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The Geochemistry of Streams and Weathering Processes in an Arctic Carbonate Terrain: Cornwallis Island and Grinnell Peninsula Northwest Territories.

Missing page 48 / <p> The low ambient air temperatures, together with the low annual rainfall and complete lack of vegetation in the Canadian High Arctic, results in a breakdown of the carbonate rock material by mechanical means. The importance of chemical decomposition, soil formation and transport of ionic material in solution is negligible, when compared with the role played by these same processes in more temperate climates. </p> <p> The purpose of this thesis is to investigate certain aspects of the alkali, alkaline earth and heavy metal geochemistry of selected components of the weathering cycle. The discussion will deal with concentration levels of these parameters in stream waters and, to a lesser extent, soils and stream sediments. </p> <p> Analytical results show that element distributions in the streams resemble those of more temperate carbonate terrains. However, the solute levels are, in general, lower, indicating that a greater proportion of the metals is travelling in colloidal form and/or adsorbed to slit-sized material carried by the streams. </p> <p> These findings confirm the belief that chemical weathering and transport in solution are of little importance in the area studied. </p> / Thesis / Bachelor of Science (BSc)

Identiferoai:union.ndltd.org:mcmaster.ca/oai:macsphere.mcmaster.ca:11375/18533
Date05 1900
CreatorsDavie, Robert F.
ContributorsKramer, J. R., Geology
Source SetsMcMaster University
LanguageEnglish
Detected LanguageEnglish

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