ABSTRACT

Measurements were made of the size and shape of stones from a variety of depositional environments in the recently deglaciated and isostatically uplifted tundra area of west-central Baffin Island. The deposits sampled included beaches, raised and modern, both on limestone and on granite-gneiss, deltas, ice-contact deposits, eskers, kames, moraines, and solifluction deposits, as well as some doubtful features. Size measurements, using the mean and standard deviation of 50 stones, at each site, enabled several different groups of features to be differentiated. The roundness formula of Cailleux was found to be the most diagnostic for the shape measurements. Statistical analyses of the roundness values were interpreted in terms of depositional processes and stones from different known env ronments could be grouped accordingly. The doubtful features could then be fitted into the relevant category as a result of the roundness measurements.