AbstractRock glaciers in the Phillips Inlet/Wootton Peninsula area of northwest Ellesmere Island are of the talus‐foot or valley‐side type and all lie below 180 m a.s.l. The rock glaciers are located predominantly below extensive bedrock gullies at the base of steep fiord and U‐shaped valley walls. Two types of rock glacier of talus‐foot type exist in the area. (1)Glacier ice‐cored rock glaciersoccur above marine limit and coincide with projected margins of former glaciers which are demarcated by the use of glacimarine and sea level evidence. Because these rock glaciers are discontinuous and have not been carried down flow line, they probably relate to catastrophic slope failures over stagnant ice. (2)Permafrost‐related rock glacierslie either below marine limit, especially in areas of heavy glacierization by floating glaciers, or in areas of former ice‐dammed lakes. The fine‐grained sediments appear to provide a deformable substrate and/or the perfect medium for the development of substantial interstitial ice. The initiation of all rock glaciers in this environment relates to the palaeogeography of the last glaciation; glacier ice‐cored (glacial) rock glaciers occur at former glacier margins and permafrost‐related (periglacial) rock glaciers occur below the marine limit associated with th