctic Cordillera, making it the most mountainous in the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. It is considered part of the
Queen Elizabeth Islands
The Queen Elizabeth Islands (french: Îles de la Reine-Élisabeth; formerly Parry Islands or Parry Archipelago) are the northernmost cluster of islands in Canada's Arctic Archipelago, split between Nunavut and the Northwest Territories in Northe ...
, with
Cape Columbia being the most northerly point of land in Canada. It encompasses an area of , making it the
world's tenth largest island and
Canada's third largest island. The first inhabitants of Ellesmere Island were small bands of
Inuit
Inuit (; iu, ᐃᓄᐃᑦ 'the people', singular: Inuk, , dual: Inuuk, ) are a group of culturally similar indigenous peoples inhabiting the Arctic and subarctic regions of Greenland, Labrador, Quebec, Nunavut, the Northwest Territorie ...
drawn to the area for
Peary caribou,
muskox, and
marine mammal
Marine mammals are aquatic mammals that rely on the ocean and other marine ecosystems for their existence. They include animals such as seals, whales, manatees, sea otters and polar bears. They are an informal group, unified only by their ...
hunting about 1000–2000 BC.
Axel Heiberg Island is one of the several members of the
Canadian Arctic Archipelago and the largest of the
Sverdrup Islands, having an area of . It has been inhabited in the past by Inuit, but was uninhabited by the time it was named by
Otto Sverdrup, who explored it around 1900. In 1959, scientists from
McGill University
McGill University (french: link=no, Université McGill) is an English-language public research university located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Founded in 1821 by royal charter granted by King George IV,Frost, Stanley Brice. ''McGill Univer ...
explored Expedition Fiord in central Axel Heiberg Island. This resulted in the establishment of the
McGill Arctic Research Station, constructed inland from Expedition Fjord in 1960.
Baffin Island is the largest island in Canada and the fifth largest in the world, with an area of .
Devon Island
Devon Island ( iu, ᑕᓪᓗᕈᑎᑦ, ) is an island in Canada and the largest uninhabited island (no permanent residents) in the world. It is located in Baffin Bay, Qikiqtaaluk Region, Nunavut, Canada. It is one of the largest members of the ...
is the largest uninhabited island on
Earth
Earth is the third planet from the Sun and the only astronomical object known to harbor life. While large volumes of water can be found throughout the Solar System, only Earth sustains liquid surface water. About 71% of Earth's sur ...
. With an area of , it is the second-largest of the Queen Elizabeth Islands, the
27th largest in the world and Canada's 6th largest. An outpost was established at
Dundas Harbour
Dundas Harbour (Inuktitut: ''Talluruti'', "a woman's chin with tattoos on it") () is an abandoned settlement in the Qikiqtaaluk Region, Nunavut, Canada. It is located on Devon Island at the eastern shore of the waterway also named Dundas Harbour ...
in August 1924 as part of a government presence intended to curb foreign
whaling
Whaling is the process of hunting of whales for their usable products such as meat and blubber, which can be turned into a type of oil that became increasingly important in the Industrial Revolution.
It was practiced as an organized industr ...
and other activity.
Much of Bylot Island is covered by the Arctic Cordillera. At it is ranked
71st largest island in the world and Canada's 17th largest. While there are no permanent settlements on Bylot, Inuit from
Pond Inlet regularly travel to it.
Protected areas
More than one-fifth of Ellesmere Island is protected as
Quttinirpaaq National Park
Quttinirpaaq National Park is located on the northeastern corner of Ellesmere Island in the Qikiqtaaluk Region of Nunavut, Canada. It is the second most northerly park on Earth after Northeast Greenland National Park. In Inuktitut, Quttinirpaaq ...
(formerly Ellesmere Island National Park), which includes seven
fjord
In physical geography, a fjord or fiord () is a long, narrow inlet with steep sides or cliffs, created by a glacier. Fjords exist on the coasts of Alaska, Antarctica, British Columbia, Chile, Denmark, Germany, Greenland, the Faroe Islands, Icel ...
s and a variety of
glacier
A glacier (; ) is a persistent body of dense ice that is constantly moving under its own weight. A glacier forms where the accumulation of snow exceeds its ablation over many years, often centuries. It acquires distinguishing features, such a ...
s, as well as
Lake Hazen, the world's largest lake north of the
Arctic Circle
The Arctic Circle is one of the two polar circles, and the most northerly of the five major circles of latitude as shown on maps of Earth. Its southern equivalent is the Antarctic Circle.
The Arctic Circle marks the southernmost latitude at ...
. Barbeau Peak, the highest mountain in Nunavut at , is located in the
British Empire Range on Ellesmere Island. The most northern mountain range in the world, the
Challenger Mountains, is located in the northwest region of the island. The northern lobe of the island is called
Grant Land.
In July 2007, a study noted the disappearance of
habitat
In ecology, the term habitat summarises the array of resources, physical and biotic factors that are present in an area, such as to support the survival and reproduction of a particular species. A species habitat can be seen as the physical ...
for waterfowl, invertebrates, and algae on Ellesmere Island. According to John P. Smol of
Queen's University in
Kingston, Ontario
Kingston is a city in Ontario, Canada. It is located on the north-eastern end of Lake Ontario, at the beginning of the St. Lawrence River and at the mouth of the Cataraqui River (south end of the Rideau Canal). The city is midway between Tor ...
, and Marianne S. V. Douglas of the
University of Alberta
The University of Alberta, also known as U of A or UAlberta, is a Public university, public research university located in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. It was founded in 1908 by Alexander Cameron Rutherford,"A Gentleman of Strathcona – Alexande ...
in Edmonton, warming conditions and evaporation have caused low-water-level changes in the chemistry of ponds and wetlands in the area. The researchers noted, "In the 1980s they often needed to wear hip waders to make their way to the ponds, while by 2006 the same areas were dry enough to burn."
["Northern Canada Ponds Drying Up"](_blank)
. ''Environmental News Network''.
Sirmilik National Park
Sirmilik National Park (; Inuktitut: "the place of glaciers") is a national park located in Qikiqtaaluk, Nunavut, Canada, established in 1999. Situated within the Arctic Cordillera, the park is composed of three areas: most of Bylot Island w ...
in northern Baffin Island harbours large populations of
thick-billed murre
The thick-billed murre or Brünnich's guillemot (''Uria lomvia'') is a bird in the auk family (Alcidae). This bird is named after the Danish zoologist Morten Thrane Brünnich. The very deeply black North Pacific subspecies ''Uria lomvia arra ...
s,
black-legged kittiwake
The black-legged kittiwake (''Rissa tridactyla'') is a seabird species in the gull family Laridae.
This species was first described by Carl Linnaeus in his landmark 1758 10th edition of ''Systema Naturae'' as ''Larus tridactylus''. The English ...
s and
greater snow geese. The park comprises three areas: Bylot Island,
Oliver Sound
Oliver may refer to:
Arts, entertainment and literature
Books
* ''Oliver the Western Engine'', volume 24 in ''The Railway Series'' by Rev. W. Awdry
* ''Oliver Twist'', a novel by Charles Dickens
Fictional characters
* Ariadne Oliver, ...
and the
Borden Peninsula
The Borden Peninsula is a peninsula on northern Baffin Island, in Nunavut, Canada. It lies some 80 km south of Devon Island (Cape Warrender), from which it is separated by Lancaster Sound. Northeastern Borden Peninsula is home to Sirmilik Nation ...
.
Auyuittuq National Park, located on Baffin Island's
Cumberland Peninsula, features the many terrains of
Arctic
The Arctic ( or ) is a polar regions of Earth, polar region located at the northernmost part of Earth. The Arctic consists of the Arctic Ocean, adjacent seas, and parts of Canada (Yukon, Northwest Territories, Nunavut), Danish Realm (Greenla ...
wilderness such as fjords, glaciers, and
ice fields. In
Inuktitut
Inuktitut (; , syllabics ; from , "person" + , "like", "in the manner of"), also Eastern Canadian Inuktitut, is one of the principal Inuit languages of Canada. It is spoken in all areas north of the tree line, including parts of the provinces o ...
—the language of Nunavut's Aboriginal people, Inuit— means "the land that never melts." Although was established in 1976 as a national park reserve, it was upgraded to a full national park in 2000. Well-known peaks in the park include
Mount Asgard
Mount Asgard ( iu, ᓯᕙᓂᑎᕈᑎᖑᐊᒃ, ''Sivanitirutinguak'') is a twin peaked mountain with two flat-topped, cylindrical, rock towers, separated by a saddle. It is located in Auyuittuq National Park, on the Cumberland Peninsula of Baff ...
and
Mount Thor, with a , 105° cliff face.
The
Torngat Mountains National Park Reserve
Torngat Mountains National Park () is a Canadian national park located on the Labrador Peninsula in the province of Newfoundland and Labrador. The park encompasses of mountainous terrain between Northern Quebec and the Labrador Sea. It is the ...
, located on the
Labrador Peninsula
The Labrador Peninsula, or Quebec-Labrador Peninsula, is a large peninsula in eastern Canada. It is bounded by the Hudson Bay to the west, the Hudson Strait to the north, the Labrador Sea to the east, and the Gulf of Saint Lawrence to the so ...
, covers much of the southern end of the Arctic Cordillera. It protects many species of Arctic wildlife, such as
caribou,
polar bear
The polar bear (''Ursus maritimus'') is a hypercarnivorous bear whose native range lies largely within the Arctic Circle, encompassing the Arctic Ocean, its surrounding seas and surrounding land masses. It is the largest extant bear spec ...
s,
peregrine falcon
The peregrine falcon (''Falco peregrinus''), also known as the peregrine, and historically as the duck hawk in North America, is a cosmopolitan bird of prey (raptor) in the family Falconidae. A large, crow-sized falcon, it has a blue-grey bac ...
s and
golden eagle
The golden eagle (''Aquila chrysaetos'') is a bird of prey living in the Northern Hemisphere. It is the most widely distributed species of eagle. Like all eagles, it belongs to the family Accipitridae. They are one of the best-known bird ...
s. The park was established on January 22, 2005, making it the first national park to be created in Labrador.
Glaciers and ice caps
The drier northern section of the Arctic Cordillera is largely covered with
ice cap
In glaciology, an ice cap is a mass of ice that covers less than of land area (usually covering a highland area). Larger ice masses covering more than are termed ice sheets.
Description
Ice caps are not constrained by topographical feat ...
s while glaciers are more common at the more humid southern end. Large portions of Ellesmere Island are covered with glaciers and ice, with Manson Icefield and Sydkap in the south; Prince of Wales Icefield and Agassiz Ice Cap along the central-east side of the island; and substantial ice cover in Northern Ellesmere Island. The northwest coast of Ellesmere Island was covered by a massive, long ice shelf until the 20th century. The Ellesmere ice shelf reduced by 90 percent in the twentieth century due to
global warming
In common usage, climate change describes global warming—the ongoing increase in global average temperature—and its effects on Earth's climate system. Climate change in a broader sense also includes previous long-term changes to ...
, leaving the separate Alfred Ernest, Ayles, Milne, Ward Hunt, and Markham Ice Shelves. A 1986 survey of Canadian ice shelves found that , involving of ice, calved from the
Milne and
Ayles ice shelves between 1959 and 1974. The
Ward Hunt Ice Shelf, the largest remaining section of thick (greater than ) landfast sea ice along the northern coastline of Ellesmere Island, lost of ice in a massive calving in 1961–1962. It further decreased by 27% in thickness (13 m, 43 ft) between 1967 and 1999. The breakup of the Ellesmere ice shelves has continued in the 21st century: the Ward Ice Shelf experienced a major breakup during summer 2002; the Ayles Ice Shelf calved entirely on August 13, 2005—the largest break-off of the ice shelf in 25 years, it may pose a threat to the oil industry in the
Beaufort Sea
The Beaufort Sea (; french: Mer de Beaufort, Iñupiaq: ''Taġiuq'') is a marginal sea of the Arctic Ocean, located north of the Northwest Territories, the Yukon, and Alaska, and west of Canada's Arctic islands. The sea is named after Sir ...
(the piece is ).
The
Barnes icecap is found in the central part of the Baffin Island and has been in retreat since at least the early 1960s when the Geographical Branch of the then Department of Mines & Technical Surveys sent a three-man survey team to the area to measure isostatic rebound and cross-valley features of the
Isortoq River.
Geology
The northern portion of the Arctic Cordillera was uplifted during the
Innuitian orogeny
The Innuitian orogeny, sometimes called the Ellesmere orogeny, was a major tectonic (mountain building) episode responsible for the formation of a series of mountain ranges in the Canadian Arctic and Northernmost Greenland. The episode started wit ...
when the
North American Plate
The North American Plate is a tectonic plate covering most of North America, Cuba, the Bahamas, extreme northeastern Asia, and parts of Iceland and the Azores. With an area of , it is the Earth's second largest tectonic plate, behind the Paci ...
moved northward during the mid-
Mesozoic
The Mesozoic Era ( ), also called the Age of Reptiles, the Age of Conifers, and colloquially as the Age of the Dinosaurs is the second-to-last era of Earth's geological history, lasting from about , comprising the Triassic, Jurassic and Cretace ...
. It contains
igneous
Igneous rock (derived from the Latin word ''ignis'' meaning fire), or magmatic rock, is one of the three main rock types, the others being sedimentary and metamorphic. Igneous rock is formed through the cooling and solidification of magma or ...
and
metamorphic rocks, but for the most part is composed of
sedimentary rock
Sedimentary rocks are types of rock that are formed by the accumulation or deposition of mineral or organic particles at Earth's surface, followed by cementation. Sedimentation is the collective name for processes that cause these particles ...
s. Mountains on Axel Heiberg Island consist mainly of long
ridge
A ridge or a mountain ridge is a geographical feature consisting of a chain of mountains or hills that form a continuous elevated crest for an extended distance. The sides of the ridge slope away from the narrow top on either side. The line ...
s of folded mid-Mesozoic and
Palaeozoic strata
In geology and related fields, a stratum ( : strata) is a layer of rock or sediment characterized by certain lithologic properties or attributes that distinguish it from adjacent layers from which it is separated by visible surfaces known as e ...
with minor igneous
intrusion
In geology, an igneous intrusion (or intrusive body or simply intrusion) is a body of intrusive igneous rock that forms by crystallization of magma slowly cooling below the surface of the Earth. Intrusions have a wide variety of forms and com ...
s.
The Arctic Cordillera is younger than the Appalachians, and so erosion has not had time to reduce it to rounded
hill
A hill is a landform that extends above the surrounding terrain. It often has a distinct summit.
Terminology
The distinction between a hill and a mountain is unclear and largely subjective, but a hill is universally considered to be not a ...
s. The mountains are also barren because trees can neither survive the extremely cold winter temperatures, nor grow during the short summers. Vast areas are covered by permanent ice and snow. The Arctic Cordillera resembles the Appalachians in composition and contain similar types of
mineral
In geology and mineralogy, a mineral or mineral species is, broadly speaking, a solid chemical compound with a fairly well-defined chemical composition and a specific crystal structure that occurs naturally in pure form.John P. Rafferty, ed. (2 ...
s. The mineral resources have not been greatly exploited, however, because the region's remote location makes development too costly when cheaper alternatives exist further south.
Mountains on southeastern Ellesmere Island are principally made of
granitic gneiss
Gneiss ( ) is a common and widely distributed type of metamorphic rock. It is formed by high-temperature and high-pressure metamorphic processes acting on formations composed of igneous or sedimentary rocks. Gneiss forms at higher temperatures a ...
, magmatic, undifferentiated intrusive and volcanic rocks. They are typified by being highly
eroded, with conspicuous deep vertical fissures and narrow ledges.
Precambrian
The Precambrian (or Pre-Cambrian, sometimes abbreviated pꞒ, or Cryptozoic) is the earliest part of Earth's history, set before the current Phanerozoic Eon. The Precambrian is so named because it preceded the Cambrian, the first period of th ...
rock is the major component of the
bedrock
In geology, bedrock is solid rock that lies under loose material ( regolith) within the crust of Earth or another terrestrial planet.
Definition
Bedrock is the solid rock that underlies looser surface material. An exposed portion of be ...
.
Volcanism
Mountains of
volcanic rock range in age from 1.2 billion to 65 million years old.
[Landforms and Climate of the Arctic Cordillera Ecozone](_blank)
Retrieved on 2007-09-26 The
Late Cretaceous
The Late Cretaceous (100.5–66 Ma) is the younger of two epochs into which the Cretaceous Period is divided in the geologic time scale. Rock strata from this epoch form the Upper Cretaceous Series. The Cretaceous is named after ''creta'', ...
Ellesmere Island Volcanics has been uncertainly associated to both the early volcanic activity of the
Iceland hotspot
The Iceland hotspot is a hotspot which is partly responsible for the high volcanic activity which has formed the Iceland Plateau and the island of Iceland.
Iceland is one of the most active volcanic regions in the world, with eruptions occu ...
and the
Alpha Ridge
The Alpha Ridge is a major volcanic ridge under the Arctic Ocean between the Canada Basin (off Ellesmere Island) and the Lomonosov Ridge. It was active during the formation of the Amerasian Basin. It was discovered in 1963. The highest elevation ...
. Even though these volcanics are about 90 million years old, the volcanoes and
cinder can still be seen.
The Late Cretaceous
Strand Fiord Formation
The Strand Fiord Formation is a Late Cretaceous volcanic component, located on northwestern and west-central Axel Heiberg Island, Nunavut, Canada. The formation contains flood basalts which are found on western Axel Heiberg Island at Dragon Cliff ...
is interpreted to represent the craton-ward extension of the Alpha Ridge, a volcanic ridge that was active during the formation of the
Amerasian Basin. The formation is part of the thick Sverdrup Basin succession and immediately precedes the final basin foundering event. The Strand Fiord volcanics are encased in marine strata and thin southward from a maximum thickness of more than on northwestern Axel Heiberg to a zero edge near the southern shore of the island.
Tholeiitic icelandite basalt
Basalt (; ) is an aphanitic (fine-grained) extrusive igneous rock formed from the rapid cooling of low-viscosity lava rich in magnesium and iron (mafic lava) exposed at or very near the surface of a rocky planet or moon. More than 90 ...
flows are the main constituent of the formation with pyroclastic conglomerates,
sandstone
Sandstone is a clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate grains. Sandstones comprise about 20–25% of all sedimentary rocks.
Most sandstone is composed of quartz or feldspar (both silicat ...
s,
mudrock
Mudrocks are a class of fine-grained siliciclastic sedimentary rocks. The varying types of mudrocks include siltstone, claystone, mudstone, slate, and shale. Most of the particles of which the stone is composed are less than and are too ...
s and rare coal seams also present. The lava flows range in thickness from and subaerial flows predominate. Both pahoehoe and aa
lava
Lava is molten or partially molten rock (magma) that has been expelled from the interior of a terrestrial planet (such as Earth) or a moon onto its surface. Lava may be erupted at a volcano or through a fracture in the crust, on land or ...
types are common and the volcanic pile accumulated mostly by the quiet
effusion
In physics and chemistry, effusion is the process in which a gas escapes from a container through a hole of diameter considerably smaller than the mean free path of the molecules. Such a hole is often described as a ''pinhole'' and the escap ...
of lavas. The
pyroclastic
Pyroclastic rocks (derived from the el, πῦρ, links=no, meaning fire; and , meaning broken) are clastic rocks composed of rock fragments produced and ejected by explosive volcanic eruptions. The individual rock fragments are known as pyroc ...
lithologies
The lithology of a rock unit is a description of its physical characteristics visible at outcrop, in hand or core samples, or with low magnification microscopy. Physical characteristics include colour, texture, grain size, and composition. Lith ...
become more common near the southern and eastern edges of the formation and represent
lahar
A lahar (, from jv, ꦮ꧀ꦭꦲꦂ) is a violent type of mudflow or debris flow composed of a slurry of pyroclastic material, rocky debris and water. The material flows down from a volcano, typically along a river valley.
Lahars are extr ...
s and beach to shallow marine reworked deposits. The formation contains
flood basalts, which are found on western Axel Heiberg Island at
Dragon Cliff
Dragon Cliff is a basaltic monolith located on western Axel Heiberg Island, Nunavut, Canada. It is the most striking feature of Expedition Fiord and rises several hundred metres out of the fiord. Dragon Cliff is made of flood basalt lava flows th ...
, tall. It contains columnar jointing units that are usually in diameter.
The
Bravo Lake Formation in central Baffin Island is a rare alkaline suite that formed as a result of submarine
rifting during the
Paleoproterozoic period. The lavas of the
volcanic belt
A volcanic belt is a large volcanically active region. Other terms are used for smaller areas of activity, such as volcanic fields. Volcanic belts are found above zones of unusually high temperature () where magma is created by partial melting ...
display geochemical characteristics similar to modern ocean-island-basalt groups. The range from moderately to intensely fractionated. Rare-earth-element profiles are similar to those from tholeiitic basalts and extremely
alkaline
In chemistry, an alkali (; from ar, القلوي, al-qaly, lit=ashes of the saltwort) is a basic, ionic salt of an alkali metal or an alkaline earth metal. An alkali can also be defined as a base that dissolves in water. A solution of a ...
lavas in
Hawaii
Hawaii ( ; haw, Hawaii or ) is a state in the Western United States, located in the Pacific Ocean about from the U.S. mainland. It is the only U.S. state outside North America, the only state that is an archipelago, and the only stat ...
.
Highest peaks
Mountain ranges
Several ranges of the Arctic Cordillera have official names:
Axel Heiberg Island
*
Geodetic Hills
*
Joy Range
*
Princess Margaret Range
The Princess Margaret Range, also called the Princess Margaret Mountains, are a mountain range on Axel Heiberg Island in Nunavut, Canada
Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atl ...
*
Swiss Range
*
White Triplets Peaks
Baffin Island
*
Baffin Mountains
*
Bruce Mountains
*
Everett Mountains
The Everett Mountains are a mountain range located at Frobisher Bay on southern Baffin Island, Nunavut, Canada. Nunavut's capital city Iqaluit is protected by the Everett Mountains. The mountain range is a subrange of the Arctic Cordillera
...
*
Hartz Mountains
*
Krag Mountains
The Krag Mountains are a mountain range on northern Baffin Island, Nunavut, Canada. It is part of a much larger mountain range called the Baffin Mountains which in turn form part of the Arctic Cordillera
The Arctic Cordillera is a terrestr ...
*
Precipitous Mountains
Bathurst Island
*
Grogan Morgan Range
*
Jeffries Range
*
Scoresby Hills
*
Stokes Range
The Stokes Range is a mountain range on Bathurst Island, Nunavut, Canada. The range is one of the northernmost ranges in the world and of the Arctic Cordillera. Its highest point is at Stokes Mountain.Byam Martin Mountains
The Byam Martin Mountains are a rugged mountain range extending the length of Bylot Island, Nunavut, Canada. It is one of the most northern ranges in the world and is an extension of the Baffin Mountains which in turn form part of the Arctic Cor ...
Devon Island
*
Cunningham Mountains
*
Douro Range
*
Grinnell Range
*
Haddington Range
The Haddington Range is a mountain range on northeastern Devon Island, Nunavut, Canada. It is one of the northernmost mountain ranges in the world forming part of the Arctic Cordillera
The Arctic Cordillera is a terrestrial ecozone in nor ...
*
Treuter Mountains
Ellesmere Island
*
Blackwelder Mountains
*
Blue Mountains
*
Boulder Hills
*
British Empire Range
*
Challenger Mountains
*
Conger Range
*
Garfield Range
The Garfield Range is a mountain range on Ellesmere Island, Nunavut, Canada. The mountains are made of Paleozoic rocks and rise to heights between and and are separated by valleys through which flow the major rivers fed by the ice fields and gl ...
*
Inglefield Mountains
*
Krieger Mountains
*
Osborn Range
*
Prince of Wales Mountains
*
Sawtooth Range
*
Thorndike Peaks
*
United States Range
*
Victoria and Albert Mountains
Île Vanier
*
Adam Range
Labrador and Quebec
*
Torngat Mountains
**
Selamiut Range
The Selamiut Range is a mountain range on the northernmost tip of Labrador, Canada. It is a subrange of the Torngat Mountains which in turn form part of the southern section of the Arctic Cordillera
The Arctic Cordillera is a terrestrial ...
Flora and fauna
Not much can grow in the severe environment, where killing frost can come at any time during the year and even
soil
Soil, also commonly referred to as earth or dirt, is a mixture of organic matter, minerals, gases, liquids, and organisms that together support life. Some scientific definitions distinguish ''dirt'' from ''soil'' by restricting the former ...
is rare. Three-quarters of the land is bare
rock, and even
lichen
A lichen ( , ) is a composite organism that arises from algae or cyanobacteria living among filaments of multiple fungi species in a mutualistic relationship.[black spruce
''Picea mariana'', the black spruce, is a North American species of spruce tree in the pine family. It is widespread across Canada, found in all 10 provinces and all 3 territories. It is the official tree of the province of Newfoundland and Lab ...]
,
Arctic willow,
cottongrass
''Eriophorum'' (cottongrass, cotton-grass or cottonsedge) is a genus of flowering plants in the family Cyperaceae, the sedge family. They are found throughout the arctic, subarctic, and temperate portions of the Northern Hemisphere in acid bog h ...
,
crustose lichens,
kobresia,
moss
Mosses are small, non-vascular flowerless plants in the taxonomic division Bryophyta (, ) '' sensu stricto''. Bryophyta ('' sensu lato'', Schimp. 1879) may also refer to the parent group bryophytes, which comprise liverworts, mosses, and ...
species, wood
rush, wire rush,
purple saxifrage
''Saxifraga oppositifolia'', the purple saxifrage or purple mountain saxifrage, is a species of plant that is very common in the high Arctic and also some high mountainous areas further south, including northern Britain, the Alps and the Rocky ...
,
''Dryas'' species such as
mountain avens,
sedge
The Cyperaceae are a family of graminoid (grass-like), monocotyledonous flowering plants known as sedges. The family is large, with some 5,500 known species described in about 90 genera, the largest being the "true sedges" genus '' Carex'' ...
s, ''
Diapensia lapponica'',
Arctic poppy,
mountain sorrel
''Oxyria digyna'' (mountain sorrel, wood sorrel, Alpine sorrel or Alpine mountain-sorrel) is a species of flowering plant in the buckwheat family (Polygonaceae).Sierra Nevada Wildflowers, Karen Wiese, 2nd ed., 2013, p. 108 It is native to arctic ...
, river beauty,
moss campion,
bilberry
Bilberries (), or sometimes European blueberries, are a primarily Eurasian species of low-growing shrubs in the genus '' Vaccinium'' (family Ericaceae), bearing edible, dark blue berries. The species most often referred to is ''Vaccinium myrti ...
, and
Arctic white heather.
The conditions here are far too severe for
reptile
Reptiles, as most commonly defined are the animals in the class Reptilia ( ), a paraphyletic grouping comprising all sauropsids except birds. Living reptiles comprise turtles, crocodilians, squamates ( lizards and snakes) and rhynchocephalia ...
s and
amphibian
Amphibians are four-limbed and ectothermic vertebrates of the class Amphibia. All living amphibians belong to the group Lissamphibia. They inhabit a wide variety of habitats, with most species living within terrestrial, fossorial, arbo ...
s to survive;
insect
Insects (from Latin ') are pancrustacean hexapod invertebrates of the class Insecta. They are the largest group within the arthropod phylum. Insects have a chitinous exoskeleton, a three-part body ( head, thorax and abdomen), three pa ...
s are also rare in the region.
Muskoxen and barren-ground caribou are the only large herbivores in this environment, while
polar bear
The polar bear (''Ursus maritimus'') is a hypercarnivorous bear whose native range lies largely within the Arctic Circle, encompassing the Arctic Ocean, its surrounding seas and surrounding land masses. It is the largest extant bear spec ...
s and the
Arctic wolf are the only large carnivores to be found in the region. Smaller herbivores include the
Arctic hare and the
collared lemming.
Arctic foxes and
stoats are some of the smaller carnivores found in the region. Marine mammals include
narwhals,
beluga whale
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 ...
s,
walrus along with
ringed and
bearded seal
The bearded seal (''Erignathus barbatus''), also called the square flipper seal, is a medium-sized pinniped that is found in and near to the Arctic Ocean. It gets its generic name from two Greek words (''eri'' and ''gnathos'') that refer to its ...
s.
The furry-legged
rock ptarmigan
The rock ptarmigan (''Lagopus muta'') is a medium-sized game bird in the grouse family. It is known simply as the ptarmigan in the UK. It is the official bird for the Canadian territory of Nunavut, where it is known as the ''aqiggiq'' (ᐊ� ...
is a widespread bird in this region. Typical birds of prey include the
gyrfalcon and
snowy owl. Some of the more widespread shore- and seabirds are the
thick-billed murre
The thick-billed murre or Brünnich's guillemot (''Uria lomvia'') is a bird in the auk family (Alcidae). This bird is named after the Danish zoologist Morten Thrane Brünnich. The very deeply black North Pacific subspecies ''Uria lomvia arra ...
,
black-legged kittiwake
The black-legged kittiwake (''Rissa tridactyla'') is a seabird species in the gull family Laridae.
This species was first described by Carl Linnaeus in his landmark 1758 10th edition of ''Systema Naturae'' as ''Larus tridactylus''. The English ...
,
ruddy turnstone,
red knot,
black guillemot
The black guillemot or tystie (''Cepphus grylle'') is a medium-sized seabird of the Alcidae family, native throughout northern Atlantic coasts and eastern North American coasts. It is resident in much of its range, but large populations from the ...
, widespread
ringed plover
The common ringed plover or ringed plover (''Charadrius hiaticula'') is a small plover that breeds in Arctic Eurasia. The genus name ''Charadrius'' is a Late Latin word for a yellowish bird mentioned in the fourth-century Vulgate. It derives fr ...
,
little ringed plover
The little ringed plover (''Charadrius dubius'') is a small plover. The genus name ''Charadrius'' is a Late Latin word for a yellowish bird mentioned in the fourth-century Vulgate. It derives from Ancient Greek ''kharadrios'' a bird found in ri ...
and
northern fulmar
The northern fulmar (''Fulmarus glacialis''), fulmar, or Arctic fulmar is a highly abundant seabird found primarily in subarctic regions of the North Atlantic and North Pacific oceans. There has been one confirmed sighting in the Southern Hem ...
.
Songbirds found in the Arctic Cordillera include the
hoary redpoll,
common redpoll,
snow bunting, and
Lapland longspur. The
snow goose,
common
Common may refer to:
Places
* Common, a townland in County Tyrone, Northern Ireland
* Boston Common, a central public park in Boston, Massachusetts
* Cambridge Common, common land area in Cambridge, Massachusetts
* Clapham Common, originally ...
and
king eider, and
red-throated loon are some species of
waterfowl
Anseriformes is an order of birds also known as waterfowl that comprises about 180 living species of birds in three families: Anhimidae (three species of screamers), Anseranatidae (the magpie goose), and Anatidae, the largest family, which ...
that live in the region.
Climate
The Arctic Cordillera has one of Canada's most inhospitable climates. Winter is very dark and long, when temperatures average at , although it is somewhat milder and more humid in its southernmost portions. Only about 2,600 people live in the region, found primarily in the communities of
Clyde River,
Qikiqtarjuaq (formerly known as Broughton Island), and
Pond Inlet. These communities are rather small, with the populations being 820, 473 and 1,315 respectively in 2006. Most of the people who live in the region survive by
hunting
Hunting is the human activity, human practice of seeking, pursuing, capturing, or killing wildlife or feral animals. The most common reasons for humans to hunt are to harvest food (i.e. meat) and useful animal products (fur/hide (skin), hide, ...
,
fishing
Fishing is the activity of trying to catch fish. Fish are often caught as wildlife from the natural environment, but may also be caught from fish stocking, stocked bodies of water such as fish pond, ponds, canals, park wetlands and reservoirs. ...
, and
trapping.
Tree stumps were discovered in 1985 on Axel Heiberg Island dating back 40 million years, indicating this northerly part of the cordillera was warmer and wetter than its present-day climate.
ParkWardens: Arctic Cordillera Ecozone Overview
Retrieved on 2007-11-08
See also
* List of mountain ranges
*Geography of Nunavut
The Canadian territory of Nunavut covers about 1.9 million square kilometres (733,594 sq. miles) of land and water including part of the mainland, most of the Arctic islands, and all of the islands in Hudson Bay, James Bay, and Ungava Bay (inc ...
* Geography of Newfoundland and Labrador
*Geography of Canada
Canada has a vast geography that occupies much of the continent of North America, sharing a land border with the contiguous United States to the south and the U.S. state of Alaska to the northwest. Canada stretches from the Atlantic Ocean in th ...
* Ledoyom (Ice body)
References
Further reading
*Chernoff, M. N., H. R. Hovdebo, and J. Stuart-Smith. ''Eastern Canadian Cordillera and Arctic Islands An Aerial Reconnaissance''. Ottawa: 24th International Geological Congress, 1972.
*Geological Survey of Canada. ''Cordillera and Pacific Margin Interior Plains and Arctic Canada''. Geological Survey of Canada Current Research, 1998-A. 1998.
*Hall, John K. ''Arctic Ocean Geophysical Studies The Alpha Cordillera and Mendeleyev Ridge''. Palisades, N.Y.: Lamont-Doherty Geological Observatory, Columbia University, 1970.
*Walker, Edward R. ''A Synoptic Climatology for Parts of the Western Cordillera''. Montreal: McGill University, 1961.
{{Newfoundland and Labrador
Mountain ranges of Newfoundland and Labrador
Mountain ranges of Nunavut
Mountain ranges of Qikiqtaaluk Region
Mountain ranges of Baffin Island
Labrador
Mountains of Nunavut
Ecozones of Canada
Regions of the Arctic