Weathering Processes and Products under Arid Arctic Conditions

An assemblage of highly weathered bedrock forms is reported from an upland ridge at 500 m a.s.l. near Cory Glacier on the southeastern coast of Ellesmere Island. Examples of grus accumulations, tafoni, weathering pits and tors are described. The role of salt crystallization on the micro-fracturing process responsible for their formation is postulated on the basis of field observations and water chemistry data. This upland ridge has apparently undergone minimal stripping through the Wisconsin and may have been protected beneath cold based ice over much of that time.