NATURAL AREAS AND REGIONS 



99 



Victoria Island, Prince of Wales Island, 

 North Somerset Island, and northwest 

 part of Baffin Land. 



On Banks Land and in the Parry- 

 Islands in the northwest part of the 

 archipelago, the Carboniferous is the 

 chief formation comprising the tcrrane. 

 The Devonian, so far as known, is 

 restricted to the northwest corner of 

 North Devon, and the west part of 

 EUesmere Land. Triassic formations 

 constitute the dominant outcrops in the 

 Sverdrup Islands and, if the so-called 

 Cape Rawson series are included with 

 the Triassic, in a belt across the north 

 part of EUesmere Land. A few scat- 

 tered Tertiary deposits have thus far 

 been noted. 



PHYSIOGRAPHY 



Outline 



The Arctic Ai'chipelago is made up of 

 numerous large and small islands, sepa- 

 rated by sounds and straits of varjdng 

 size. The land surface exceeds con- 

 siderably the water surface of the area. 

 The larger islands, like Baffin Land 

 and Victoria Land, and EUesmere Land, 

 are cut by a number of deep bays and, in 

 general, the coast lines of all are rather 

 irregular. All are continuously bor- 

 dered by heavy ice for ten months of the 

 year, and many of the sounds and straits 

 are always unnavigable, because of 

 heavy ice, or heavy ice and rapid cur- 

 rents. Some are open for the passage 

 of a ship some years, closed others. 

 Navigation is always hazardous and 

 doubtful. 



Relief 



The reHef is highest at the north, in 

 the north part of EUesmere Land and 

 graduaUy decreases southward and 

 southwestward, being generally lowest 

 toward the southwest corner of the area. 

 The United States and Grant INlountains 

 in EUesmere Land rise high and sharp, 

 probably 9000 ft. or even more. EUes- 

 mere Land and Axel Heiberg land arc 

 both high and rugged lands, and the 

 eastern part of Baffin Land is relatively 

 high. Westward the topography be- 



comes graduaUy smoother and more 

 mature. The shores of the eastern 

 islands are generally steep and high, 

 but cut by valleys, and bordered by 

 forelands, both of which arc wider and 

 flatter toward the south. The general 

 contour of the islands becomes more 

 rounded and subdued toward the west; 

 the hills are not so high nor so steep, 

 and the valleys are wider and flatter. 

 Relic ice-caps with projecting gla- 

 ciers, some of which reach the sea and 

 discharge icebergs, occupy considerable 

 portions of the EUesmere Land, North 

 Devon, and Baffin Land plateaus. 

 Practically the entire area of the Archi- 

 pelago was probably heavily covered 

 during the Pleistocene glaciation, 

 though most of the evidence has in 

 places been obliterated. 



Drainage 



Throughout the archipelago the drain- 

 age has been profoundly modified by the 

 morainal deposits of the glacial period. 

 In the western portion the drainage has 

 been fairly well restored, or an adequate 

 new system developed, but in the east- 

 ern portions the drainage is still un- 

 developed. A number of large lakes lie 

 in the interior of Baffin Lantl; Lake 

 Hazen in the north part of EUesmere 

 Land is a considerable body of water; 

 and smaller lakes are found on most of 

 the islands. Many lakes have probably 

 not yet been discovered or mapped. No 

 large rivers are found in any of the 

 islands, though in the melting season 

 many of the streams are swollen by the 

 freshets to turbulent, riverlike torrents. 



CLIMATE 



The climate of the .Nj-ctic Archipelago 

 can be described only in a general way. 

 The few definite data available are so 

 scattered in point of time and locality, 

 that they can be used only as general 

 indices of the character of the climate. 



The entire archipelago is a region of 

 long, cold winter, and very short sum- 

 mer, beginning with mid-June and 

 ending with the first of September. 

 The climate in winter is almost con- 



