Nuussuaq Peninsula

The waters around the peninsula are that of Baffin Bay. To the south and southwest the peninsula is bounded by Disko Bay, an inlet of Baffin Bay. It is separated from Qeqertarsuaq Island by Sullorsuaq Strait, known in Danish as Vaigat Strait, which connects Disko Bay with Baffin Bay. To the northeast, it is bounded by the Uummannaq Fjord system.

The peninsula is mountainous, with the highest summit reaching {{convert|2,144|m|0}}.Nuussuaq, Saga Map, Tage Schjøtt, 1992 The spinal range splits in two to the northwest of the base of the peninsula, with the southern arm forming the coastal range, the central arm almost entirely glaciated, and continuing northwest the entire length of the peninsula. The two arms are dissected by a deep Kuussuaq Valley, partially filled in the center with Sarqap Tassersuaq, a glacial, emerald lake.

The peninsula is administered as part of the Avannaata municipality. The main settlements are Qaarsut and Niaqornat on the northwestern shore, Saqqaq on the southeastern shore, at the foot of the Livets Top mountain ({{convert|1,150|m|0}}),{{cite book|last=O'Carroll|first=Etain|title=Greenland and the Arctic|publisher=Lonely Planet|pages=180|year=2005|isbn=1-74059-095-3}} and Qeqertaq on a small island just off the southern shore, at the base of the peninsula.

{{See also|Thule people}}

Archaeological excavations in Qilakitsoq on the southwestern shore revealed the existence of an ancient Arctic culture later named the Saqqaq culture that inhabited the area of west-central Greenland between 2500 BCE and 800 BCE.{{Cite web |url=https://natmus.dk/organisation/forskning-samling-og-bevaring/nyere-tid-og-verdens-kulturer/etnografisk-samling/arktisk-forskning/prehistory-of-greenland/saqqaq/ |title=Saqqaq culture chronology |access-date=2024-07-10 |website=National Museum of Denmark}}

The world's largest fossil mollusk, Inoceramus steenstrup, was found in 1952 in Qilakitsoq Valley on the peninsula.

Major landslides have occurred along the southern coast of the peninsula since prehistoric times, sometimes generating tsunamis or megatsunamis in Sullorsuaq Strait:

• Research indicates that nine large tsunamigenic landslides struck Sullorsuaq Strait in prehistoric times during the Holocene, seven of them from the southern coast of the Nuussuaq Peninsula and two others from the northern coast of Disko Island across the strait from the peninsula. Seven of the landslides apparently occurred between about 8020 BC and 6520 BC with unidentified tsunamigenic effects. The two most recent prehistoric landslides generated megatsunamis which struck Alluttoq Island, the first sometime around 5650 BC with a run-up height of {{convert|41|to|66|m|0}}, and another that struck around 5350 BC with a run-up height of {{convert|45|to|70|m|0}}.{{cite web |url=https://nhess.copernicus.org/preprints/nhess-2023-32/ |title=Giant mid-Holocene landslide-generated tsunamis recorded in lake sediments from Saqqaq, West Greenland |last=Korsgaard |first=Niels J. |last2=Svennevig |first2=Kristian |last3=Søndergaard |first3=Anne S. |last4=Luetzenburg |first4=Gregor |last5=Oksman |first5=Mimmi |last6=Larsen |first6=Nicolaj K. |date=13 March 2023 |website=copernicus.org |publisher=European Geosciences Union |access-date=12 October 2023 }}
• On 15 December 1952, an {{convert|80|m|0|adj=on}} thick landslide began at a height of {{convert|500|to|700|m|0}} on a slope of the mountain Niiortuut ({{coord|70.349|N|053.178|W|name=Niiortuut}}) and traveled {{convert|2,750|m|yd|0}}. Between {{convert|1,800,000|and|4,500,000|m3|cuyd}} of material entered Sullorsuaq Strait, creating {{convert|4.7|ha}} of new land extending {{convert|90|m|0}} into the strait and generating a tsunami. With a run-up height of {{convert|4.5|to|7.7|m}}, it struck a group of four fishermen {{convert|10|km}} away on the southern coast of the Nuussuaq Peninsula, killing one of them. Then it struck the town of Qullissat {{convert|30|km}} away across the strait on Disko Island, where it had a run-up height of {{convert|2.2|to|2.7|m}}.{{cite web |url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0048969722072102?via%3Dihub |title=Uncovering a 70-year-old permafrost degradation induced disaster in the Arctic, the 1952 Niiortuut landslide-tsunami in central West Greenland |last=Svennevig |first=Kristian| last2=Keiding |first2=Marie |last3=Korsgaard |first3=Niels Jákup |last4=Lucas |first4=Antoine |last5=Owen |first5=Matthew |last6=Poulsen |first6=Majken Djurhuus |last7=Priebe |first7=Janina |last8=Sørensen |first8=Erik Vest |last9=Morino |first9= Costanza |date=10 February 2023 |website=sciencedirect.com |publisher=Science Direct |access-date=13 October 2023 }}
• On 21 November 2020, a {{convert|90,000,000|m3|cuyd|adj=on}} landslide with a mass of 260,000,000 tons fell from an elevation of {{convert|1,000|to|1,400|m|sigfig=2}} at Paatuut, reaching a speed of {{convert|140|kph|0}}. About {{convert|30,000,000|m3|cuyd}} of material with a mass of 87,000,000 tons entered Sullorsuaq Strait, generating a megatsunami. The wave had a run-up height of {{convert|50|m|0}} near the landslide and {{convert|28|m|0}} at the former site of Qullissat, {{convert|20|km|nmi mi}} away, where it inundated the coast as far as {{convert|100|m|ft|0}} inland. Refracted energy from the tsunami created a wave with a run-up height of {{convert|3|m}} that destroyed boats at Saqqaq, {{convert|40|km}} from the landslide.{{cite web |url=https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/nathaz/v31y2004i1p277-287.html |title=Landslide and Tsunami 21 November 2000 in Paatuut, West Greenland |last=Dahl-Jensen |first=Trine| last2=Larsen |first2=Lotte |last3=Pedersen |first3=Stig |last4=Pedersen |first4=Jerrik |last5=Jepsen |first5=Hans |last6=Pedersen |first6=Gunver |last7=Nielsen |first7=Tove |last8=Pedersen |first8=Asger |last9=Von Platen-Hallermund |first9=Frants |last10=Weng |first10=Willy |date=2004 |website=repec.org |publisher=Ideas |access-date=14 October 2023 }}
• An unwitnessed landslide from an elevation of {{convert|600|to|880|m|sigfig=2}} consisting of {{convert|18,300,000|to|25,900,000|m3|cuyd}} of frozen debris and rock occurred at Assapaat ({{coord|70|19|09|N|052|59|48|W|name=Assapaat}}) on 13 June 2021. About {{convert|3,900,000|m3|cuyd}} of material entered Sullorsuaq Strait but apparently did not generate a tsunami.{{Cite web|last=Svennevig |first=Kristian |last2=Hermanns |first2=Reginald L.|last3=Keiding |first3=Marie|last4=Binder |first4=Daniel|last5=Citterio |first5=Michelle |last6=Dahl-Jensen |first6=Trine|last7=Mertl |first7=Stefan|last8=Sørensen |first8=Erik Vest|last9=Voss |first9=Peter H. |date=23 July 2022|title=A large frozen debris avalanche entraining warming permafrost ground—the June 2021 Assapaat landslide, West Greenland|url=https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10346-022-01922-7#Abs1|website=springer.com|publisher=Springer Link|access-date=14 October 2023}}

File:Nuussuaq-peninsula-qilertiinguit-kangilequtaa.jpg|Qilertiinguit Kangilequtaa {{nowrap|({{convert|2,070|m|0|abbr=on}})}} seen from Uummannaq across the main arm of Uummannaq Fjord

File:Nuussuaq-peninsula-chasm.jpg|Chasm couloir above the northeastern shore. Seen from Uummannaq.

File:Nuussuaq-peninsula-nunavik.jpg|Aerial view: Nunavik and the blanket glacier covering a large part of the northern chain of the central mountain range, north of Auvarrssuaq valley.

File:Nuussuaq-peninsula-sarqap-tassersuaq.jpg|Aerial view of Sarqap Tassersuaq, the emerald lake in the central valley

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{{Commons category|Nuussuaq Peninsula}}

• [http://www.geus.dk/departments/geol-mapping/projects/volc_dev_nuussuaq-dk.htm Volcanic development in the Nuussuaq Basin, West Greenland]

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Category:Disko Bay

Category:Peninsulas of Greenland

Category:Uummannaq Fjord