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Tuesday, 10 December 2024

The inner reaches of Nordvestfjord


 I found a higher resolution copy of this fantastic image of the inner reches of Nordvestfjord. We are looking down the fjord from above the snout of Daugaard-Jensens Glacier, with ntabular bergs and quite extensive sea ice.  To the left of centre there is a low plateau with a thin ice cap, and higher icefields are shown in the distance to the right of centre.

In the far distance, towards top right, we can see the fjord section where the fjord sides are almost vertical and where the fjord scenery is at its most dramatic.

So why the difference between the relatively gentle ice-scoured and moulded slopes of the upper fjord, and the hugely spectacular fjord landscape in its middle and outer sections, towards Hall Bredning and Scoresby Sund?  Well, we don't really know the full picture, but the simple answer must be that the extent of fjord deepening -- and maybe fjord widening too -- is a function of ice discharge.  As the ice of the Nordvestfjord Glacier moved south-eastwards it was supplemented by the ice flowing in from many tributary glaciers over a distance of c 120 km, leading to a gradual stepped deepening of the fjord floor.  Then, as soon as the glacier emerged from the mountain front into the broad embayment of Hall Bredning, it lost its erosive capacity at the threshold and spilled out sideways via a number of diffluent discharge routes.  Just like Hardangerfjord, Sognefjord and many other big fjords throughout the world.......

https://brian-mountainman.blogspot.com/2013/07/nordvest-fjord-east-greenland.htmlhttps://brian-mountainman.blogspot.com/2013/07/nordvest-fjord-east-greenland.html

https://brian-mountainman.blogspot.com/2021/09/the-nordvestfjord-threshold.html


  

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