POLLINIFEROUS TILL OF THE NUNAVIK PENINSU LA, NORTHERN QUEBEC

Polliniferous till of the Nunavik peninsula, northern Quebec. Exceptio nally high pollen concentrations have been noted in till in the vicini ty of the Nouveau-Quebec crater (Richard et al., 1991; Frechette, 1994 ). We have proposed as an explanation the hypothesis that till near th e ice divide is polliniferous. This present hypothesis is tested in pa rts of the Nunavik crossed by the Payne ice divide. Close to the ice d ivide, till shows pollen concentrations in the order of similar to 31 000 grains/g whereas tills at a distance eastward and westward have me an values of 8500 grains/g and 6800 grains/g respectively. Deposits ne ar the ice divide zone of Nunavik may have escaped significant glacial erosion and thus pollen that had accumulated during previous intersta dials and interglacials may have been preserved and recycled in till. Pollen spectra of till throughout Nunavik reflects only approximately the modern biogeography, ranging from herb-tundra in the north to shru b-tundra in the south. Main components analysis has allowed comparison between till samples and neighbouring lacustrine surface sediments; b ased on that comparison the pollen assemblages of the till samples hav e no modern analogs which suggests some shifting in the distribution o f the pre-Wisconsinan bio-climatic zones.