Reliktbukta: a remote bay in Duvefjord on Nordaustland

Relikt­buk­ta and the sur­roun­ding polar desert.

Relikt­buk­ta is a bay at the end of the world, in Duvefjord on the nor­the­ast side of Nord­aus­t­land. Poor­ly char­ted waters and remo­ten­ess pro­tect the area from too many visi­tors, but the bay has a good repu­ta­ti­on among­st tho­se who know the place for its harsh scenic beau­ty. So given the­re is a chan­ce, I would not want to miss the oppor­tu­ni­ty for a visit to Relikt­buk­ta. Seen from a distance, the place may not appear to be too exci­ting: the land­scape is wide-open, the moun­ta­ins not too high and pla­teau-shaped rather than poin­ted, and the­re are no gla­ciers coming down to the sea.

But on a clo­ser view, someone with a sen­se for all the scenic details will find a lot to get deligh­ted about. The vege­ta­ti­on is very scarse, but you may find a Sval­bard pop­py every here and the­re, and then the­re are of cour­se all the fasci­na­ting land­scape phe­no­me­na rela­ted to cold tem­pe­ra­tures, inclu­ding ice wed­ges and other kinds of frost pat­ter­ned ground, rai­sed fos­sil bea­ches and a lot of frost-shat­te­red rocks.

Tal­king about rocks: geo­lo­gi­cal­ly, this part of Nord­aus­t­land con­sists of old schist.

Wea­the­ring schist in Relikt­buk­ta.

The schist brings colour and struc­tu­re to the land­scape, but this kind of bed­rock also has some very prac­ti­cal advan­ta­ges: as it wea­thers quite easi­ly to pro­du­ce fine-grai­ned coar­se sand and gra­vel, wal­king on schist is usual­ly much more plea­sant than in gra­ni­te or gneiss are­as in neigh­bou­ring are­as to the west, in Rijpfjord, or to the east, whe­re count­less lar­ge blocks make wal­king much more chal­len­ging.

The ent­rance to the lagoon in Relikt­buk­ta from a bird’s eye’s per­spec­ti­ve.
A pho­to from the book Nor­we­gens ark­ti­scher Nor­den (2): Aeri­al Arc­tic

Relikt­buk­ta pho­to gal­lery

And final­ly some impres­si­ons from Relikt­buk­ta and sur­roun­dings.

Click on thumb­nail to open an enlar­ged ver­si­on of the spe­ci­fic pho­to.

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