Woodfjord: Wigdehlpynten

Wigdehlpynten is a flat little peninsula in inner Woodfjord. A little known and rarely visited place, but scenically beautiful (as the whole area) on a lovely day like this. Then, the sunlight will bring the colours out and it will make them shine: the mountains are carved out of Old Red Sandstone: deposited as sediment eroded from the Caledonian mountains, which were folded up a good 400 million years ago, during the Devonian (just roughly, 350-400 million years ago) in large areas of tectonic subsidence (“graben”). In this case, it is the so-called Andrée Land graben, after the part of Spitsbergen between Woodfjord and Wijdefjord. The reddish colour is derived from hematite, an iron oxide.

Panorama 1 – Wigdehlpynten

A fine summer day in this area, with a blue sky, green tundra and red mountains, is an unforgettably beautiful experience! If you have a sense for this kind of beauty …

Panorama 2 – Wigdehlpynten

The second panorama explains the name Woodfjord, earlier known as Wood Bay: the name is derived from the large amounts of driftwood which come with the currents from Siberia across the Arctic Ocean. Good raw material, by the way, to produce Spitsbergen driftwood picture frames 🙂

←Back