ABSTRACT
The Canadian high arctic comprises the Queen Elizabeth Islands, located north of Parry Channel (Fig. 3.1), a geologically and physiographically complex archipelago with widespread glaciers and ice caps above 1000 m above sea level (Miller et al., 1975). The greatest relief occurs in the fretted mountains of northern and eastern Ellesmere Island, eastern Devon Island and central Axel Heiberg Island, where glaciers are at their most extensive (Koerner, 1977; Hodgson, 1989). This terrain grades into ridge and valley and dissected plateau landscapes on the remainder of Ellesmere, Axel Heiberg and Devon islands. Elsewhere, the smaller islands of the central and western parts of the archipelago are characterized by lowland and plain topography, and glacier ice cover is minimal, being restricted to small, scattered masses like the Meighen ice cap (Koerner, 1989).
