Nuussuaq Peninsula (, old spelling: ''Nûgssuaq'') is a large (180x48 km)
peninsula
A peninsula (; ) is a landform that extends from a mainland and is surrounded by water on most, but not all of its borders. A peninsula is also sometimes defined as a piece of land bordered by water on three of its sides. Peninsulas exist on a ...
in western
Greenland
Greenland ( kl, Kalaallit Nunaat, ; da, Grønland, ) is an island country in North America that is part of the Kingdom of Denmark. It is located between the Arctic and Atlantic oceans, east of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. Greenland ...
.
Geography
The waters around the peninsula are that of
Baffin Bay
Baffin Bay (Inuktitut: ''Saknirutiak Imanga''; kl, Avannaata Imaa; french: Baie de Baffin), located between Baffin Island and the west coast of Greenland, is defined by the International Hydrographic Organization as a marginal sea of the Arc ...
. To the south and southwest the peninsula is bounded by
Disko Bay
Disko Bay ( kl, Qeqertarsuup tunua; da, DiskobugtenChristensen, N.O. & al.Elections in Greenland. ''Arctic Circular'', Vol. 4 (1951), pp. 83–85. Op. cit. "Northern News". ''Arctic'', Vol. 5, No. 1 (Mar 1952), pp. 58–59.) is a large ...
, an inlet of Baffin Bay. It is separated from
Qeqertarsuaq Island by
Sullorsuaq Strait
Sullorsuaq Strait (old spelling: ''Suvdlorssuaq'', da, Vaigat) is a strait on the western coast of Greenland.
Geography
The strait separates Nuussuaq Peninsula in the northeast from Qeqertarsuaq Island in the southwest. The strait waterway ...
which connects Disko Bay with Baffin Bay. To the northeast, it is bounded by the
Uummannaq Fjord
Uummannaq Fjord is a large fjord system in the northern part of western Greenland, the largest after Kangertittivaq fjord in eastern Greenland. It has a roughly south-east to west-north-west orientation, emptying into the Baffin Bay in the nor ...
system.
The peninsula is mountainous, with the
highest summit reaching 2,144 m.
[Nuussuaq, Saga Map, Tage Schjøtt, 1992] The spinal range splits in two to the northwest of the base of the peninsula, with the southern arm forming the coastal range, the central arm almost entirely glaciated, and continuing northwest the entire length of the peninsula. The two arms are dissected by a deep
Kuussuaq Valley, partially filled in the center with
Sarqap Tassersuaq, a glacial, emerald lake.
History
Archaeological excavations in
Qilakitsoq
Qilakitsoq is an abandoned settlement and an important archaeological site in Greenland. It became known as the discovery location of eight mummified corpses from the Thule period. The Inuit mummies of Qilakitsoq offer important insights in ...
on the southwestern shore revealed the existence of an ancient Arctic culture later named the
Saqqaq culture
The Saqqaq culture (named after the Saqqaq settlement, the site of many archaeological finds) was a Paleo-Eskimo culture in southern Greenland. Up to this day, no other people seem to have lived in Greenland continually for as long as the Saqqaq ...
that inhabited the area of west-central Greenland between 2500 BCE and 800 BCE.
The world's largest fossil mollusk, ''
Inoceramus steenstrup'', was found in 1952 in Qilakitsoq Valley on the Nuussuaq peninsula.
Settlements
The peninsula is administered as part of the
Avannaata
Avannaata (, da, Det Nordlige, lit=The Northern) is a municipality of Greenland created on 1 January 2018 from the bulk of the former Qaasuitsup municipality. It encompasses an area of 522,700 km2 and has 10,726 inhabitants.
Geography
In ...
municipality. The main settlements are
Qaarsut and
Niaqornat on the northwestern shore,
Saqqaq on the southeastern shore, at the foot of the Livets Top mountain (1,150 m),
and
Qeqertaq on a small island just off the southern shore, at the base of the peninsula.
Photographs
File:Nuussuaq-peninsula-qilertiinguit-kangilequtaa.jpg, Qilertiinguit Kangilequtaa (2070m)
References
External links
Volcanic development in the Nuussuaq Basin, West Greenland
{{Authority control
Disko Bay
Peninsulas of Greenland
Uummannaq Fjord