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Ammonittøya

360 degree panorama of an island in Hornsund (Spitsbergen)

Ammo­nit­tøya is a small island in Bre­pol­len (inner­most Horn­sund). The name points towards fos­sils (ammo­ni­tes) dis­co­ver­ed here. The ammo­ni­tes are found in morai­ne sedi­ments cove­ring most of the island, which was gla­cier-cover­ed until the gla­ciers rece­ded in the ear­ly 20th cen­tu­ry. The rocks con­tai­ning the fos­sils were brought by gla­ciers from any­whe­re in the catch­ment area of the gla­ciers. This includes lar­ge are­as around Bre­pol­len with sedi­men­ta­ry bed­rock dating into the Juras­sic and Creta­ce­ous (and Ter­tia­ry, but this does not con­tain ammo­ni­tes in Spits­ber­gen).

Whe­re­ver the ammo­ni­tes exact­ly came from, they cer­tain­ly enjoy bril­li­ant views over Bre­pol­len the­se days and more or less regu­lar visits from polar bears. The bay Bre­pol­len is the inner­most part of Horn­sund. Now a wide-open bay sur­roun­ded by gla­ciers and morai­ne pen­in­su­la, it did not even exist in the ear­ly 20th cen­tu­ry! It came into exis­tence as gla­ciers were retrea­ting during the 20th cen­tu­ry.

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last modification: 2019-04-22 · copyright: Rolf Stange
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