Sullorsuaq Strait looking from the northeast with Nuussuaq Peninsula shoreline on the foreground and Qeqertarsuaq Island on the horizon.
The strait separates Nuussuaq Peninsula in the northeast from Qeqertarsuaq Island in the southwest.[1] The strait waterway connects inner Disko Bay in the southeast with Baffin Bay in the northwest. Qeqertarsuatsiaq Island is located in the northeastern mouth of the strait, where it opens into Baffin Bay. At the southeastern end, the large Alluttoq Island is located in the outlet of the strait, at the confluence with Disko Bay.[2]
Settlement
Saqqaq is the only settlement in the area, located in the southern part on the shores of Nuussuaq Peninsula. The former coal mining settlement of Qullissat, founded in 1924, was located on the northeast coast of Disko Island and grew into one of Greenland's larger settlements. Qullissat was abandoned in 1972, and the entire northern coast of Disko Island is now uninhabited.
History
Archaeological excavations in Qilakitsoq on the northeastern shore revealed the existence of an ancient Arctic culture later named the Saqqaq culture, which is the archaeological designation of the earliest Palaeo-Eskimo culture of west and southeast part of Greenland. The natives inhabited the area of west-central Greenland between 2500 BCE and 800 BCE.[3]
Major landslides have struck Sullorsuaq Strait since prehistoric times, sometimes generating tsunamis or megatsunamis:
Research indicates that nine large tsunamigenic landslides struck the strait in prehistoric times during the Holocene, seven of them from the southern coast of the Nuussuaq Peninsula and two from the northern coast of Disko Island. Seven of the landslides apparently occurred between about 8,020 BC and 6,520 BC with unidentified tsunamigenic effects. The two most recent prehistoric landslides generated megatsunamis which struck Alluttoq Island, the first sometime around 5,650 BC with a run-up height of 41 to 66 metres (135 to 217ft), and another that struck around 5,350 BC with a run-up height of 45 to 70 metres (148 to 230ft).[4]
On 15 December 1952, an 80-metre (262ft) thick landslide began at a height of 500 to 700 metres (1,640 to 2,297ft) on a slope of the mountain Niiortuut (70°20′56″N53°10′41″W / 70.349°N 053.178°W / 70.349; -053.178 (Niiortuut)) on the southern coast of the Nuussuaq Peninsula and traveled 2,750 metres (3,007yd). Between 1,800,000 and 4,500,000 cubic metres (2,400,000 and 5,900,000cuyd) of material entered the strait, creating 4.7 hectares (12 acres) of new land extending 90 metres (295ft) into the strait and generating a tsunami. With a run-up height of 4.5 to 7.7 metres (15 to 25ft), the wave struck a group of four fishermen 10 kilometres (6.2mi) away on the southern coast of the Nuussuaq Peninsula, killing one of them. Then it struck the town of Qullissat30 kilometres (19mi) away on Disko Island, where it had a run-up height of 2.2 to 2.7 metres (7ft 3in to 8ft 10in).[5]
On 21 November 2020, a 90,000,000-cubic-metre (120,000,000cuyd) landslide with a mass of 260,000,000 tons fell from an elevation of 1,000 to 1,400 metres (3,300 to 4,600ft) at Paatuut on the southern coast of the Nuussuaq Peninsula, reaching a speed of 140 kilometres per hour (87mph). About 30,000,000 cubic metres (39,000,000cuyd) of material with a mass of 87,000,000 tons entered the strait, generating a megatsunami. The wave had a run-up height of 50 metres (164ft) near the landslide and 28 metres (92ft) at the former site of Qullissat, 20 kilometres (11nmi; 12mi) away, where it inundated the coast as far as 100 metres (328ft) inland. Refracted energy from the tsunami created a wave with a run-up height of 3 metres (9.8ft) that destroyed boats at Saqqaq, 40 kilometres (25mi) from the landslide.[6]
An unwitnessed landslide from an elevation of 600 to 880 metres (2,000 to 2,900ft) consisting of 18,300,000 to 25,900,000 cubic metres (23,900,000 to 33,900,000cuyd) of frozen debris and rock occurred at Assapaat (70°19′09″N052°59′48″W / 70.31917°N 52.99667°W / 70.31917; -52.99667 (Assapaat)) on the southern coast of the Nuussuaq Peninsula on 13 June 2021. About 3,900,000 cubic metres (5,100,000cuyd) of material entered the strait but did not generate a tsunami.[7]
↑ Svennevig, Kristian; Keiding, Marie; Korsgaard, Niels Jákup; Lucas, Antoine; Owen, Matthew; Poulsen, Majken Djurhuus; Priebe, Janina; Sørensen, Erik Vest; Morino, Costanza (February 2023). "Uncovering a 70-year-old permafrost degradation induced disaster in the Arctic, the 1952 Niiortuut landslide-tsunami in central West Greenland". Science of the Total Environment. 859 (Pt 1) 160110. Bibcode:2023ScTEn.85960110S. doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.160110. hdl:11577/3481426. PMID36370780.
↑ Dahl-Jensen, Trine; Larsen, Lotte Melchior; Pedersen, Stig A. Schack; Pedersen, Jerrik; Jepsen, Hans F.; Pedersen, Gunver; Nielsen, Tove; Pedersen, Asger Ken; Von Platen-Hallermund, Frants; Weng, Willy (January 2004). "Landslide and Tsunami 21 November 2000 in Paatuut, West Greenland". Natural Hazards. 31 (1): 277–287. Bibcode:2004NatHa..31..277D. doi:10.1023/B:NHAZ.0000020264.70048.95.
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