Context of relict Wisconsinan glacial ice at Angus Lake, SW Banks Island, western Canadian Arctic and stratigraphic implications

Massive ice incorporating till beds and scattered erratic clasts exposed in a bimodal thaw slide displayed an association with the surrounding fluvioglacial and flow-till facies indicative of a consanguineous relationship. The massive ice cores a low ridge interpreted as a recessional moraine feature paralleling the Last Glacial Maximum advance limit. Both ice and sand wedges penetrate the massive ice and their tops are truncated by a thaw unconformity overlain by a diamicton. In a permafrost environment, relict glacial ice can persist for many millennia, and the timing of the thaw is largely determined by the vagaries of erosional processes. The age of related kettle landforms can display considerable diachronism.