ABSTRACT. A computer approach was developed and used to analyse the Characteristics of coastlines present in the eastern Arctic. Results of this analysis indicate that: 1) almost 75% of all coastlines include a beach; 2)backshores are mostly steep and made up of bedrock; 3) beaches are made up mostly of coarse sediments; 4) the two most abundant types of coastal zones consist of steep rocky backshores without beach, and steep rocky backshores with colluvium and continuous boulder belches; 5 ) the average slope of backshores and the size of the dominant beach sediment decrease towards the north; 6) fetch has little influence on coastal characteristics; and 7) coastal characteristics are determined primarily by the physiography of the adjacent land and by the nature of backshores.Key words: eastern Arctic, coastlines, geomorphology RBSUMÉ. Un programme d'ordinateur a et6 dkveloppe et utilise pour l'analyse des caractkristiques côtibres de l'Arctique de l'est. I1 en ressort que: 1) prbs de 75% des côtes comprennent des plages; 2) les anitre-plages salt souvent escarpkes et rocheuses; 3) les plages sont souvent composees de sediments grossiers (blocaux et gravier); 4) les deux types dt, côte les plus communs sont: un littoral escarpk et rocheux sans plage; et une ambre-plage escarpee et rocheuse avec colluvions et avec plages B blocaux; 5 ) la pente moyenne des ambre-plages et la taille moyenne des sediments des plages dkcroissent vers le nord; 6) la dimension des aires gknkratrices de vagues ne semble pas influencer les caracteristiques des c8tes; et 7) dans l'Arctique de l'est, la nature des côtes est determinee surtout par la physiographie de la region environnante.
ABSTRACT. A small peninsula located on northern Baffin Island was selected as the site for an experimental oil spill. The experiment required three similar bays, one to serve as control and two to compare the fate and behaviour of oil and an oil-dispersant mix spilled in the nearshore zone. Geomorphic and sedimentologic observations indicate that (1) the shoreline sediments of Cape Hatt are reworked glacial deposits, (2) bays facing Eclipse Sound are the most exposed to wave and ice action and those of Z-Lagoon are the most sheltered, (3) there is a westerly sediment transport direction in the bays of Eclipse Sound, a winnowing of fines from the most exposed bays of Z-Lagoon and several transport directions in Ragged Channel and (4) ice action is the most important process at Cape Hatt. Qualitative assessment of these features was used to recommend that Bay 10 be used for control, Bay 9 for the oil-alone experiment and Bay 11 for the oil-dispersant mix experiment. Geological features, however, reflect the integration of all processes operating at Cape Hatt over long periods of time and do not warrant as high a priority as meteorological and oceanographic criteria in the final selection of bays for the BIOS Project.
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