Vermicular Ridge Features on Dundas Harbour, Devon Island, Nunavut

Conspicuous ridges with a circular, sinuous and anastomosing morphology, termed Vermicular Ridge Features (VRFs), have been observed along the coast of Dundas Harbour, Devon Island, Nunavut, Canada. Periglacial and glacial processes can produce morphologically similar ridge landforms, such as stone circles or ice disintegration features. However, VRFs are both morphologically and morphometrically distinct. We utilize aerial drone imagery, digital elevation models, grain size analysis, and field observations of VRFs to compare morphology, morphometry, environmental conditions and substrate characteristics to documented periglacial and glacial features with a circular to anastomosing ridge pattern. We interpret VRFs to be formed by paraglacial processes produced from the passive ablation of stagnant dead ice and subsequent deposition of supra-and englacial debris as a hummocky ring-ridge moraine. If these features are, in fact, ring-ridge moraines, then this is the first documentation of a ring-ridge moraine in Nunavut, Canada. (c) 2021 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Automated summary

Conspicuous Vermicular Ridge Features (VRFs) with unique morphology have been discovered along the coast of Dundas Harbour, Devon Island, Nunavut, Canada. These features are believed to be ring-ridge moraines formed by paraglacial processes, representing a first documentation of such features in Nunavut, Canada.