Borup Fiord Pass

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Satellite image of the Borup Fiord Pass area including Borup Pass spring. Signs of Life - Sulfur Deposits at Borup Fiord Pass, Canadian Arctic.jpg
Satellite image of the Borup Fiord Pass area including Borup Pass spring.
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Borup Fiord Pass
Location within Canada

Borup Fiord Pass is a glacier-carved valley on Ellesmere Island in Nunavut, Canada. The valley contains a natural spring which carries fluids from the subsurface to the surface, sometimes passing through the glacial ice in the process. The spring is the only known place where sulfur from a natural spring is deposited over ice. [1] At the Borup Fiord Pass spring, hydrogen sulphide gas in the water is converted to stable deposits of either elemental sulfur, the most common material in the deposit, or gypsum. [1] The process by which hydrogen sulfide becomes sulfur is complex, and most often occurs when microbes, like bacteria, are present. [1]

To the south the pass leads into Esayoo Bay, part of the Borup Fiord.

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Borup Fiord is located on Ellesmere Island, Qikiqtaaluk Region, Nunavut Canada. The mouth of the fiord opens into Greely Fiord. To the west is Oobloyah Bay and to the north is the Neil Peninsula and the Neil Icecap. The eastern arm, known as Esayoo Bay leads to Borup Fiord Pass. Detailed studies of the Borup Fiord area between Oobloyah Bay and Esayoo Bay have been done in summer 1988 by geographers from Heidelberg University.

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References

  1. 1 2 3 "Signs of Life: Sulfur Deposits at Borup Fiord Pass, Canadian Arctic". NASA.

81°00′N081°40′W / 81.000°N 81.667°W / 81.000; -81.667 (Borup Fiord Pass)