Sanningasoq (old spelling: ''Sáningassoq'') is a large oligotrophic twin

lake A lake is an area filled with water, localized in a basin, surrounded by land, and distinct from any river or other outlet that serves to feed or drain the lake. Lakes lie on land and are not part of the ocean, although, like the much large ...

Klaus Peter Brodersen, Ole Pedersen, Claus Lindegaard, and Kirsten Hamburger (University of Copenhagen) − 'Chironomids (Diptera) and oxy-regulatory capacity: An experimental approach to paleolimnological interpretation' − Limnol. Oceanogr., 49(5), 2004, 1549–1559
in central-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 i ...

, in the

Qeqqata Qeqqata (, da, Centrum, lit=Centre) is a municipality in western Greenland, operational from 1 January 2009. The municipality was named after its location in the central-western part of the country. Its population is 9,378 as of January 2020. Th ...

municipality. It is located approximately northeast of

Kangerlussuaq Kangerlussuaq (; ; da, Søndre Strømfjord), is a settlement in western Greenland in the Qeqqata municipality located at the head of the fjord of the same name. It is Greenland's main air transport hub and the site of Greenland's largest commer ...

. It is characteristic in that it is composed of two lakes connected via a narrow water passage through a broken

isthmus An isthmus (; ; ) is a narrow piece of land connecting two larger areas across an expanse of water by which they are otherwise separated. A tombolo is an isthmus that consists of a spit or bar, and a strait is the sea counterpart of an isthmus ...

. Its northwestern shore is at and its southeastern shore at .

Geography

The 2x10 km twin lake is separated from the

Akuliarusiarsuup Kuua Akuliarusiarsuup Kuua ( da, Sandflugtdalen) is a river and valley of the same name in the Qeqqata municipality in central-western Greenland. Its source is the meltwater outflow from Russell Glacier, an outflow of the Greenland ice sheet. The ri ...

valley and Kangerlussuaq in the south by a low

tundra In physical geography, tundra () is a type of biome where tree growth is hindered by frigid temperatures and short growing seasons. The term ''tundra'' comes through Russian (') from the Kildin Sámi word (') meaning "uplands", "treeless mou ...

ridge − part of the

Kangaamiut dike swarm The Kangaamiut dike swarm (old spelling: ''Kangâmiut'') is a 2.04 billion year old dike swarm located in the Qeqqata region of western Greenland. The dikes cut Archean orthogneisses and are exposed along approximately of the coast and a similar ...

. To the east lies a sibling Aajuitsup Tasia lake, separated from Sanningasoq by a low marshland isthmus of little relief. To the north-east lies the Maniitsoq hill in the wide highland of

Isunngua Isunngua (old spelling: ''Isúngua'') is a highland in the Qeqqata municipality in central-western Greenland, located immediately west of the Greenland Ice Sheet edge. In large part it is covered by the tundra, although in the immediate vicinity ...

. The wide

Tarajornitsut Tarajornitsut is an uninhabited tundra highland in the Qeqqata municipality in central-western Greenland, within the bounds of Kangaamiut dike swarm. The highland has many lakes, shallow valleys, hills, and wetlands, with plentiful wildlife, such ...

tundra highland lies to the west of the lake. The surface of Sanningasoq is almost level with the surface of the neighboring Aajuitsup Tasia, both being in the ancient outflow path of Russell Glacier, and by extension, Sermersuaq, the Greenland Ice Sheet. The local depression part of which is occupied by the lake continues for several dozen kilometers in the west-north-western direction towards

Sarfannguit Sarfannguit (old spelling: ''Sarfannguaq / Sarfánguaq'') is a settlement in the Qeqqata municipality in central-western Greenland. Its population was 96 in 2020. The settlement was founded in 1843.

and

Sisimiut Sisimiut (), formerly known as Holsteinsborg, is the capital and largest city of the Qeqqata municipality, the second-largest city in Greenland, and the largest Arctic city in North America.The term 'city' is loosely used to describe any popula ...

References

{{reflist

External links

* Underwater photography in the sibling Aajuitsup Tasia a
Tropica Aquarium Plants
Kangerlussuaq Lakes of Greenland