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HomeSpits­ber­gen infor­ma­ti­onIslands: Spits­ber­gen & Co.Isfjord → Ymer­buk­ta & Erd­mann­flya

Ymerbukta: Esmarkbreen and Erdmannflya

Glaciers, mountains and tundra on the north side of Isfjord

Map: Ymerbukta and Erdmannflya

Ymer­buk­ta and Erd­mann­flya on the north side of the Isfjord.

Ymer­buk­ta is a bay on the north side of Isfjord, 36 kilo­me­t­res west of Lon­gye­ar­by­en. Most tou­rists visit Ymer­buk­ta as part of a day trip on one of the excur­si­on boats from Lon­gye­ar­by­en, which sail past the Esmark­breen gla­cier. Esmark­breen is sur­roun­ded by striking, rug­ged moun­ta­ins with beau­tiful struc­tures.

Esmarkbreen

Esmark­breen.

Erd­mann­flya lies to the east of Ymer­buk­ta. Vast and flat, this tun­dra plain may seem unre­mar­kab­le from a distance. Up clo­se, howe­ver, Erd­mann­flya is an inte­res­t­ing and varied land­scape. Howe­ver, the sur­roun­ding waters are most­ly very shal­low, so the shore is not always easi­ly acces­si­ble.

Tundra, Erdmannflya

Wide-open tun­dra on Erd­mann­flya.

Ymer­buk­ta (pro­no­un­ced ‘Ümer’, may­be “Eemer­buk­ta” is the next-best approach) is named after a giant from Nor­se mytho­lo­gy, Esmark­breen after the Swe­dish mine­ra­lo­gist Jens Esmark (1763-1839) and Erd­mann­flya after Esmark’s Nor­we­gi­an col­le­ague Axel Joa­chim Erd­mann (1814-69).

Geo­lo­gy

As a first appro­xi­ma­ti­on, the geo­lo­gi­cal bed­rock in Isfjord is get­ting youn­ger from west to east, i.e. from the outer coast to the inner fjord, as in Bell­sund and Horn­sund. At least from the outer coast to cen­tral Isfjord (up to Coles­buk­ta and Lon­gye­ar­by­en).

This is true in so far as the Ymer­buk­ta-Erd­mann­flya area has youn­ger rocks than neigh­bou­ring Trygg­ham­na to the west. The­re (Trygg­ham­na) it is the very old base­ment rocks and the Car­bo­ni­fe­rous and Per­mi­an (i.e. Palaeo­zoic). In Ymer­buk­ta it starts with the Tri­as­sic, i.e. the begin­ning of the Meso­zoic (Palaeo­zoic, the age of the dino­saurs).

Sediment layers, Trias, Ymerbukta

Tri­as­sic sedi­ment lay­ers on the west side of Ymer­buk­ta.

The same is true within the Ymer­buk­ta-Erd­mann­flya area: the fur­ther east, the youn­ger. On the eas­tern side of Erd­mann­flya we are in the ear­ly Ter­tia­ry (now offi­ci­al­ly cal­led the Palaeo­ge­ne, but ‘Ter­tia­ry’ is pro­ba­b­ly more fami­li­ar to most peo­p­le). This means that a wide geo­lo­gi­cal spec­trum is repre­sen­ted in this area.

Tertiary sandstone, Ymerbukta

Ter­tia­ry sand­stone expo­sed on a coas­tal cliff on the eas­tern side of Ymer­buk­ta.

In any case, the­se are all sedi­men­ta­ry rocks, most­ly cla­s­tic sedi­ments (what is washed tog­e­ther by rivers and in coas­tal and shal­low sea are­as): Sand­sto­nes and even finer grai­ned silts­to­nes and mud­s­to­nes (in other words fos­si­li­sed mud) and car­bo­na­tes (lime­s­tone). Fos­sils can also be found, such as shells and ammo­ni­tes from the Tri­as­sic and Juras­sic peri­ods.

Tec­to­ni­cal­ly, the who­le regi­on has under­go­ne major move­ments: When Sval­bard and Green­land sepa­ra­ted, initi­al­ly fric­tion and pres­su­re cau­sed the stra­ta to be stron­gly dis­pla­ced, fold­ed and frac­tu­red (crossed by faults). The struc­tures are cle­ar­ly visi­ble in the moun­tain slo­pes sur­roun­ding Ymer­buk­ta.

Tectonic structures, Ymerbukta

Geo­lo­gi­cal struc­tures in Ymer­bu­ka.

This can dis­turb the local prin­ci­ple “the fur­ther east the youn­ger”. For exam­p­le, on the eas­tern shore of the Ymer­buk­ta, very clo­se to the gla­cier, the­re are small are­as of older rocks from the Per­mo-Car­bo­ni­fe­rous peri­od: hard lime­s­to­nes in which fos­sil corals and bra­chio­pods can be found.

Fossils, Ymerbukta

Fos­sil coral stems and bra­chio­pods from the upper Car­bo­ni­fe­rous or lower Per­mi­an.

The­re are coal seams in the Ter­tia­ry bed­rock on Erd­mann­flya just as in the geo­lo­gi­cal­ly equi­va­lent rocks around Barents­burg and Lon­gye­ar­by­en. The­se were explo­red by Rus­si­an geo­lo­gists in the 1970s, as evi­den­ced by a hut in the sou­thern part of Erd­mann­flya and a rui­ned hut on the shore on the wes­tern side of the plain (the eas­tern side of Ymer­bu­ka).

Land­scape

The most pro­mi­nent eye-cat­cher in Ymer­buk­ta is the Esmark­breen gla­cier, which many tou­rists mar­vel at, for exam­p­le as part of a fjord crui­se as a day trip from Lon­gye­ar­by­en. Esmark­breen is sur­roun­ded by beau­tiful moun­ta­ins, which, due to the steep­ness and fol­ding of the rock lay­ers, have a very rug­ged appearance (in con­trast to the south side of Isfjord bet­ween Lon­gye­ar­by­en and Barents­burg). The gla­cier its­elf is rece­ding rapidly, and in many places on the gla­cier front rocks are now emer­ging at the water­line.

Retreating glacier front of Esmarkbreen

Rocks are appearing under the retrea­ting gla­cier front of Esmark­breen.

Erd­mann­flya is an exten­si­ve plain, typi­cal of much of the west coast of Spits­ber­gen and the north side of the Isfjord. The geo­mor­pho­lo­gy of the­se coas­tal plains has never been ful­ly unders­tood, but ero­si­on of the coast­li­ne has pro­ba­b­ly play­ed a major role. It is striking that every one of the­se coas­tal plains is somehow dif­fe­rent in cha­rac­ter, at least at a clo­ser look.

Hiking, Erdmannflya

Hiking across the vast Erd­mann­flya.

If you look clo­se­ly, you can see traces of the shore­li­ne rece­ding into the sea in the form of old beach rid­ges (shore­li­nes) as a result of land uplift after the end of the last ice age (gla­cio-iso­sta­tic land uplift). In short, the hea­vy­weight of the Ice Age gla­ciers dis­ap­peared at the end of the Ice Age, sub­se­quent­ly the land rose a litt­le, thus the sea appeared to retre­at, the coast­li­ne moved into the sea and the old coast­li­ne appeared to move inland (in fact obvious­ly it stay­ed whe­re it was 🤪). This can be seen in the form of beau­tiful geo­me­tric pat­terns, espe­ci­al­ly from an ele­va­ted per­spec­ti­ve.

Fossil beach ridges, Erdmannflya

Fos­sil beach rid­ges on Erd­mann­flya.

On a small sca­le, the­re are beau­tiful struc­tures here and the­re, such as frost pat­ter­ned ground.

Frost patterned ground, Erdmannflya

Frost pat­ter­ned ground on Erd­mann­flya.

Flo­ra and fau­na

Pret­ty much ever­y­thing that swims in Arc­tic fjords swims in Ymer­buk­ta, at least occa­sio­nal­ly. Rin­ged and beard­ed seals are par­ti­cu­lar­ly easy to see in spring and ear­ly sum­mer, when the­re is still ice in the bay, becau­se the seals like to rest on the ice, and if you’re lucky the­re might be a wal­rus or two res­t­ing on the edge of the ice, and may­be even a polar bear wan­de­ring around some­whe­re.

Harbour seal, Ymerbukta

Curious har­bour seal (Pho­ca vitu­li­na) in Ymer­buk­ta.

The tun­dra on both sides of Ymer­buk­ta, but espe­ci­al­ly on the vast Erd­mann­flya, pro­vi­des good gra­zing for reinde­er …

Reindeer, Erdmannflya

Reinde­er on Erd­mann­flya.

… and of cour­se the various tun­dra birds, from geese to com­mon eiders, king eiders and many more. Of cour­se, the­re is always an arc­tic fox around some­whe­re.

Arctic fox, Erdmannflya

Arc­tic fox on Erd­mann­flya.

On Erd­mann­flya the­re is a lar­ger lake cal­led Straumsjøen. It is home to Arc­tic char, a trout-like fish that the locals like to catch (or net) (you need a fishing licence, only locals are allo­wed to use nets). In the sum­mer, it is easy to see what the char feed on: When the wind is reason­ab­ly calm, the num­e­rous insects quick­ly make their pre­sence felt.

Arctic char, Erdmannflya

Arc­tic char in a morai­ne lake on Erd­mann­flya.

Histo­ry

Regar­ding his­to­ri­cal signi­fi­can­ce, Ymer­buk­ta may not neces­s­a­ri­ly be one of Spitsbergen’s most pro­mi­nent fjords. On the shore of More­neki­len are the rather incon­spi­cuous remains of a Pomor hun­ting sta­ti­on. One can only assu­me that the bay must have been deep enough for boats in the Pomor peri­od in Spits­ber­gen, but has now sil­ted up to the point whe­re it is too shal­low for boats.

Pomor hunting station, Erdmannflya

Remains of a Pomor hun­ting sta­ti­on. More­neki­len, Erd­mann­flya.

The shores of Erd­mann­flya are almost all too shal­low for boats to land easi­ly. This, of cour­se, has an effect on use: no access, no use. Unless you have a heli­c­op­ter, like the Rus­si­an geo­lo­gists who explo­red the coal depo­sits the­re in the 1970s. The hut in the midd­le of the land is evi­dence of this – which is unu­su­al, as the vast majo­ri­ty of older huts are on the coast, whe­re buil­ding mate­ri­als can be brought in by boat. Of cour­se, that doesn’t mat­ter when you arri­ve by heli­c­op­ter.

Russian geologist's hut, Erdmannflya

Rus­si­an geologist’s hut on Erd­mann­flya.

A few old tracks still bear wit­ness to the Rus­si­ans’ work: the Rus­si­ans obvious­ly didn’t take envi­ron­men­tal pro­tec­tion too serious­ly back then (is anyo­ne sur­pri­sed?), using hea­vy vehic­les to get around the fra­gi­le tun­dra, wha­te­ver they were (pro­ba­b­ly trac­tors). Here and the­re, rus­ting iron signs with cru­de Cyril­lic let­ters still stand, tel­ling visi­tors who regis­tered the rights at the time: the Rus­si­an com­pa­ny Trust Ark­ti­ku­gol, which still owns and runs Barents­burg and Pyra­mi­den.

Russian annexation sign, Erdmannflya

Rus­si­an annexa­ti­on sign on Erd­mann­flya.

Pho­to gal­lery: Ymer­buk­ta and Esmark­breen

Some impres­si­ons of Ymer­buk­ta and Esmark­breen, bay and gla­cier. Pic­tures taken bet­ween 2006 and 2024, the months from May to Octo­ber are repre­sen­ted.

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

Pho­to gal­lery: Erd­mann­flya

And final­ly some pic­tures from Erd­mann­flya. The land­scape is a world of its own, but you have to see it up clo­se to app­re­cia­te all the details.

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

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last modification: 2025-01-21 · copyright: Rolf Stange
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