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Devon Island

 
Dictionary: Devon Island
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An island of northern Nunavut, Canada, between Baffin and Ellesmere islands.

 

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Columbia Encyclopedia: Devon Island
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Devon Island, c.20,900 sq mi (54,100 sq km), Nunavut Territory, Canada, between Baffin and Ellesmere islands.

Wikipedia: Devon Island
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Devon Island
DevonIsl.png
Devon Island region
Geography
Devon Island.svg
Location Baffin Bay
Coordinates 75°08′N 087°51′W / 75.133°N 87.85°W / 75.133; -87.85 (Devon Island)Coordinates: 75°08′N 087°51′W / 75.133°N 87.85°W / 75.133; -87.85 (Devon Island)
Archipelago Queen Elizabeth Islands
Canadian Arctic Archipelago
Area 55,247 km2 (21,331 sq mi) (27th)
Highest point Devon Ice Cap (1,920 m (6,299 ft))
Country
Canada
Territory  Nunavut
Region Qikiqtaaluk Region
Demographics
Population Uninhabited
Density 0 /km2 (0 /sq mi)

Devon Island, the largest uninhabited island on Earth, is located in Baffin Bay, Qikiqtaaluk Region, Nunavut, Canada. It is one of the larger members of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago, the second-largest of the Queen Elizabeth Islands, Canada's sixth largest island, and the 27th largest island in the world. It comprises 55,247 km2 (21,331 sq mi) of Precambrian gneiss and Paleozoic siltstones and shales. The highest point is the Devon Ice Cap at 1,920 m (6,300 ft) which is part of the Arctic Cordillera. Devon Island contains several small mountain ranges, such as the Treuter Mountains, Haddington Range and the Cunningham Mountains.

Because of its relatively high elevation and its extreme northern latitude, it supports only a meagre population of musk oxen and small birds and mammals; the island does support hypolith communities. Animal life is concentrated in the Truelove Lowland area of the island, which has a favourable microclimate and supports relatively lush Arctic vegetation. Temperatures during the brief (40 to 55 days) growing season seldom exceed 10 °C (50 °F) , and in winter can plunge to as low as −50 °C (−58.0 °F). With a polar desert ecology, Devon Island receives very little precipitation.

Cape Liddon is an Important Bird Area (IBA) notable for its Black Guillemot and Northern Fulmar populations.[1] Cape Vera, another IBA site, is also noted for its Northern Fulmar population.[2]

Devon Island is also notable for the presence of the Haughton impact crater, created some 39 million years ago when a meteorite about 2 km (1.2 mi) in diameter crashed into what were then forests. The impact left a crater approximately 23 km (14 mi) in diameter, which was a lake for several million years.

Satellite photo montage of Devon Island and its neighbours

Contents

Settlement

An outpost was established at Dundas Harbour in 1924, and it was leased to Hudson's Bay Company nine years later. The collapse of fur prices and the need to cut relief expenses led to the dispersal of 53 Baffin Island Inuit families on the island in 1934. It was considered a disaster due to wind conditions and the much colder climate, and the Inuit chose to leave in 1936. Dundas Harbour was populated again in the late 1940s, but it was closed again in 1951. Only the ruins of a few buildings remain.

Scientific research

In 2007, fossils of the seal ancestor Enaliarctos (Puijila darwin) were found on the island. (1) The Flashline MARS (Mars Arctic Research Station) project entered its third season in 2004. In July 2004, Devon Island became the temporary home for five scientists and two journalists, who were to use the Mars-like environment to simulate living and working on the Red Planet. April 2007 through 21 August 2007 was the longest simulation period and included 20 scientific studies.[3]

The Haughton crater is now considered one of Earth's best Mars analog sites. It is the summer home to a complementary scientific program, NASA's Haughton Mars Project. HMP has conducted geological, hydrological, botanical, and microbiological studies in this harsh environment since 1997.[4] HMP-2008 is the twelfth field season at Devon Island.[5]

Notes

  1. ^ "Cape Liddon". bsc-eoc.org. http://www.bsc-eoc.org/iba/site.jsp?siteID=NU059. Retrieved 2009-04-23. 
  2. ^ "Cape Vera". bsc-eoc.org. http://www.bsc-eoc.org/iba/site.jsp?siteID=NU053. Retrieved 2009-05-04. 
  3. ^ Aggerholm, Barbara (2007-08-22). "Looks like Mars, feels like Mars". The Record. http://news.therecord.com/article/231567. Retrieved 2008-05-06. 
  4. ^ Desportes, C.; Rice, M. & Lee, P. (2007). "Periglacial polygon fields on Devon Island, High Arctic". Lunar and Planetary Science XXXVIII. http://www.lpi.usra.edu/meetings/lpsc2007/pdf/2341.pdf. Retrieved 2008-05-06. 
  5. ^ "Gearing up for the 12th Year of Research at Haughton Crater". Mars Institute. 2008-02-23. http://www.marsonearth.org/. Retrieved 2008-05-06. 

References

(1) Enaliarctos http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20090422/sc_nm/us_fossil_seals;_ylt=AmLXv9ArLbrlHCfcTAmBp597hMgF http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/8012322.stm

Further reading

  • Anderson, David G, and L C Bliss. 1998. "Association of Plant Distribution Patterns and Microenvironments on Patterned Ground in a Polar Desert, Devon Island, N.W.T., Canada". Arctic and Alpine Research. 30, no. 2: 97.
  • Bliss, L. C. Truelove Lowland, Devon Island, Canada A High Arctic Ecosystem. Edmonton: University of Alberta Press, 1977. ISBN 0888640145(Publisher description)
  • Cockell, Charles S, Pascal Lee, Andrew C Schuerger, Loretta Hidalgo, Jeff A Jones, and M Dale Stokes. 2001. "Microbiology and Vegetation of Micro-Oases and Polar Desert, Haughton Impact Crater, Devon Island, Nunavut, Canada". Arctic, Antarctic, and Alpine Research. 33, no. 3: 306.
  • Lamoureux, Scott F, and Robert Gilbert. 2004. "A 750-Yr Record of Autumn Snowfall and Temperature Variability and Winter Storminess Recorded in the Varved Sediments of Bear Lake, Devon Island, Arctic Canada". Quaternary Research. 61, no. 2: 134.
  • Paterson, W. S. B. "An Oxygen-Isotope Climate Record from the Devon Island Ice Cap, Arctic Canada". Nature, Vol.266,No.5602. 1977.
  • Robertson, Peter, and G. D. Mason. Shatter Cones from Haughton Dome, Devon Island, Canada. 1975.
  • Thorsteinsson, R., and Ulrich Mayr. The Sedimentary Rocks of Devon Island, Canadian Arctic Archipelago. Ottawa, Canada: Geological Survey of Canada, 1987. ISBN 0660123193
  • Ugolini, Fiorenzo C, Giuseppe Corti, and Giacomo Certini. 2007. "Pedogenesis in the Sorted Patterned Ground of Devon Plateau, Devon Island, Nunavut, Canada". Geoderma. 136, no. 1: 87.

External links


This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)

 
 

 

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Dictionary. The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2007, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2007. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.  Read more
Columbia Encyclopedia. The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition Copyright © 2003, Columbia University Press. Licensed from Columbia University Press. All rights reserved. www.cc.columbia.edu/cu/cup/.  Read more
Wikipedia. This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Devon Island".  Read more