Meteorite Island

Island in Baffin Bay From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Meteorite Island (Danish: Meteorit Ø) is an island in Baffin Bay, in Avannaata municipality, off NW Greenland.[1]

Coordinates76.0197°N 65.1149°W / 76.0197; -65.1149
MunicipalityAvannaata
Populationuninhabited
Quick facts Native name: SavigsivikMeteorit Ø (Danish), Geography ...
Meteorite Island
Native name:
Savigsivik
Meteorit Ø (Danish)
Meteorite Island is located in Greenland
Meteorite Island
Meteorite Island
Geography
LocationBaffin Bay, Greenland
Coordinates76.0197°N 65.1149°W / 76.0197; -65.1149
Administration
Greenland
MunicipalityAvannaata
Demographics
Populationuninhabited
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The Cape York Meteorite fell thousands of years ago on the southern shore of this island.[2]

Geography

Meteorite Island is quite barren and desolate. It lies off the shore of Meteor Bay and is the largest of the group part of a small chain of coastal islands formed by Meteorite Island, Salve Island, George Island, Bushnan Island [ceb; sv] and a small islet. This chain of islands is located between Cape York and Cape Melville.[3]

The Inuit village of Savissivik is located at the southwestern end of Meteorite Island.[4] The settlement has a heliport, Savissivik Heliport and in 2010 it had 66 inhabitants.[5] In the Greenlandic language, the name of the settlement Savissivik means 'place of meteorite iron' (savik = iron/knife),[6] alluding to the numerous meteorites from 10,000 years ago that have been found in the area.[7] The meteorite is estimated to have weighed 100 tonnes before it exploded.[7] The iron from the meteorite attracted migrating Inuit from Arctic Canada.[7]

19th century photograph of Meteorite Island
Meteorite Island is located in Thule, Greenland
Meteorite Island
Location of Meteorite Island

See also

References

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