Sverdrup Islands

Sverdrup Islands, located in the High Arctic, comprise a large island, Axel Heiberg, and two smaller ones, Ellef Ringnes and Amund Ringnes. Their geological history began as an area of subsidence and sedimentation on a landmass margin. Deformation occurred, followed by a second episode of uplift. In the early Tertiary, after a long period of sedimentation, the basin sediments were folded and faulted and the present land surface was uplifted and mountains formed. Today, glaciers occupy a large proportion of the mountainous area - some reaching the sea. A narrow coastal strip of thin sediments was laid down in the early Pleistocene along the arctic shore. The discovery of these islands by the Second Norwegian Polar Expedition (1898-1902), under the command of Otto Sverdrup, led to a sovereignty dispute, settled in Canada's favour only in 1931.