The Byam Martin Mountains are a rugged
mountain range
A mountain range or hill range is a series of mountains or hills arranged in a line and connected by high ground. A mountain system or mountain belt is a group of mountain ranges with similarity in form, structure, and alignment that have aris ...
extending the length of
Bylot Island
Bylot Island lies off the northern end of Baffin Island in Nunavut Territory, Canada. Eclipse Sound to the southeast and Navy Board Inlet to the southwest separate it from Baffin Island. Parry Channel lies to its northwest. At it is ranked 7 ...
,
Nunavut
Nunavut is the largest and northernmost Provinces and territories of Canada#Territories, territory of Canada. It was separated officially from the Northwest Territories on April 1, 1999, via the ''Nunavut Act'' and the Nunavut Land Claims Agr ...
, Canada. It is one of the most northern ranges in the world and is an extension of the
Baffin Mountains, which in turn form part of the
Arctic Cordillera
The Arctic Cordillera is a terrestrial ecozone in northern Canada characterized by a vast, deeply dissected chain of mountain ranges extending along the northeastern flank of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago from Ellesmere Island to the northe ...
mountain system. The highest mountain in the range is
Angilaaq Mountain at , located near the island's center. Sharp peaks and
ridge
A ridge is a long, narrow, elevated geomorphologic landform, structural feature, or a combination of both separated from the surrounding terrain by steep sides. The sides of a ridge slope away from a narrow top, the crest or ridgecrest, wi ...
s, divided by deep glacier-filled
valley
A valley is an elongated low area often running between hills or mountains and typically containing a river or stream running from one end to the other. Most valleys are formed by erosion of the land surface by rivers or streams over ...
s, are typical features in the range
[ Retrieved 2007-11-16] and has been extensively modified by glacial
erosion
Erosion is the action of surface processes (such as Surface runoff, water flow or wind) that removes soil, Rock (geology), rock, or dissolved material from one location on the Earth's crust#Crust, Earth's crust and then sediment transport, tran ...
. The Byam Martin Mountains have not been conducive to habitation. While there are no permanent settlements in the Byam Martin Mountains,
Inuit
Inuit (singular: Inuk) are a group of culturally and historically similar Indigenous peoples traditionally inhabiting the Arctic and Subarctic regions of North America and Russia, including Greenland, Labrador, Quebec, Nunavut, the Northwe ...
from
Pond Inlet
Pond Inlet () is a small, predominantly Inuit community in the Qikiqtaaluk Region of Nunavut, Canada, located on northern Baffin Island. To the Inuit the name of the place "is and always has been Mittimatalik." The Scottish explorer John Ross (R ...
and elsewhere regularly travel to the range.
The Byam Martin Mountains are made up of
Archean
The Archean ( , also spelled Archaean or Archæan), in older sources sometimes called the Archaeozoic, is the second of the four geologic eons of Earth's history of Earth, history, preceded by the Hadean Eon and followed by the Proterozoic and t ...
-Aphebian
igneous
Igneous rock ( ), or magmatic rock, is one of the three main rock types, the others being sedimentary and metamorphic. Igneous rocks are formed through the cooling and solidification of magma or lava.
The magma can be derived from partial ...
crystal
A crystal or crystalline solid is a solid material whose constituents (such as atoms, molecules, or ions) are arranged in a highly ordered microscopic structure, forming a crystal lattice that extends in all directions. In addition, macros ...
line rock and
Proterozoic
The Proterozoic ( ) is the third of the four geologic eons of Earth's history, spanning the time interval from 2500 to 538.8 Mya, and is the longest eon of Earth's geologic time scale. It is preceded by the Archean and followed by the Phanerozo ...
metasedimentary and
metamorphic rock
Metamorphic rocks arise from the transformation of existing rock to new types of rock in a process called metamorphism. The original rock ( protolith) is subjected to temperatures greater than and, often, elevated pressure of or more, caus ...
, such as
gneiss
Gneiss (pronounced ) is a common and widely distributed type of metamorphic rock. It is formed by high-temperature and high-pressure metamorphic processes acting on formations composed of igneous or sedimentary rocks. This rock is formed under p ...
.
History
The first known expedition to the Byam Martin Mountains was by Pat Baird in 1939. He traversed Bylot Island from the Aktineq Glacier to Bathurst Bay on the east coast and returned down the Sermilik Glacier. On 7 June 1939 he climbed an unnamed, 6,000-foot mountain at coordinates 73° 06.7' N 78° 30.5' W. Mount Thule, at , was climbed in 1954 by American Ben Ferris, a member of the Harvard Mountaineering Club. In 1963, British explorer Bill Tilman sailed his boat to the north coast and traversed the island from north to south, but did not climb any of the larger peaks. Laurie Dexter, an Anglican minister and Arctic resident, explored and climbed peaks on the southern coast. In 1974, Dr. George Van Brunt Cochran climbed an unnamed peak west of the Narsarsuk Glacier on the south coast. In 1977, a Canadian expedition led by Rob Kelly and four others, traversed the island from northwest to southeast. They climbed 20 peaks, including Pat Baird's unnamed peak on 27 July 1977. In June 1981, another Canadian expedition led by Jack DeBruyn with three other members of the Grant MacEwan Mountain Club from Edmonton, Alberta, traversed the island from northwest to south. They climbed 15 peaks, with 14 first ascents, and also Pat Baird's unnamed peak on 3 July 1981. In 1984, another Canadian expedition led by Mike Schmidt and others traversed the island from north to southeast, climbing 28 peaks, with 16 first ascents.
Gallery
Image:Byam Martin Mountains 11 1997-08-05.jpg, Byam Martin Mountains
Image:Bylot Island 1 1995-06-14.jpg, Byam Martin Mountains viewed from the foggy sea
Image:Kaparoqtalik Glacier 1 1997-08-06.jpg, Kaparoqtalik Glacier in the southern Byam Martin Mountains
Image:Nararsuk Glacier 1995-06-13.jpg, Nararsuk Glacier in the southern Byam Martin Mountains
Image:Sirmilik Glacier 2 1997-08-06.jpg, Girmilik Glacier in the southern Byam Martin Mountains
Image:Unnamed glacier Bylot eastern coast 1995-06-10.jpg, Unnamed glacier in the eastern Byam Martin Mountains
See also
*
Sirmilik National Park
Sirmilik National Park (; Inuktitut: "the place of glaciers") is a National Parks of Canada, national park located in Qikiqtaaluk Region, Qikiqtaaluk, Nunavut, Canada, established in 1999. Situated within the Arctic Cordillera, the park is comp ...
, which includes most of Bylot Island
References
{{Mountains of Nunavut
Mountain ranges of Qikiqtaaluk Region
Arctic Cordillera