Beerenberg (Jan Mayen)

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Beerenberg
Beerenberg on Jan Mayen

Beerenberg on Jan Mayen

height 2277  moh.
location Jan Mayen , Norway
Dominance 598.84 km →  Dansketinden ( Stauningalpen )
Coordinates 71 ° 4 '47 "  N , 8 ° 9' 21"  W Coordinates: 71 ° 4 '47 "  N , 8 ° 9' 21"  W
Beerenberg (Jan Mayen) (Arctic)
Beerenberg (Jan Mayen)
Type active stratovolcano
rock basalt
Last eruption 1985
First ascent August 11, 1921 by James Wordie , Paul-Louis Mercanton , Thomas Charles Lethbridge and three companions
particularities northernmost active volcano on earth located above sea level
Topographic map by Jan Mayen

Topographic map by Jan Mayen

pd3
Template: Infobox Berg / Maintenance / BILD1

The Beerenberg ("Bear Mountain") is the northernmost active volcano on earth , located above sea level . It lies on the island of Jan Mayen, which is politically part of Norway, and is 2277 m high. Measured from the sea floor, it reaches a height of about 5000 m.

Surname

In 1615, a year after Jan Mayen's discovery by the English whaling captain John Clarke, Robert Fotherby († 1646) reached the island on a voyage of discovery that he thought was unknown. He named it Thomas Smith's Island and gave its dominant mountain its first name - Mount Hakluyt - after the English geographer Richard Hakluyt . However, this designation did not prevail, but the name Beerenberg , which goes back to Michiel de Ruyter and appears in the variant Beerenbergh on Joan Blaeus' map from 1662. The German translation Bärenberg was sometimes used in German-language writings , for example by Johann Anderson in 1746 .

geography

Jan Mayen lies on the border between the Greenland Sea and the European Arctic Ocean . It is located on a tectonic fault zone (Jan Mayen Transform Fault ) that connects two sections of the mid-Atlantic ridge . The entire region is classified as hotspot volcanism.

The type for stratovolcano associated Beerberg forms the entire northern part of the island (called North-Jan ). Its highest peaks are on the crater rim, which is open to the northwest. The Haakon VII Topp on the western side is the highest peak at 2277 meters and named after the Norwegian King Haakon VII ( location ). Other high peaks are Wordietoppen (southwest, 2210 m, location ), Hakluyttoppen (northeast, 2205 m, location ), Mercantontoppen (southeast, 2188 m, location ), Gjuvtinden (north, 2113 m, location ) and Kongshamaren (northwest, 1928 m , Location ). These peaks are within two kilometers of each other. This corresponds to the north-south extent of the crater rim.

glaciology

Weyprecht Glacier with Haakon VII Topp (right) and Hakluyttoppen (middle)
Kjerulf glacier
Icefall and tongue of the Svend Foyn Glacier

The Beerenberg is heavily glaciated; its ice cap covers an area of ​​113 km². After the end of the last Ice Age , there were at least two periods of increasing glaciation, one 2500 years ago and a second during the so-called Little Ice Age , when the glaciers reached their greatest extent around 1850. As a result, their size fluctuated with a minimum in 1950 and a growth period between 1960 and 1965. Studies during the 4th International Polar Year have shown that the ice volume of the Jan Mayens glaciers - unlike on Svalbard or Iceland - between 1949 and 2008 has not changed significantly. In the southern area of ​​the ice cap it even increased slightly from 1975 to 2008.

Of the 20 individual glacier streams that run in all directions, five calve directly into the sea. The largest glacier is the Sørbreen with an area of ​​15 km² and a length of 8.7 km. The mighty Weyprecht glacier stretches from the main crater of the Beerenberg to the north coast of the island. It is the most active glacier, followed by its eastern neighbors, Kjerulf Glacier and Svend Foyn Glacier .

f1Georeferencing Map with all coordinates: OSM | WikiMap

Beerenberg glaciers
in clockwise order, starting in the south
Surname German Area
(km²) 		Length
(km) 		maximum
height (m) 		minimum
height (m) 		direction WGS84
Sørbreen South glacier 15.00 8.7 2200 80 south 71 ° 1 ′ 5 ″  N , 8 ° 11 ′ 49 ″  W.
Kronprins Olavs Bre (southwest part) Crown Prince Olav Glacier 11.40 7.4 2240 440 southwest 71 ° 2 ′ 59 "  N , 8 ° 12 ′ 40"  W.
Kerckhoffbreen Kerckhoff glacier 9.00 7.3 2200 280 west 71 ° 3 ′ 41 ″  N , 8 ° 19 ′ 10 ″  W.
Charcotbreen Charcot glacier 5.55 6.9 2240 40 west 71 ° 4 ′ 48 "  N , 8 ° 16 ′ 58"  W.
Vestisen Vest ice 2.30 3.4 1500 540 west 71 ° 4 ′ 59 "  N , 8 ° 15 ′ 14"  W.
Jorisbreen Joris glacier 3.30 6.0 2260 20th Northwest 71 ° 6 ′ 0 ″  N , 8 ° 16 ′ 0 ″  W.
Hamarbreen Hammer Glacier 2.25 4.7 1580 10 Northwest 71 ° 6 ′ 2 ″  N , 8 ° 13 ′ 51 ″  W.
Weyprechtbreen Weyprecht glacier 8.90 6.8 2080 0 Northwest 71 ° 6 ′ 52 ″  N , 8 ° 11 ′ 13 ″  W.
Gjuvbreen Eastern Weyprecht Glacier 2.80 5.3 2100 0 Northwest 71 ° 6 ′ 57 ″  N , 8 ° 9 ′ 51 ″  W.
Kjerulfbreen Kjerulf glacier 5.80 6.4 2140 0 north 71 ° 7 ′ 51 ″  N , 8 ° 8 ′ 37 ″  W.
Svend Foynbreen Svend Foyn Glacier 2.60 4.6 1400 0 north 71 ° 7 ′ 53 "  N , 8 ° 6 ′ 42"  W.
Crown Princess Märthas Bre Crown Princess Märtha Glacier 9.40 4.7 1320 420 Northeast 71 ° 7 ′ 0 ″  N , 8 ° 5 ′ 0 ″  W.
Dufferinbreen Dufferin Glacier 1.55 3.7 1500 400 east 71 ° 6 ′ 24 ″  N , 8 ° 1 ′ 51 ″  W.
Frielebreen Friele glacier 2.80 5.0 1660 0 east 71 ° 6 ′ 0 ″  N , 8 ° 2 ′ 0 ″  W.
Prins Haralds Bre Prince Harald Glacier 3.50 5.3 2200 0 east 71 ° 5 '35 "  N , 8 ° 3' 24"  W.
Griegbreen Grieg glacier 4.95 5.1 2160 10 east 71 ° 4 ′ 41 ″  N , 8 ° 5 ′ 24 ″  W.
Willebreen Wille glacier 5.50 5.9 2160 0 east 71 ° 4 ′ 5 ″  N , 8 ° 1 ′ 20 ″  W.
Petersenbreen Petersen Glacier 5.35 5.5 1620 230 southeast 71 ° 3 '10 "  N , 8 ° 2' 23"  W.
Fotherbybreen Fotherby Glacier 9.00 7.2 2140 300 southeast 71 ° 2 ′ 4 ″  N , 8 ° 5 ′ 3 ″  W.
Wardbreen Ward Glacier 3.25 5.7 2200 550 south 71 ° 1 ′ 27 ″  N , 8 ° 7 ′ 38 ″  W.

Volcanic activity

18th and 19th centuries

After Jan Mayen's discovery in 1614, the Beerenberg was considered extinct or almost extinct. On May 17, 1732, however, there was an outbreak which was observed by the Hamburg captain Jacob Jacobsen Laab. The Mayor of Hamburg, Johann Anderson, reported on this in his book News from Iceland, Greenland and the Davis Strait, for the True Benefit of Science and Action , which appeared in 1746. Afterwards, Laab observed flames and smoke at the foot of the Beerenberg. At a distance of 15 miles, ejected ash fell, which would have "filled the deck of the ship very thickly". Alicke Payens, another German captain, went ashore a few weeks later, but did not find any freshly solidified lava, only ash into which he sank "halfway up". The British navigator William Scoresby observed another outbreak on April 29, 1818. Black smoke was ejected at a distance of three to four minutes from the earth north of Eggøya at high speed up to a height of 1200 m.

Where exactly the eruptions of 1732 and 1818 occurred is not yet fully understood. A possible candidate is the Dagnyhaugen near the Eskkrater. Pall Imsland believes it is certain that the Røysflya (1732) and Laguneflya (1818) lava fields were created during these eruptions. Gjerlow et al. see the eruption of 1732 as a Surtseyan eruption that led to the formation of Eggøya.

An eruption not observed by any eyewitness could have occurred around the middle of the 19th century between the visit of Scoresby in 1818 and that of the Austrian expedition in the First International Polar Year 1882/83. Both made maps by Jan Mayens, which correspond well in every detail, with the exception of the four kilometer long and one kilometer wide coastal plain of Kokssletta west of the Northern Cape, which is missing on Scoresby's map. It is therefore assumed that it only developed in the meantime.

20th century

Accompanied by an earthquake measuring 5.1 on the Richter scale , an eruption began on the northeast flank of the Beerenberg on the morning of September 18, 1970. Five main craters opened along a six-kilometer-long fissure from almost sea level to a height of 1000 m. Basaltic lava emerged in fountains up to 200 m high and flowed down the slope into the sea at a speed of 4 m / s. A cloud of steam and volcanic dust that smelled of hydrogen sulfide reached an altitude of 10,000 m on September 20. The volcanic activity was most intense during the first four days. In the second week of October only two craters were still active. In March 1971 the tremors were again strong and black smoke drifted over the northeast part of the island. On May 23, black and yellow spots appeared on the snow of the Eggøya peninsula. The lava flow of 1970 created new land ( Nylandet ) of 4 km² in size, part of which eroded again under the influence of drift ice and sea surf. The coastline shifted in the area of ​​Clandeboyebukta and Austbukta by about one kilometer to the east.

There was a smaller eruption on January 6th and 7th, 1985. A crevice opened at the Sars crater that ran eastward to the coast between the Northern and Eastern Cape. Escaping lava flowed north over the Kokssletta coastal plain to the sea. At the same time, steam escaped in the main crater of the Beerenberg and melted part of the Weyprecht glacier. The volume of the leaked lava is estimated at 6 million cubic meters.

Ascent history

The first known ascent of Beerenberg was undertaken by James Wordie and five other men on his expedition, including Paul Louis Mercanton and Thomas Charles Lethbridge , from August 9-11 , 1921 . They were followed in 1927 by the Norwegians Finn Devold (1902–1977) and Gustav Øines together with the US geologist Henry Joesting (1903–1965), and in 1933 by the British geologist and mountaineer Noel Odell . In April and May 1944, Per Wexels, who was part of the crew of the Norwegian meteorological station set up on Jan Mayen during World War II , climbed the mountain five times.

Web links

Commons : Beerenberg  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Beerenberg on Peakbagger.com (English)
  2. ↑ a b c Krzysztof Birkenmajer: Geology of Jan Mayen Island and Surroundings. An overview . In: Stig Skreslet (Ed.): Jan Mayen Island in Scientific Focus . NATO Advanced Research Workshop, Oslo, November 11-15, 2003. Kluwer Academic Publishers, 2004, ISBN 978-1-4020-2956-1 , pp. 13-26 .
  3. ↑ Peter C. Mancall: Hakluyt's Promise. An Elizabethan's Obsession for an English America . Yale University Press, 2010, ISBN 0-300-11054-5 , pp. 291 ( limited preview in Google Book search).
  4. ^ A b Anders K. Orvin: The Place-Names of Jan Mayen . Norsk Polarinstitutt, Oslo 1960 (= Norsk Polarinstitutt Skrifter No. 120), p. 13 ( PDF; 3.3 MB , Norwegian).
  5. ^ A b Johann Anderson: News from Iceland, Greenland and the Davis Strait, for the true benefit of science and action . Georg Christian Grund, Hamburg 1746, p. 8–9 ( limited preview in Google Book search).
  6. ↑ Haakon VII Topp . In: The Place Names of Svalbard (first edition 1942). Norsk Polarinstitutt , Oslo 2001, ISBN 82-90307-82-9 (English, Norwegian).
  7. ↑ a b Wordietoppen . In: The Place Names of Svalbard (first edition 1942). Norsk Polarinstitutt , Oslo 2001, ISBN 82-90307-82-9 (English, Norwegian).
  8. ↑ Hakluyttoppen . In: The Place Names of Svalbard (first edition 1942). Norsk Polarinstitutt , Oslo 2001, ISBN 82-90307-82-9 (English, Norwegian).
  9. ↑ Mercanton tops . In: The Place Names of Svalbard (first edition 1942). Norsk Polarinstitutt , Oslo 2001, ISBN 82-90307-82-9 (English, Norwegian).,
  10. ↑ Gjuvtinden . In: The Place Names of Svalbard (first edition 1942). Norsk Polarinstitutt , Oslo 2001, ISBN 82-90307-82-9 (English, Norwegian).
  11. ↑ Kongshamaren . In: The Place Names of Svalbard (first edition 1942). Norsk Polarinstitutt , Oslo 2001, ISBN 82-90307-82-9 (English, Norwegian).
  12. ↑ a b J. N. Jennings: Glacier Retreat in Jan Mayen (PDF; 8.28 MB). In: Journal of Glaciology . Vol. 1, 1947, pp. 167-172 and 178-181.
  13. ↑ Cecilie Rolstad Denby: Determination of glacier ice volume changes from geodetic data from Jan Mayen (PDF; 4.28 MB). In: KART OG PLAN 73, No. 1, 2013, pp. 54–63.
  14. ^ A b c Olav Orheim: Glaciers of Europe - Glaciers of Jan Mayen, Norway . In: Richard S. Williams, Jr., Jane G. Ferrigno (Eds.): Satellite Image Atlas of Glaciers of The World , US Geological Survey Professional Paper 1386-E-6, 1993, pp. E153 – E164 ( PDF; 1 , 1 MB , English)
  15. ^ William Scoresby: An Account of the Arctic Regions, with a History and Description of the Northern Whale-Fishery . Vol. 1, Archibald Constable and Co., Edinburgh 1820, p. 166 (English).
  16. ↑ Beerenberg in the Global Volcanism Program of the Smithsonian Institution (English)
  17. ↑ Pall Imsland: The geology of the volcanic island Jan Mayen (PDF; 4.5 MB). Nordic Volcanological Institute Report No. 78-13, 1978, p. 40 (English).
  18. ↑ Eirik Gjerløw, Armann Höskuldsson, Rolf-Birger Pedersen: The 1732 Surtseyan eruption of Eggøya, Jan Mayen, North Atlantic: deposits, distribution, chemistry and chronology. In: Bulletin of Volcanology 77 (2), Art. 14, 2015 (English). doi : 10.1007 / s00445-014-0895-6
  19. ^ AG Sylvester: History and surveillance of volcanic activity on Jan Mayen island (PDF; 3.7 MB). In: Bulletin of Volcanology 39, No. 2, 1975, pp. 1-23 (English).
  20. ↑ Thor Siggerud: Jan Mayen - quietly at active volcano. A short account of the eruption in 1985 and other volcanic activity . Norsk Polarinstitutt, Årbok 1985, Oslo 1986, pp. 43-47 ( PDF ; 1.72 MB, English).
  21. ↑ P.-L. Mercanton: La premiere ascension du Beerenberg de Jan Mayen . In: L'Echo des Alpes 8, 1924, pp. 269-292.