Volume 20, 1970 - The Arctic Circle - Home

VOL. XX TIIII .\RCTIC CIRCULARL7arc rt'idespread in the valleys and plains of the ar:ea studicdanc{ perrnafrost untierli cs llnrost al I 1arts. \/.i.J. ti;rrnpton snent;r icl wcr-ks east thc I'lackenzie delta in order to assess rvhatwork renained to be done to sLrpplement earlier studies designedto map Quaternary deposits and landforrns.D.l'1. Barnett conti-nued a stud.v of the proglacialgconorphology of Generator Lake, central Baffin Island. Sanpleslvere collected for furthcr radiocarbon dating.tl.l"{. French, using Nodwel l RN 2L vehicles, continuedgeonorphological studies on Banks Island as did J.R. It{ackayalong the lvlackenzie Valley and Arctic Coast.J.A, Ileginbottom began an investigation of erosion ina Dermafrost environment. In this study attempts are beingmade to assess the importance of surficial material, geornorphology,snow cover, vegetation, depth of active layer, ground ice distribution,and other factors. Observations made last summer were limitedto the site of the 1968 Inuvik forest fire. Although the fireitself had no effect on the thickness of the active layer, theremoval of the surface organic layer has caused a f-inchincrease in the thickness of the active 1ayer.ANNOUNCE},IENTSArctic Activities of the National lt'luseum of Natural Sciences,mter,NationalIr{useumofNatura1Sciences,0ttalva.R.K.S. Lee, curator of phycology, collected benthicnarinc algae, largely by dredging, f rom s i tes in iilackenzi e Boy,and at Sachs l"larbour, Banks Island, N.W.T.. in the suruner of1969. In 1970 collecting rvill again be based at the PolarContinental Shelf canp at Tuktoyaktuk and rvil1 range fromI\lackenzie Bay to Coronation Gulf .p.M. Youngman, curator of mammalogy, plans to collectmaterial for cytogenetic and serological studies, as well asskins and skulls, in the Seward Peninsula area south to thebasc of the Alaska Peninsula, Alaska. Species that have airearing on Bering land bridge migration will be emphasized.'f'he manuscript, The Mamrnals of Yukol Te-rritory, is virtuallycomplcte. It treats 64 species, discusses zoogeography, andprovides distribution maps for all native terrestrial species.