Jamesonland

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Jamesonland (Greenland)
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Jamesonland

Jamesonland is a region in Kommuneqarfik Sermersooq on the east coast of Greenland . As the central part of the extensive peninsula north of Scoresbysund ( Kangertittivaq ), it is bordered by Scoresbyland to the north and northwest and Liverpool Land to the east .

geography

Jamesonland is bordered by the Scoresbysund (Kangertittivaq) with Hall Bredning in the south and west and Hurry Inlet (Kangerterajiva), Klitdal (Kangerterajittap Ilinnera) and Carlsbergfjord (Kangerterajitta Itterterilaa) in the east. Its northern border to Scoresbyland follows Major Paars Dal, Coloradodal, Olympen and Passagen. The largest extension is in the north-south direction about 120 km, in the east-west direction about 80 km. While the mountains in the north and east of the region reach heights of over 1000 m, there are extensive coastal plains on the mostly flat coasts in the southeast. With the exception of the Jens Munk Plateau and the Olympus, which is covered by an ice cap , Jamesonland is not glaciated . The plains are crossed by several river valleys. The predominant tundra here contains numerous swamps and ponds. There are salt marshes on the coast . The highlands are dry and have extensive scree fields and areas covered by dwarf bushes.

There are no inhabited settlements in Jamesonland, only two employees work at Nerlerit Inaat Airport .

geology

Jurassic sandstone cliffs formed by wind erosion in Jamesonland
Vertebrae and tibia of a prosauropod from Jamesonland in the Geological Museum in Copenhagen

The surface of Jamesonland is characterized by sediments from the Late Triassic and Lower Jurassic . The Triassic Fleming Fjord Formation and the Jurassic Cape Stewart Formation are particularly rich in fossils .

Fleming Fjord Formation

The Fleming Fjord Formation (age: 208-209 million years), dated to the border between Norium and Rhaetium , is rich in vertebrate fossils and includes all major groups of vertebrates known from the late Triassic: fish, amphibians, reptiles ( turtles , Aetosaurs , phytosaurs , pterosaurs and dinosaurs ) and early mammals. In addition to body fossils , trace fossils such as the step seals of theropods , sauropods and crocodile-like archosaurs have also been found.

Cape Stewart Formation

The complex originated from the late Rhaetian to the Sinemurian and is thus predominantly Jurassic. The deposits of the Cape Stewart Formation cover almost all of Jamesonland and are up to 600 m thick. Plant macrofossils of around 100 species have been found in them. Dominating gymnosperms such as cycads , Ginkgoales and conifers as well as ferns are common. The formation consists of sandstone and mudstone , deposits at the bottom of a former lake that had an area of ​​up to 12,000 km².

climate

The climate in Jamesonland is arctic and continental. In summer there are long, stable weather periods with long hours of sunshine and little rainfall, with temperatures between 0 and 10 ° C from mid-June to August. The annual rainfall is between 290 and 410 mm. The fjords are covered in ice for 6 to 8 months in winter. In the Carlsbergfjord, even in some summers it does not break open.

Flora and fauna

flora

Arctic poppies in Jamesonland

In Jamesonland there is a comparatively diverse flora. 196 species of vascular plants are native here. Some hocharktische species such as the cruciferous Braya purpurascens , the bluegrass Poa abbreviata and couch grass Elymus alaskanus ssp. hyperarcticus have their southernmost distribution area here, some subarctic ones like Gauchheilblättriges fireweed , the hedgehog's cob Sparganium hyperboreum , chamois heather and alpine timothy grass their northernmost.

The coastal area at Hall Bredning, known as Heden , is the largest tundra area in Greenland and has rich vegetation. Below 200 m, a dry dwarf shrub heather dominates with a degree of coverage of 25 to 75%, which is an important food resource for the local fauna. The predominant species are the square heather , the arctic willow and the dwarf birch . In some areas you can find a more humid form with a high degree of coverage of over 75%, where bogberry , arctic willow and numerous mosses grow. Scheuchzer's cottongrass and the sedge Carex saxatilis and Carex rariflora dominate the moors of the coastal region in the west .

fauna

Mammals

Few mammal species have adapted to the harsh arctic climate. Since the reindeer became extinct in East Greenland around 1900, the herbivores are only represented by the musk ox , the mountain hare and the northern collar lemming. Arctic wolves are rare, ermines more common, and arctic foxes widespread. Even polar bears are found in Jamesonland.

Between 1982 and 2000, the number of musk oxen more than halved to 1,700 animals.

Birds

An approximately 30 km wide coastal strip at Hall Bredning with an area of ​​2524 km² is designated as "Wetland of International Importance" (No. 389) according to the Ramsar Convention and by BirdLife International as an Important Bird Area (GL044). It is regarded as an important moulting area for the short-billed and barnacle goose , which also breed here to a small extent. The populations of both species have grown over the past few decades. Besides Jamesonland in the summer of water birds like the long-tailed duck , the King Eider the star and the common loon sought.

Several species of waders have been recorded in the area. The sanderling , the ringed plover , the dunlin and the turnstone are widespread. In addition, also the breeding Red Knot , the Odins- and the phalarope . The whimbrel and golden plover occur exclusively in Jamesonland on Greenland.

The gyrfalcon is the only bird of prey that breeds in Jamesonland. The ptarmigan is also represented. However, its population fluctuates greatly. The falcon skua breeds in suitable habitats . From the order of passerine birds nest five species in the area, but only the snow bunting and the Ravens are common. European siskins , polar siskins and spur bunting are only found sporadically.

Arctic tern colonies can be found along the south and west coasts of Jamesonland, where swallow gulls occasionally breed. Icegulls breed in small colonies on coastal cliffs.

fishes

The arctic char is the only freshwater fish to be found in Jamesonland . Since all other rivers in the area dry up in summer or freeze to the bottom in winter, it occurs exclusively in the Schuchert Flod.

history

Historical geological map of Scoresbysund with Jamesonland (1896)

Traces of the Thule culture have been found in several locations in Jamesonland. Numerous winter houses, tent rings and graves at Ittorisseq near Cape Stewart prove that this was the largest settlement in the area.

William Scoresby was the first European to reach Jamesonland in 1822. He named it after the Scottish natural historian and geologist Robert Jameson . In the course of the Danish expansion to East Greenland, Carl Ryder's expedition landed at Cape Stewart in 1891 , where they encountered reindeer that died out in East Greenland just a few years later. Ryder spent the winter near the island of Danmark Ø (Ujuaakajiip Nunaa) in Scoresbysund and explored the neighboring coasts by steamboat . The expedition discovered numerous fossils from the Jura. But she also found evidence that the region had been inhabited by Inuit relatively recently . On the Carlsberg Foundation expedition to East Greenland led by Georg Carl Amdrup , Nikolaj Hartz paid a visit to Jamesonland in 1900 and found dinosaur footprints and other fossils.

In 1924 Ejnar Mikkelsen founded the settlement of Scoresbysund (today Ittoqqortoormiit ) in the south of Liverpool Lands, just 15 miles east of Jamesonland . Since then, the area has been regularly visited by Greenlandic hunters. The French polar explorer Jean-Baptiste Charcot paid only a brief visit to Jamesonland in 1925, but Alfred Rosenkrantz (1898–1974) and Tom Harris (1903–1983), who were part of Lauge Koch's geological expedition of 1926/27, led extensive tours to the east of Jamesonland scientific work and accurate mapping. Alfred Wegener's Greenland expedition of 1930/31 was based on three stations - the middle of the ice on the Greenland ice sheet , the west station at Uummannaq and the east station on the west coast of Jamesonland at 71 ° north latitude. From September 1930 to June 1931, Walther Kopp (1901–1990) and two colleagues at the east station mainly carried out weather observations.

During the Norwegian occupation of part of East Greenland as Eirik Raudes Land from 1931 to 1933, both a Norwegian ( Helge Ingstad ) and Danish expeditions were active in Jamesonland. In 1937, Lauge Koch founded the Gurreholm scientific station at the mouth of the Schuchert Flod. Icelandic ponies were housed here in the winter of 1937/38 . The station was used by the US Army as the Bluie East 3 military base during World War II .

Economic use

Fishing takes place only for the private consumption of the residents of Ittoqqortoormiit. Fishing tourism plays a subordinate role.

The government of Greenland sets quotas for hunting musk ox every year. In 2010/11 for Jameson and Liverpool Land this was 81 animals, 60 for registered local hunters and 21 for trophy hunters . Mountain hares, arctic foxes, geese and eiders are only hunted to a limited extent in Jamesonland and for local use.

The tourism in Ittoqqortoormiit has increased. Day trips to Jamesonland are limited to the coast.

In December 1984, a consortium led by the Atlantic Richfield Company was granted an oil and gas exploration license. The company built Nerlerit Inaat Airport in 1985 and carried out extensive seismic surveys. However, the license was given up in 1990 before the first drilling , and the airport was sold to Mittarfeqarfiit .

literature

Web links


Individual evidence

  1. Anthony K. Higgins: Exploration history and place names of northern East Greenland (= Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland Bulletin 21, 2010), ISBN 978-87-7871-292-9 (English). P. 206 f. ( PDF ; 12.3 MB).
  2. Population in towns and settlements July 1st 2011-2018 on the homepage of Statbank Greenland, accessed on 3rd August 2018
  3. M. Marzola, O. Mateus, O. Wings, N. Klein, J. Mìlan, LB Clemmensen: The Late Triassic herpetofauna of the Jameson Land Basin (East Greenland): review and updates . In: XIV EAVP Meeting, 6. – 10. July 2016, Haarlem, Netherlands, p. 117 (English).
  4. Jens N. Lallensack, Hendrik Klein, Jesper Milan Oliver Wings, Octávio Mateus, Lars B. Clemmensen: sauropodomorpha dinosaur trackways from the Fleming Fjord Formation of East Greenland: Evidence for Late Triassic sauropods . In: Acta Palaeontologica Polonica . Volume 62, No. 4, 2017, pp. 833-843 (English). doi : 10.4202 / app.00374.2017
  5. Finn Surlyk: The Jurassic of East Greenland: a sedimentary record of thermal subsidence, onset and culmination of rifting . In: Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland Bulletin Volume 1, 2003, pp. 659–722 (English)
  6. Jump up Bolvig Hansen, Jesper Milàn, Lars B. Clemmensen, Jan Schulz Adolfssen, Eliza Jarl Estrup, Nicole Klein, Octávio Mateus, Oliver Wings: Coprolites from the Late Triassic Kap Stewart Formation, Jameson Land, East Greenland: morphology, classification and prey inclusions . In: BP Kear, J. Lindgren, JH Hurum, J. Milàn, V. Vajda (Eds.): Mesozoic Biotas of Scandinavia and its Arctic Territories . Geological Society of London, London 2016, ISBN 978-1-86239-748-4 , pp. 49–69 , doi : 10.1144 / SP434.12 (English, limited preview in Google Book Search).
  7. Kalaallit Nunaat high arctic tundra on the homepage of the World Wide Fund For Nature (WWF), accessed on July 31, 2018 (English)
  8. Heden at Ramsar Sites Information Service, accessed on August 3, 2018.
  9. Heden (GL044) , data sheet on the BirdLife International website, accessed August 1, 2018.
  10. Spencer Apollonio: Lands that Hold One Spellbound . University of Calgary Press, 2008, ISBN 978-1-55238-240-0 , pp. 71 (English, limited preview in Google Book search).
  11. Nikolaj Hartz: Den østgrønlandske Expedition 1900. Ski expeditions from Cape Dalton to Kong Oscars Fjord . In: Geografisk Tidsskrift . Volume 16, 1901-1902, pp. 133-142 (Danish).
  12. Spencer Apollonio: Lands that Hold One Spellbound . University of Calgary Press, 2008, ISBN 978-1-55238-240-0 , pp. 163 (English, limited preview in Google Book search).
  13. Walther Kopp: The East Station . In: Else Wegener (Ed.): Alfred Wegener's last trip to Greenland , Brockhaus, Leipzig 1932.
  14. Anthony K. Higgins: Exploration history and place names of northern East Greenland (= Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland Bulletin 21, 2010), ISBN 978-87-7871-292-9 (English). P. 186 ( PDF ; 12.3 MB).
  15. Nerlerit Inaat Airport ( Memento from March 4, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) on the Air Greenland website (English)

Coordinates: 71 ° 0 ′  N , 23 ° 15 ′  W