Disko Island ( kl, Qeqertarsuaq, da, Diskoøen) is a large island in Baffin Bay, off the west coast of

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 i ...

. It has an area of ,Norwegian University of Science and Technology
making it the second largest of Greenland after the main island and one of the 100 largest islands in the world.

Etymology

The name means ''The Large Island'' (from = island).

Geography

The island has a length of about , rising to an average height of , peaking at . The port of

Qeqertarsuaq Qeqertarsuaq () is a port and town in Qeqertalik municipality, located on the south coast of Disko Island on the west coast of Greenland. Founded in 1773, the town is now home to a campus of the University of Copenhagen known as Arctic Station. ...

(named after the island, and also known as Godhavn) lies on its southern coast. Blæsedalen valley is north of Qeqertarsuaq. The island is separated from

Nuussuaq Peninsula Nuussuaq Peninsula (, old spelling: ''Nûgssuaq'') is a large (180x48 km) peninsula in western Greenland. Geography The waters around the peninsula are that of Baffin Bay. To the south and southwest the peninsula is bounded by Disko Bay, ...

in the northeast by the Sullorsuaq Strait. To the south of the island lies Disko Bay, an inlet bay of Baffin Bay.''Nuussuaq'', Saga Map, Tage Schjøtt, 1992

History

Erik the Red paid the first recorded visit to Disko Island at some time between 982 and 985; the island was used as a base for summer hunting and fishing by Norse colonists.

Geology

Native terrestrial iron from the Tertiary of Greenland

Mineral deposits, fossil finds and geological formations add to interest in the area. One of the interesting geological features is the

native iron Telluric iron, also called native iron, is iron that originated on Earth, and is found in a metallic form rather than as an ore. Telluric iron is extremely rare, with only one known major deposit in the world, located in Greenland. Introduction Wi ...

found at the island. A 22-ton (44,000 lbs; 20 tonnes) lump mixture of

iron Iron () is a chemical element with Symbol (chemistry), symbol Fe (from la, Wikt:ferrum, ferrum) and atomic number 26. It is a metal that belongs to the first transition series and group 8 element, group 8 of the periodic table. It is, Abundanc ...

and

iron carbide Iron () is a chemical element with symbol Fe (from la, ferrum) and atomic number 26. It is a metal that belongs to the first transition series and group 8 of the periodic table. It is, by mass, the most common element on Earth, right in front ...

(

cohenite Cohenite is a naturally occurring iron carbide mineral with the chemical structure ( Fe, Ni, Co)3 C. This forms a hard, shiny, silver mineral which was named by E. Weinschenk in 1889 after the German mineralogist Emil Cohen, who first described ...

) has been found. There are only a few places on earth where native iron is found which is not of meteoric origin. There are numerous

hot spring A hot spring, hydrothermal spring, or geothermal spring is a spring produced by the emergence of geothermally heated groundwater onto the surface of the Earth. The groundwater is heated either by shallow bodies of magma (molten rock) or by c ...

s on the island. The microscopic animal ''

Limnognathia ''Limnognathia maerski'' is a microscopic freshwater animal, discovered living in warm springs on Disko Island, Greenland, in 1994. Since then, it was also found in Crozet Islands of Antarctica.). With an average length of 100 micrometers ...

'', the only known member of its phylum, was discovered in the Isunngua spring.

Biodiversity

Several studies on the

meiofauna Meiobenthos, also called meiofauna, are small benthic invertebrates that live in both marine and fresh water environments. The term ''meiofauna'' loosely defines a group of organisms by their size, larger than microfauna but smaller than macrof ...

show high marine interstitial diversity in Disko Island. For instance, the

gastrotrich The gastrotrichs (phylum Gastrotricha), commonly referred to as hairybellies or hairybacks, are a group of microscopic (0.06-3.0 mm), worm-like, acoelomate animals, and are widely distributed and abundant in freshwater and marine environmen ...

species ''

Diuronotus aspetos ''Diuronotus aspetos'' is a species of large sized meiofaunal chaetonotid gastrotrich found in the North Atlantic. With '' Diuronotus rupperti'', it is one of the only two species representing the genus '' Diuronotus''. Distribution and ecology ...

'' is found in Iterdla and Kigdlugssaitsut and is so far reported only in Disko Island. It is associated with a rich diversity of other gastrotrichs like ''

Chaetonotus atrox ''Chaetonotus atrox'' is a species of gastrotrichs belonging to the family Chaetonotidae. The species is native to Northern Europe. The species lives in marine environments. References {{Taxonbar, from=Q2462079 atrox Atrox is a Norwegian ...

'', ''

Halichaetonotus ''Halichaetonotus'' is a genus of gastrotrichs belonging to the family Chaetonotidae. The species of this genus are found in Europe and Central America. Species Species: *'' Halichaetonotus aculifer'' *'' Halichaetonotus arenarius'' *'' H ...

'' sp., ''

Mesodasys ''Mesodasys'' is a genus of gastrotrichs belonging to the family Cephalodasyidae Cephalodasyidae is a family of worms belonging to the order Macrodasyida. Genera: * '' Cephalodasys'' Remane, 1926 * '' Dolichodasys'' Gagne, 1977 * ''Mesodasys ...

'' sp., ''

Paradasys ''Paradasys'' is a genus of gastrotrichs belonging to the family Cephalodasyidae Cephalodasyidae is a family of worms belonging to the order Macrodasyida. Genera: * '' Cephalodasys'' Remane, 1926 * '' Dolichodasys'' Gagne, 1977 * ''Mesodasys ...

'' sp., ''

Tetranchyroderma ''Tetranchyroderma'' is a genus of gastrotrichs belonging to the family Thaumastodermatidae. The genus has cosmopolitan distribution In biogeography, cosmopolitan distribution is the term for the range of a taxon that extends across all or ...

'' sp., ''

Thaumastoderma ''Thaumastoderma'' is a genus of gastrotrichs belonging to the family Thaumastodermatidae. The species of this genus are found in Europe. Species Species: *'' Thaumastoderma antarctica'' *'' Thaumastoderma appendiculatum'' *''Thaumastoderm ...

'' sp. and '' Turbanella'' sp.

References

{{Authority control Islands of Baffin Bay Disko Bay Islands of Greenland