Nunavik Peninsula ( kl, Sigguup Nunaa, da, Svartenhuk Halvø) is a large

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 all ...

in northwestern

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 is t ...

. It separates two cultural and geographical regions of northwestern Greenland:

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 nort ...

region in the southeast, and

Upernavik Archipelago Upernavik Archipelago is a vast coastal archipelago in the Avannaata municipality in northwestern Greenland, off the shores of northeastern Baffin Bay. The archipelago extends from the northwestern coast of Sigguup Nunaa peninsula in the south at ...

in the north.

Geography

The peninsula extends to the south-west from mainland Greenland at () north of the

system. The waters around the peninsula are

Karrat Fjord Karrat Fjord ( da, Karrats Fjord) is a fjord in Avannaata municipality in western Greenland. Geography Karrat Fjord has its mouth in the Nordost Bay of the Baffin Bay. The head of the fjord is formed by a number of tributaries, including the ...

in the east,

Nordost Bay Nordost Corporation is an American high-end audio company founded in 1991 by Joe Reynolds and based in Holliston, Massachusetts. Nordost manufactures and sells audio and video cables, interconnects and unique accessories to the audiophile mark ...

in the south and

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 Arct ...

in the west. The Ukkusissat Fjord carves deeply into the northeast of the peninsula, running south to north-east-north around the eastern part of the peninsula covered with the Sermikavasak glacier.

Inner fjords

Several fjords cut deep into the peninsula. Running from the western shore inland to then turn north, Sullua (4x50km) is the main waterway, cutting the peninsula into two parts, northwestern being the smaller. Parallel Umiiviup Kangerlua (4x8km) and Kangiusap Imaa (3x7km) fjord bays cut into the southeastern shore.

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. It is largely uninhabited − permanent settlements are located in the

off the north-west-northern coast of the peninsula, including

Upernavik Kujalleq Upernavik Kujalleq (old spelling: ''Upernavik Kujatdleq''), formerly Søndre Upernavik, is an island settlement in Avannaata municipalities of Greenland, municipality in northwestern Greenland. Founded in 1855 as a trading station on Qeqertaq Isla ...

Kangersuatsiaq Kangersuatsiaq (old spelling: ''Kangerssuatsiaq''), formerly Prøven, is an island settlement in the Avannaata municipality in northwestern Greenland. It had 130 inhabitants in 2020. Upernavik Archipelago Kangersuatsiaq is located within Upe ...

Upernavik Upernavik (Kalaallisut: "Springtime Place") is a small town in the Avannaata municipality in northwestern Greenland, located on a small island of the same name. With 1,092 inhabitants as of 2020, it is the twelfth-largest town in Greenland. It c ...

town, and Aappilattoq. There are several settlements on the islands off the southwestern coast, including

Nuugaatsiaq Nuugaatsiaq (old spelling: ''Nûgâtsiaq'') is a settlement in the Avannaata municipality, in northwestern Greenland, located on an island off the southern coast of Sigguup Nunaa peninsula, in the Uummannaq Fjord basin. It had 84 inhabitants in 2 ...

and

Illorsuit Illorsuit (; old spelling: ''Igdlorssuit'') is a former settlement in Avannaata municipality, in western Greenland. Located on the northeastern shore of Illorsuit Island − northwest of Uummannaq at the mouth of the Uummannaq Fjord − the settl ...

in the

system.

Ukkusissat Ukkusissat (, old spelling: ''Uvkusigssat'') is a settlement in Avannaata municipality, in northwestern Greenland. The population of the settlement was 154 in 2020. The name means soapstone. Geography The settlement abuts the northwestern t ...

is the only mainland settlement in the vicinity, located on the smaller,

Ukkusissat Peninsula Ukkusissat (, old spelling: ''Uvkusigssat'') is a settlement in Avannaata municipality, in northwestern Greenland. The population of the settlement was 154 in 2020. The name means soapstone. Geography The settlement abuts the northwestern t ...

Geology

Rocks and sediments on Nunavik Peninsula are of

Cretaceous The Cretaceous ( ) is a geological period that lasted from about 145 to 66 million years ago (Mya). It is the third and final period of the Mesozoic Era, as well as the longest. At around 79 million years, it is the longest geological period of th ...

and

Paleocene The Paleocene, ( ) or Palaeocene, is a geological epoch (geology), epoch that lasted from about 66 to 56 mya (unit), million years ago (mya). It is the first epoch of the Paleogene Period (geology), Period in the modern Cenozoic Era (geology), E ...

origin, with further layers deposited during the movement of Greenland towards the

North Pole The North Pole, also known as the Geographic North Pole or Terrestrial North Pole, is the point in the Northern Hemisphere where the Earth's axis of rotation meets its surface. It is called the True North Pole to distinguish from the Mag ...

. Similarly to the

Uummannaq Uummannaq is a town in the Avannaata municipality, in central-western Greenland. With 1,407 inhabitants in 2020, it is the eighth-largest town in Greenland, and is home to the country's most northerly ferry terminal. Founded in 1763 as Omenak, ...

area, ancient

volcanic A volcano is a rupture in the crust of a planetary-mass object, such as Earth, that allows hot lava, volcanic ash, and gases to escape from a magma chamber below the surface. On Earth, volcanoes are most often found where tectonic plates a ...

basalt Basalt (; ) is an aphanite, aphanitic (fine-grained) extrusive igneous rock formed from the rapid cooling of low-viscosity lava rich in magnesium and iron (mafic lava) exposed at or very near the planetary surface, surface of a terrestrial ...

s are exposed throughout the peninsula.Full 3D structure, tectonic development and modelling of the Svartenhuk inner-SDR wedge
M. Abdelmalak, M. Leroy, J.P. Gélard, R. Aite & L.Geoffroy (Geophysical Research Abstracts, Vol. 9, 02616, 2007)

References

{{reflist, 30em

External links

at Greenland-guide.gl Peninsulas of the Upernavik Archipelago Uummannaq Fjord