These islands lie near the center of an extensive group of islands north of mainland Canada known collectively as the Arctic Archipelago. Vegetation on the island is restricted to lichens, mosses, and a few hardy species such as sedge and Arctic willow that grow only a few inches in height. Although the environment is extremely harsh, substantial vegetative cover is present on parts of the island. Clearly, some lithologies provide a more favorable environment for plant growth than others. The limestones and dolomites are essentially barren.
Sandstones tend to support lichens, and the siltstones and shales support grasses and shrubs.
Structurally, Bathurst Island lies at the eastern terminus of the Parry Island fold belt, a unique 450-km long structural province consisting of uniformly folded broad synclines and narrow anticlines. The axes of several of these structures exceed 300 km in length. The younger Parry Island fold belt was formed by compressive forces in essentially a north-south direction during the Ellesmerian orogeny. Strata exposed on the island consist of dolomite, limestone, shales, siltstone, and sandstones. On the Landsat image, the rocks shown are almost entirely Devonian with minor exposures of Ordovician beds in the cores of a few of the anticlines around May Inlet.