Glacial geomorphology and till geochemistry of southern Melville Peninsula, Nunavut

This report presents results from field work on southern Melville Peninsula during 2010, part of Geo-Mapping for Energy & Minerals (GEM) Multiple-metals - Melville Peninsula Geoscience Project. Along the coast of the peninsula, ice flow was warm-based and seaward during late-glacial and deglacial time. Across the Rae Isthmus, ice flow was northward and reversed to the south along the southern coast during deglacial time. Ice-flow history and glacial geomorphology show that on the central part of Southern Melville, some cold-based regions persisted during the last glaciation, and elsewhere the glacial regime was permanently or intermittently warm-based during that period. Complementing extensive pre-existing research, a focused drift sampling survey was conducted to assist mineral exploration in regions underlain by prospective bedrock but mantled by glacial deposits of varying thickness. The silt-sized till matrix geochemistry, the heavy mineral concentrates from till mineralogy and mineralized erratic boulders were analyzed for base metals, gold, uranium, gemstone and diamond potential.