Nunatak
Encyclopedia
A nunatak is an exposed, often rocky element of a ridge, mountain, or peak not covered with ice or snow within (or at the edge of) an ice field or glacier. The term is typically used in areas where a permanent ice sheet is present. Nunataks present readily identifiable landmark reference points in glaciers or ice caps and are often named.
Lifeforms on nunataks are frequently isolated by the surrounding ice or glacier creating unique habitats. Nunataks are generally angular and jagged because of freeze-thaw weathering and contrast strongly with the softer contours of the glacially eroded land after a glacier retreats.
The word is of Greenlandic origin and has been used in western European languages since the 1870s.
Lifeforms on nunataks are frequently isolated by the surrounding ice or glacier creating unique habitats. Nunataks are generally angular and jagged because of freeze-thaw weathering and contrast strongly with the softer contours of the glacially eroded land after a glacier retreats.
The word is of Greenlandic origin and has been used in western European languages since the 1870s.
See also
- Atanasoff NunatakAtanasoff NunatakAtanasoff Nunatak is a nunatak, a sharp peak rising to 523 m in the east extremity of Bowles Ridge, Livingston Island, Antarctica. The peak sumounts Huron Glacier to the south and east, and Struma Glacier to the north...
- Harvey NunataksHarvey NunataksHarvey Nunataks are four nunataks standing 4 nautical miles west of Mount Ryder, in the east part of the Tula Mountains in Enderby Land. Plotted from air photos taken from ANARE aircraft in 1936 and 1957. Named by Antarctic Names Committee of Australia for D.J...
- Newman NunataksNewman NunataksNewman Nunataks These are a group of nunataks about 19 km west of Aker Peaks, and 26 km west of Mount Elkins, in Enderby Land. Their position was plotted from air photographs taken by ANARE in 1956 and 1960. They were named after A.J...
- Young NunataksYoung NunataksYoung Nunataks is a group of nunataks in the Napier Mountains standing 2 nautical miles south of Mount Elkins. Mapped by Norwegian cartographers from aerial photos taken by the Lars Christensen Expedition, 1936-37. Remapped from aerial photos taken by ANARE in 1956 and named for W.F...
- Aitken NunatakAitken NunatakAitken Nunatak is a small rock nunatak, high, standing southwest of Mount Bumstead in the Grosvenor Mountains. Named by Advisory Committee on Antarctic Names for William M. Aitken, United States Antarctic Research Program aurora scientist at South Pole Station, 1962....
- Schloredt NunatakSchloredt NunatakSchloredt Nunatak is a nunatak 1 nautical mile south of Bleclic Peaks, at the south extremity of the Perry Range in Marie Byrd Land. Mapped by United States Geological Survey from surveys and U.S. Navy air photos, 1959-65. Named by Advisory Committee on Antarctic Names for Jerry L. Schloredt,...