Mountains on Melville Island, some of the largest in the westernCanadian Arctic, reach heights of 750 m (2,460 ft).
Melville Island is shared by theNorthwest Territories, which is responsible for the western half of the island, andNunavut, which is responsible for most of the eastern half. The border runs along the110th meridian west. The eastern half of the island contains two subnationalpene-exclaves that lie west of the 110th meridian and form part of the Northwest Territories. These can be reached by land only from Nunavut.
The island has little or no vegetation. Where continuous vegetation occurs, it usually consists ofhummocks ofmosses,lichens,grasses, andsedges. The only woody species, thedwarf willow, grows as a dense twisted mat crawling along the ground.
Ibbett Bay is afjord on the western side of the island, running approximately 55 km long.[2]
Melville Island is one of two major breeding grounds for thebrant goose. DNA analysis and field observations suggest that these birds may be distinct from otherbrant stocks.[4][5] Numbering 4,000–8,000 birds, this could be one of the rarest goose stocks in the world.
The first documented European to visit Melville Island was the British explorer, SirWilliam Parry, in 1819. He was forced to spend the winter at what is now called "Winter Harbour," until 1 August 1820, owing to freeze-up of the sea.[6]
The island is named forRobert Dundas, 2nd Viscount Melville, who wasFirst Sea Lord at the time. In the search forFranklin's lost expedition, its east coast was explored as far as Bradford Point by Abraham Bradford in 1851, while its north and west coasts were surveyed byFrancis Leopold McClintock,Richard Vesey Hamilton, andGeorge Henry Richards in 1853.[7][8][9] Ships from CaptainEdward Belcher's rescue expedition, such asHMS Resolute, would winter atDealey Island, just south of Melville Island. It was also from here that asledging expedition located the trappedHMS Investigator, which had been immobilized inMercy Bay at the north ofBanks Island for two years. In staged sledging expeditions over the next several months, the survivors sledged north to Dealey Island.Investigator and its steam tender,HMS Pioneer, had to spend another winter at Dealey, with the hope that they could break free of the ice in the following Spring. However, they too could not travel east, so Captain Belcher ordered that all of his ships be abandoned. The crew and survivors then sledged hundreds of miles east toBeechey Island where his last remaining ship,HMS North Star was not trapped and could help ferry everyone back to England. All of the men were finally returned home by 1854.
On January 30, 1920,The Pioche Record reported that Icelandic explorerVilhjalmur Stefansson discovered a lost cache from the 1853 McClintock expedition on Melville Island. Clothing and food from the cache was in excellent condition despite the harsh arctic conditions.[10]
In 1930, a largesandstone rock marking Parry's 1819 wintering site at Winter Harbour, approximately 5.5 metres (18 ft) long and 3 metres (9.8 ft) high, was designated anational historic site of Canada.[11]
Melville has surfaced as a candidate fornatural gas deposits. The island was believed to have deposits ofcoal andoil shale since the first half of the 20th century.[12][13] The first Canadian Arctic island exploratory well was spudded in 1961 at Winter Harbour.[14][15][16][17]
It drilled LowerPaleozoic strata to a total depth of 3,823 metres (12,543 ft). In the 1970s, the northern portion of the island on the east side of the Sabine Peninsula proved to contain a major gas field, known as Drake Point. The lease was owned byPanarctic Oils, a joint operation with theCanadian Government.
^"Canadian Arctic Islands"(PDF). Archived fromthe original(PDF) on 21 July 2011. Retrieved21 June 2010.The Kanguk Formation, a basinal bituminous shale, was deposited from the Turonian to the Maastrichtian
^Edwards, D. M. (27 July 1938). "Treasure of the Arctic: vast stores of fuels and precious metals in icebound areas".Christian Science Monitor.
^"Canada's Arctic".Government of Alberta. Retrieved21 June 2010.The first Arctic Island well was drilled in 1961–62 by Dome Petroleum on Melville Island. Other wells followed on Cornwallis and Bathurst Islands. Although wells were abandoned, Melville Island was the site of further significant gas discoveries. Panarctic Petroleum, made up of industry and government initiatives, found gas at Drake Point on Melville Island in 1969.
^"Rediscovering High Arctic riches".Vancouver Sun. 28 October 2008. Archived fromthe original on 8 November 2012. Retrieved21 June 2010.Panarctic had discovered a huge gas field at Drake Point on Melville Island in 1968. It was so big it took 14 wells to delineate.
^"Riches beckon, but the risks are high".Saskatoon Star-Phoenix. 18 August 2008. Archived fromthe original on 13 May 2012. Retrieved21 June 2010.When the federal government issued a call for bids to explore the islands of the High Arctic last year, no one stepped to the plate. Several companies discovered oil and gas fields around Melville Island in the 1970s, but eventually abandoned the projects due to high costs.
Arctic Pilot Project (Canada),Environmental Statement: Melville Island Components, Calgary: Arctic Pilot Project, 1979
Barnett, D.; et al.Terrain Characterization and Evaluation An Example from Eastern Melville Island, Paper (Geological Survey of Canada), 76–23, Ottawa: Energy, Mines and Resources Canada, 1977,ISBN0-660-00812-2
Buchanan, R.; et al.Survey of the Marine Environment of Bridport Inlet, Melville Island, Calgary: Pallister Resource Management Ltd, 1980
Christie, R.; et al. eds.The Geology of Melville Island, Arctic Canada, Ottawa: Geological Survey of Canada, 1994,ISBN0-660-14982-6
Spector, A.; et al.A Gravity Survey of the Melville Island Ice Caps, Canada Dominion Observatory Contributions, 07:7, 1967
Hodgson, D.Quaternary Geology of Western Melville Island, Northwest Territories, Ottawa: Geological Survey of Canada, 1992,ISBN0-660-13809-3
Hotzel, C.Terrain Disturbance on the Christopher Formation, Melville Island, NWT, Ottawa: Carleton University, Dept. of Geography, 1973
McGregor, D.; et al.Middle Devonian Miospores from the Cape De Bray, Weatherall, and Hecla Bay Formations of Northeastern Melville Island, Canadian Arctic, Ottawa: Energy, Mines and Resources Canada, 1982,ISBN0-660-11084-9
Shea, I.; et al.Deadman's Melville Island & Its Burial Ground, Tantallon: Glen Margaret Pub, 2005,ISBN0-920427-68-5
Shearer, D.Modern and Early Holocene Arctic Deltas, Melville Island, N.W.T., Canada, s.l.: s.n., 1974
Steen, O.; et al.Landscape Survey Eastern Melville Island, N.W.T, Calgary: R.M. Hardy & Associates, 1978
Thomas, D.; et al.Range types and their relative use by Peary caribou and muskoxen on Melville Island, NWT, Edmonton: Environment Canada, Canadian Wildlife Service, 1999
Trettin, H.; et al.Lower Triassic Tar Sands of Northwestern Melville Island, Arctic Archipelago, Ottawa: Dept. of Energy, Mines and Resources, 1966
