The glacial and sea-level history of Darling Peninsula, eastern Ellesmere Island

The glacial history of Darling Peninsula is recorded by meltwater channels and lateral moraines deposited by local ice that extended seaward of the pr esent coast during the last glacial maximum. Above these moraines, shelly t ill and erratics of both Greenland and Ellesmere Island provenance record m ore extensive ice of unknown age. At the time of this more extensive ice co ver, Ellesmere Island ice displaced Greenland ice from many parts of this c oastline, as shown by the widespread absence of Greenland erratics and shel ly tills above Holocene marine limit. The chronology of deglaciation is bas ed on C-14 dates obtained on marine shells collected from either ice-contac t deltas or raised beaches close to marine limit (79-88 m asl). Deglaciatio n began at least 7.5 ka BP and the distribution of ice on the peninsula was similar to present conditions by 6.0 ka BP. The reconstruction of the sea level history of Darling Peninsula contributes to the reconstruction of reg ional isobases drawn on 7.5 ka BP shorelines which locally reach 80-90 m as l.