Within the Queen Elizabeth Islands, Pleistocene-age glacial deposits are sparse (Hodgson, 1989a), and attention has focused on the last glaciation. Currently, the ages and styles of possible earlier glaciations remain unknown (England, 1985), and indeed, considerable controversy surrounds the nature and extent of the last glaciation (Hodgson, 1989b). Blake (1970) advocates widespread ice cover during the Late Pleistocene, termed the Innuitian Ice Sheet. In contrast, England (1976) proposed non-contiguous ice sheets, making up the Franklin Ice Complex, with portions of the region unglaciated. Hodgson (1989c) feels both models remain speculative, due to insufficient evidence in the northern archipelago.
There have been two glacial history investigations in the vicinity of Taconite Inlet. The work of Christie (1957) along the north coast was largely of a reconnaissance nature, however he made several important observations within M'Clintock Fjord (Map of northern Ellesmere Island). More recently, D. Lemmen (1989) conducted a thorough investigation of the Marvin Peninsula, between M'Clintock and Disraeli Fjords.
Along the west side of M'Clintock Fjord, Christie (1957) found "a small, active glacier...about 100 feet from, and higher than, raised beach-deposits 230 feet or more above sea-level (>70 m). Undisturbed bivalve shells lie near the surface in the beach debris, which is wave-reworked glacial till". He interprets this situation to indicate the glacier was close to its maximum advance since a time when relative sea level was >70 m higher than at present (i.e. Late Wisconsinan, see below).
On the Marvin Peninsula, Lemmen (1989) found the extent and style of the last glaciation to be similar to other parts of northern Ellesmere Island, to both the west (Evans, 1988) and east (England, 1978; Bednarski, 1986; Retelle, 1986). Morphological evidence alone was insufficient to delineate the last glaciation limit, however, Lemmen shows that some areas of the peninsula remained ice free and were biologically productive refugia. Lemmen has dates indicating the last ice limit was attained by northern Ellesmere Island glaciers during the Late Wisconsinan. Deglaciation of the Marvin Peninsula was underway by 9560 +/- 70 BP, coincident with that in Clements Markham Inlet (Bednarski, 1986).
Lemmen's (1989) provisional map of early Holocene ice limits and sea levels on Marvin Peninsula is currently the best available proxy for the last glaciation at Taconite Inlet. Clearly, large portions of the peninsula were unglaciated. Marine limit at the time, at approximately the same distance back from the current coast as Lake C2, was 70-90 m. Although any correlation is purely speculative, the highest of many delta levels above Lake C2 was measured at 70 m, on both sides of the stream canyon. Relict glacial features in the Lake C2 watershed are discussed in section 6 (Physiography and Geomorphology).