Hydrologic and Sedimentary Aspects of the "Schei" Sandur, Ellesmere Island, N.W.T.

Abstract

During the summers of 1973 anrd 1974 processes and related responses operating on a small High Arctic sandur (basin area 91 km²) were studied. Several aspects related to the sandur were investigated, including the hydrologic regime of surface runoff, channel hydraulic conditions, sediment transport, and the morphology of the channels and sandur surface. Summer climatic conditions strongly affected surface runoff due to their influence on snowmelt, qlacial melt, and summer precipitation, There was a noticeable diurnal rhythm in streamflow in response to snowmelt and glacial melt. The influences of ice blockcage effects on streamflow were also observable. A shallow active layer resulted in a rapid response of surface runoff to snowmelt, glacial melt, and rainfall sources. These aspects of the hydrologic regime strongly affected the hydraulic conditions of the streams. The main hydraulic adjustment was produced by changes in velocity which led to rapid changes in flow resistance and resulted in large variations in the rates of sediment transport. Estimates of the stream load in the 1974 summer confirmed that the bulk of the sediment was carried as bedload.

Channel bar forms which reflected hydraulic conditions changed considerably over a summer period. On a long term basis, the form of the channel longitudinal profile indicated an adjustment to downstream hydraulic conditions while the surface morphology and sediment distribution over the sandur revealerl the two-dimensional variations in channel processes.