THE TACONITE INLET LAKES PROJECT - A SYSTEMS-APPROACH TO PALEOCLIMATIC RECONSTRUCTION

A comprehensive study of meteorological, hydrological, limnological an d sedimentological conditions in the watersheds of density-stratified (meromictic) lakes around Taconite Inlet, northern Ellesmere Island, N .W.T., Canada was carried out from 1990-1992. Lakes C1 and C2 contain seawater 'trapped' by isostatic uplift as the former embayments became isolated from the sea. These lakes, and Lake C3, contain varved sedim ents which provide an annually resolvable paleoclimatic record. By stu dying the major systems influencing sedimentation in one of these lake s (Lake C2) a better understanding of the climatic controls on varve f ormation, and hence on the paleoclimatic signal in the varved sediment record, was obtained. The varves of Lake C2 provide a proxy record of summer temperature for the region.