TheEastern Cree name for Hudson and James Bay isWînipekw (southern dialect) orWînipâkw (northern dialect), meaning muddy or brackish water.Lake Winnipeg is similarly named by the localCree, as is the location for the city ofWinnipeg.
Hudson Bay is often considered part of the Arctic Ocean:[8] theInternational Hydrographic Organization, in its 2002 working draft[9] ofLimits of Oceans and Seas, defined Hudson Bay, with its outlet extending from 62.5 to 66.5 degrees north (just a few miles south of theArctic Circle) as being part of the Arctic Ocean, specifically "Arctic Ocean Subdivision 9.11". Other authorities include it in the Atlantic,[10] in part because of its greater water budget connection with that ocean.[11][12][13][14][15]
Canada, routes of explorers (1497 to 1905)A European ship coming into contact withInuit in the ice of Hudson Bay (1697)
The search for a western route toCathay and theEast Indies, which had been actively pursued since the days ofChristopher Columbus andJohn Cabot, in the latter part of the 15th century, directly resulted in the first sighting of Hudson Bay by Europeans.[16] English explorers and colonists named Hudson Bay after SirHenry Hudson who explored the bay beginning 2 August 1610, on his shipDiscovery.[17]: 170 On his fourth voyage to North America, Hudson worked his way aroundGreenland's west coast and into the bay, mapping much of its eastern coast.Discovery became trapped in the ice over the winter, and the crew survived onshore at the southern tip ofJames Bay. In the spring, as the ice receded, Henry Hudson expressed a desire to continue exploring the uncharted region. However, on 22 June 1611, the crew mutinied. They left Hudson and others adrift in a small boat. The fate of Hudson and the other men stranded with him remains undetermined. Nevertheless, there is little evidence in historical documents to suggest that they persisted for a long time thereafter.[17]: 185 In May 1612, SirThomas Button sailed from England with two ships to look for Henry Hudson, and to continue the search for theNorthwest Passage to Asia.[16]
The Treaty of Utrecht, signed on 11 April 1713, marked a significant agreement between Britain and France.[22] The treaty was negotiated in Utrecht, Netherlands, and marked a crucial stage in the conclusion of theWar of the Spanish Succession.[22] Its provisions had a significant impact in shaping the postwar landscape and establishing a new order in both Europe and North America.[22] French concessions in North America as outlined in the Treaty of Utrecht included: Hudson Bay region,Nova Scotia, andNewfoundland.[2]
During this period, the HBC built severalfactories (forts andtrading posts) along the coast at the mouth of the major rivers (such asFort Severn;York Factory,Churchill; and thePrince of Wales Fort). The strategic locations were bases for inland exploration. More importantly, they were trading posts withIndigenous peoples who came to them with furs from their trapping season. The HBC shipped the furs to Europe and continued to use some of these posts well into the 20th century.[citation needed]
The HBC's trade monopoly was abolished in 1870, by a BritishOrder in Council called theDeed of Surrender, ceded Rupert's Land to Canada, an area of approximately 3,900,000 km2 (1,500,000 sq mi), as part of theNorthwest Territories.[19]: 427 In 1912, the western shore south of 60° and, following theQuebec Boundaries Extension Act, 1912, all the eastern shore were transferred to the adjacent provinces, but the bay and offshore islands remained part of the Northwest Territories.[why?] Starting in 1913, the bay was extensively charted by the Canadian government'sCSS Acadia to develop it for navigation.[23] This mapping progress led to the establishment of Churchill, Manitoba, as a deep-sea port for wheat exports in 1929, after unsuccessful attempts atPort Nelson.[citation needed]
On 9 July 2019, ships resupplying Arctic communities began stopping at the port for additional cargo,[26] and the port beganshipping grain again on 7 September 2019.[27]
Polar bear walks on newly formed ice in early November at Hudson Bay.
Northern Hudson Bay has apolar climate (Köppen:ET) being one of the few places in the world where this type of climate is found south of 60 °N, going farther south towardsQuebec, whereInukjuak is still dominated by thetundra. FromArviat,Nunavut, to the west to the south and southeast prevails thesubarctic climate (Köppen:Dfc). This is because in the central summer months, heat waves can advance from the hot land and make the weather milder, with the result that the average temperature surpasses 10 °C (50 °F). The bay receives water from various surrounding rivers and currents originating from the Foxe Basin in the north, resulting in a counterclockwise overall flow.[2] At the extreme southern tip of the extension known as James Bay arises ahumid continental climate with a longer and generally hotter summer. (Köppen:Dfb).[29] The average annual temperature in almost the entire bay is around 0 °C (32 °F) or below. In the extreme northeast, winter temperatures average as low as −29 °C (−20 °F).[30]
The Hudson Bay region has very low year-round average temperatures. The average annual temperature forChurchill at59°N is −6 °C (21 °F) and Inukjuak, facing cool westerlies in summer at58°N, an even colder −7 °C (19 °F). By comparison,Magadan, in a comparable position at 59°N on the Eurasian landmass in theRussian Far East and with a similarsubarctic climate, has an annual average of −2.7 °C (27.1 °F).[31] Vis-à-vis geographically closer Europe, contrasts stand much more extreme.Arkhangelsk at64°N in northwestern Russia has an average of 2 °C (36 °F),[32] while the mild continental coastline ofStockholm at 59°N on the shore of an analogous large hyposaline marine inlet – theBaltic Sea – has an annual average of 8 °C (46 °F).[33]
Water temperature peaks at 8–9 °C (46–48 °F) on the western side of the bay in late summer. It is largely frozen over from mid-December to mid-June, when it usually clears from its eastern end westwards and southwards. A steady increase in regional temperatures over the last 100 years has led to decreases in the extent of the sea ice in Hudson Bay by 19.5% per decade.[34] As well as a lengthening of the ice-free period, which was as short as four months in the late 17th century.[35]
The polar climate of Hudson Bay means it is home for a variety of polar climate animals, in the Western Hudson Bay (WHB)beluga whale population is the most significant known group in theCanadian Arctic, estimated to consist of approximately 54,473 individuals.[36]
In late spring (May), large chunks of ice float near the eastern shore of the bay, while the centre of the bay remains frozen to the west. Between 1971 and 2007, the length of the ice-free season increased by about seven days in the southwestern part of the Hudson Bay, historically the last area to thaw.
Hudson Bay has a lower averagesalinity level than that of ocean water. The main causes are the low rate of evaporation (the bay is ice-covered for much of the year), the large volume ofterrestrial runoff entering the bay (about 700 km3 (170 cu mi) annually, the Hudson Bay watershed covering much of Canada, many rivers and streams discharging into the bay), and the limited connection with the Atlantic Ocean and its higher salinity.[52]Sea ice is about three times the annual river flow into the bay, and its annual freezing and thawing significantly alters the salinity of the surface layer. Although its exact effects are not fully understood currently, thecyclonic storms in the bay are responsible for synoptic variability of salinity along the coast.[53]
One consequence of the lower salinity of the bay is that thefreezing point of the water is higher than in the rest of the world's oceans, thus decreasing the time that the bay remains ice-free. The increase of river inflows during the winter has decreased the season of sea ice by more than one month since the 1960s.[54]
The lower salinity of the bay also has effects on the distribution and prevalence of common marine life such as micro algae. Research has shown that the lower salinity of the Hudson Bay limits the growth of micro algae, which causes a notable change in biomass along the bay's salinity gradient.[55]
The western shores of the bay are alowland known as theHudson Bay Lowlands, covering 370,000 km2 (140,000 sq mi), and are Canada's largest continuouspeatland.[56] Much of the landform has been shaped by the actions ofglaciers and the shrinkage of the bay over long periods of time. The coastal area, located in a region characterized by permanently frozen layers of soil, known aspermafrost, is a low-lying wetland that receives water from lakes and fast-flowing rivers.[2] Signs of numerous former beach fronts can be seen far inland from the current shore. A large portion of the lowlands in the province of Ontario is part of thePolar Bear Provincial Park, and a similar portion of the lowlands in Manitoba is contained inWapusk National Park, the latter location being a significantmaternity denning area forpolar bears.[57]
In contrast, most of the eastern shores (the Quebec portion) form the western edge of theCanadian Shield in Quebec. The area is rocky and hilly. Its vegetation is typicallyboreal forest.The northern shores aretundra.
Measured by shoreline, Hudson Bay is the largest bay in the world (the largest in area being the Bay of Bengal).[58]
The distinctive arcuate segment on the eastern shore of Hudson Bay is referred to as theNastapoka arc.
There are many islands in Hudson Bay, mostly near the eastern coast. All the islands, including those in James Bay, are part of Nunavut and lie in theArctic Archipelago. Several are disputed by the Cree.[59] One group of islands is theBelcher Islands. The Belcher Islands are located in the centre of the Nastapoka arc.[60] Another group includes theOttawa Islands which are located near the eastern shore of the Hudson Bay.[61]
From the large quantity of published geologic data that has been collected as the result of hydrocarbon exploration, academic research, and relatedgeological mapping, a detailed history of the Hudson Bay basin has been reconstructed.[63] During the majority of theCambrian Period, this basin did not exist. Rather, this part of the Canadian Shield area was still topographically high and emergent. It was only during the later part of the Cambrian that the rising sea level of theSaukmarine transgression slowly submerged it. During the Ordovician, this part of the Canadian Shield continued to be submerged byrising sea levels except for a brief middle Ordovicianmarine regression. Only starting in the Late Ordovician and continuing into the Silurian did the gradual regionalsubsidence of this part of the Canadian Shield form the Hudson Bay basin. The formation of this basin resulted in the accumulation of blackbituminousoil shale and evaporite deposits within its centre, thick basin-margin limestone anddolomite, and the development of extensivereefs that ringed the basin margins that weretectonically uplifted as the basin subsided. During Middle Silurian times, subsidence ceased and this basin was uplifted. It generated an emergent arch, on which reefs grew, that divided the basin into eastern and western sub-basins. During theDevonian Period, this basin filled with terrestrialred beds that interfinger with marine limestone and dolomites. Before deposition was terminated by marine regression, Upper Devonian black bituminous shale accumulated in the south-east of the basin.[62][63][64][65]
The remaining history of the Hudson Bay basin is largely unknown as a majorunconformity separates Upper Devonian strata fromglacial deposits of thePleistocene. Except for poorly known terrestrial Cretaceous fluvial sands and gravels that are preserved as the fills of a ring of subsided strata around the centre of this basin, strata representing this period of time are absent from the Hudson Bay basin and the surrounding Canadian Shield.[62][65]
The Precambrian Shield underlying Hudson Bay and in which Hudson Bay basin formed is composed of twoArchean proto-continents, theWestern Churchill andSuperior cratons. Thesecratons are separated by a tectonic collage that forms asuture zone between these cratons and theTrans-Hudson Orogen. The Western Churchill and Superior cratons collided at about 1.9–1.8 Ga in the Trans-Hudson orogeny. Because of the irregular shapes of the colliding cratons, this collision trapped between them large fragments of juvenile crust, a sizablemicrocontinent, andisland arcterranes, beneath what is now the centre of modern Hudson Bay as part of the Trans-Hudson Orogen. TheBelcher Islands are the eroded surface of the Belcher Fold Belt, which formed as a result of the tectoniccompression and folding of sediments that accumulated along the margin of the Superior Craton before its collision with the Western Churchill Craton.[66][67]
Map of post-glacial rebound. Hudson Bay is in the region of the most rapid uplift.
Hudson Bay and the associated structural basin lie within the centre of a largefree-air gravity anomaly that lies within the Canadian Shield. The similarity in areal extent of the free-air gravity anomaly with the perimeter of the formerLaurentide ice sheet that covered this part ofLaurentia led to a long-held conclusion that this perturbation in the Earth's gravity reflected still ongoingglacial isostatic adjustment to the melting and disappearance of this ice sheet. Data collected over Canada by theGravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) satellite mission allowedgeophysicists to isolate the gravity signal associated with glacial isostatic adjustment from longer–time scale process ofmantle convection occurring beneath the Canadian Shield. Based upon this data, geophysicists and otherEarth scientists concluded that the Laurentide Ice Sheet was composed of two large domes to the west and east of Hudson Bay. Modelling glacial isostatic adjustment using the GRACE data, they concluded that ≈25 to ≈45% of the observed free-air gravity anomaly was due to ongoing glacial isostatic adjustment, and the remainder likely represents longer time-scale effects of mantle convection.[68]
Earth scientists have disagreed about what created the semicircular feature known as theNastapoka arc that forms a section of the shoreline of southeastern Hudson Bay. The Nastapoka arc forms a 155 degree curve and appears to be very circular.[60] Noting the paucity of impact structures on Earth in relation to the Moon and Mars,Carlyle S. Beals[69] proposed that it is possibly part of aPrecambrian extraterrestrial impact structure that is comparable in size to theMare Crisium on the Moon. In the same volume,John Tuzo Wilson[70] commented on Beals' interpretation and alternately proposed that the Nastapoka arc may have formed as part of an extensive Precambrian continental collisionalorogen, linked to the closure of an ancientocean basin. The current general consensus is that it is an arcuate boundary of tectonic origin between the Belcher Fold Belt and undeformed basement of the Superior Craton created during the Trans-Hudson orogeny. This is because no credible evidence for such animpact structure has been found by regional magnetic,Bouguer gravity, or other geologic studies.[66][67] However, other Earth scientists have proposed that the evidence of an Archean impact might have been masked by deformation accompanying the later formation of the Trans-Hudson orogen and regard an impact origin as a plausible possibility.[71][72]
The longer periods of ice-free navigation and the reduction of Arctic Ocean ice coverage have led to Russian and Canadian interest in the potential for commercial trade routes across the Arctic and into Hudson Bay. The so-calledArctic Bridge would link Churchill, Manitoba, and the Russian port ofMurmansk.[73] The increase in ships traversing the proposed Arctic Bridge could result in an increase in accidents. Any pollutants released into the environment would be harder to remove as the cleanup would be complicated by ice sheets.[74]
The biggest port in the Hudson bay is the city of Churchill, which lies on the river with the same name, Churchill River. The Port of Churchill is a privately ownedport on Hudson Bay inChurchill, Manitoba, Canada. Routes from the port connect to theNorth Atlantic through theHudson Strait. As of 2008, the port had four deep-sea berths capable of handlingPanamax-size vessels for the loading and unloading of grain, bulk commodities, general cargo, and tanker vessels. The port is connected to theHudson Bay Railway, which shares the same parent company, and cargo connections are made with theCanadian National Railway system at HBR's southern terminus inThe Pas. It is the only port of its size and scope in Canada that does not connect directly to the country's road system; all goods shipped overland to and from the port must travel by rail.
The port was built and owned by theGovernment of Canada, but was sold in 1997 to the American companyOmniTRAX to run privately. In December 2015, OmniTRAX announced it was negotiating a sale of the port, and the associated Hudson Bay Railway, to a group ofFirst Nations based in northern Manitoba.[75][24] With no sale finalized by July 2016, OmniTRAX shut down the port and the major railroad freight operations in August 2016.[76] The railway continued to carry cargo to supply the town of Churchill itself until the line was damaged by flooding on 23 May 2017. The Port and the Hudson Bay Railway were sold toArctic Gateway Group—a consortium of First Nations, local governments, and corporate investors—in 2018.[25] On 9 July 2019, ships resupplying Arctic communities began stopping at the port for additional cargo,[26] and the port began shipping grain again on 7 September 2019.[77]
The coast of Hudson Bay is extremely sparsely populated; there are only about a dozen communities. Some of these were founded as trading posts in the 17th and 18th centuries by the Hudson's Bay Company, making them some of the oldest settlements inWestern Canada. With the closure of the HBC posts and stores, although many are now run byThe North West Company,[78] in the second half of the 20th century, many coastal villages are now almost exclusively populated byCree andInuit. Two main historic sites along the coast wereYork Factory andPrince of Wales Fort.
Communities along the Hudson Bay coast or on islands in the bay are (all populations are as of 2016):
TheHudson's Bay Company built forts as fur trade strongholds against the French or other possible invaders. One example isYork Factory with angled walls to help defend the fort. In the 1950s, during theCold War, a few sites along the coast became part of theMid-Canada Line, watching for a potential Soviet bomber attack over the North Pole. The only Arctic deep-water port in Canada is thePort of Churchill, located at Churchill, Manitoba.
^"Canada Drainage Basins".The National Atlas of Canada, 5th edition. Natural Resources Canada. 1985. Archived fromthe original on 4 March 2011. Retrieved24 November 2010.
^"Coral Harbour Nunavut".Canadian Climate Normals 1991–2020. Environment and Climate Change Canada.Archived from the original on 10 July 2024. Retrieved10 July 2024.
^"Inukjuak Upper Air".Canadian Climate Normals 1971–2000. Environment and Climate Change Canada.Archived from the original on 10 July 2024. Retrieved20 July 2023.
^abcBurgess, P.M., 2008,Phanerozoic evolution of the sedimentary cover of the North American craton., in Miall, A.D., ed.,Sedimentary Basins of the United States and Canada, Elsevier Science, Amsterdam, pp. 31–63.
^abcLavoie, D., Pinet, N., Dietrich, J. and Chen, Z., 2015.The Paleozoic Hudson Bay Basin in northern Canada: New insights into hydrocarbon potential of a frontier intracratonic basin.American Association of Petroleum Geologists Bulletin, 99(5), pp. 859–888.
^abRoksandic, M.M., 1987,The tectonics and evolution of the Hudson Bay region, in C. Beaumont and A. J. Tankard, eds.,Sedimentary basins and basin-forming mechanisms. Canadian Society of Petroleum Geologists Memoir 12, p. 507–518.
^abcSanford, B.V. and Grant, A.C., 1998.Paleozoic and Mesozoic geology of the Hudson and southeast Arctic platforms.Geological Survey of Canada Open File 3595, scale 1:2 500 000.
^abDarbyshire, F.A., and Eaton, D.W., 2010.The lithospheric root beneath Hudson Bay, Canada from Rayleigh wave dispersion: No clear seismological distinction between Archean and Proterozoic mantle,Lithos. 120(1–2), 144–159, doi:10.1016/j.lithos.2010.04.010.
^abEaton, D.W., and Darbyshire, F., 2010.Lithospheric architecture and tectonic evolution of the Hudson Bay region,Tectonophysics. 480(1–4), 1–22, doi:10.1016/j.tecto.2009.09.006.
^Tamisiea, M.E., Mitrovica, J.X. and Davis, J.L., 2007.GRACE gravity data constrain ancient ice geometries and continental dynamics over Laurentia.Science, 316(5826), pp. 881–883.
^Beals, C.S., 1968.On the possibility of a catastrophic origin for the great arc of eastern Hudson Bay. In: Beals, C.S. (Ed.), pp. 985–999.Science, History and Hudson Bay, Vol. 2, Department of Energy Mines and Resources, Ottawa.
^Wilson, J.T., 1968.Comparison of the Hudson Bay arc with some other features. In: Beals, C.S. (Ed.), pp. 1015–1033.Science, History and Hudson Bay, Vol. 2. Department of Energy Mines and Resources, Ottawa.
^Goodings, C.R. & Brookfield, M.E., 1992.Proterozoic transcurrent movements along the Kapuskasing lineament (Superior Province, Canada) and their relationship to surrounding structures.Earth-Science Reviews, 32: 147–185.
^Bleeker, W., and Pilkington, M., 2004.The 450-km-diameter Nastapoka Arc: Earth's oldest and largest preserved impact scar?Program with Abstracts – Geological Association of Canada; Mineralogical Association of Canada: Joint Annual Meeting, 2004, Vol. 29, pp. 344.
Some references of geological/impact structure interest include:
Rondot, Jehan (1994). "Recognition of eroded astroblemes".Earth-Science Reviews 35, 4, pp. 331–365.
Wilson, J. Tuzo (1968). "Comparison of the Hudson Bay arc with some other features". In:Science, History and Hudson Bay, v. 2. Beals, C. S. (editor), pp. 1015–1033.
_(14577039230).jpg)
.svg)
