Abstract
Much of the northern interior Yukon Territory was never glaciated during the Quaternary. Frost action, aided by wind, is the dominant geomorphic process. Running water and permafrost are relatively minor factors in landscape modification. Because the landscape has experienced continental, cold and arid conditions for several millions of years, it may closely approximate a truly periglacial landscape. However, the presence of cryopediments and cryoplanation terraces, two landforms where a periglacial origin appears problematic, suggests that the complete footprint of periglacial landscape modification may not have been achieved.
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Acknowledgments
Field work on Eagle Plain between 1977 and 1983 was supported by the Arctic Land Use Research (ALUR) program (Indian and Northern Development, Ottawa), Aquitaine of Canada Ltd, and the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council. Field work in the Barn Mountains between 1985 and 1988 was supported by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council and the Geological Survey of Canada.
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French, H.M. (2017). The Northern Interior Yukon: An Example of Periglaciation. In: Slaymaker, O. (eds) Landscapes and Landforms of Western Canada . World Geomorphological Landscapes. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-44595-3_18
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-44595-3_18
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