Although our ship was described as being “ice-hardened,” no ship is a match for icebergs of any substantial size. During storms, our ship was obliged to get into the lee of some land, so icebergs and such would blow away, rather than pile up around the ship. This was one such day.
The morning of September 4 was windy, with heavy rain. Gale-force winds from the north and rain were predicted throughout the day. The ship traveled from Skaergaard Bay to another, more ice-free fjord to the west, on the south side of Kraemer Island. In this photo, the ship was just starting to leave the mouth of Skaergaard Bay en route to the sheltered fjord. This view is to the south toward Pilespidsen. Note: I have not found a map labeled in enough detail, but I think the fjord we sheltered in is Kraemer Bay, on the south side of Kramer island, near which is the Kraemer Island macrodike, though we could not see it.
Photo from the ship of a 600 m long iceberg in Kangerlussuaq Bay. The ship is here traveling to the sheltered fjord.
Continued travel through small bergs and ice bits. The north wind is blowing a massive stream of icebergs out of Kangerlussuaq Fjord to the west, far in front of the ship.
The following five photos were taken from the ship at anchor. The photo sequence swings around to the left from a view to the east to a view to the south, out the mouth of the fjord where we are anchored for the day. Though the ship is only ~300 m from the fjord walls, the anchor is resting on the bottom in >100 m of water.
This is the east side of the fjord with Archean amphibolite and felsic gneiss, and a few Tertiary dikes cutting the Archean rocks. A small muddy stream flows into the fjord, forming a plume of muddy water that switches its flow direction with the tide.
Looking north toward the end of the fjord. A broad synformal structure in the Archean rocks is visible, cut by numerous Tertiary basaltic dikes. The distant peaks are on the north side of Watkins Fjord, and have snow on them down to an elevation of ~400 m.
The northwest side of the fjord has gneisses cut by numerous dikes of many widths and orientations.
This is the west side of the fjord. The light-colored rock in the center and to the left is a Tertiary syenite. The dark rock cutting upward to the right is an Archean amphibolite underlain by felsic Archean gneisses. There is an intrusion breccia along the syenite margin, but it is hard to see here.
View to the south, out of the fjord. The north wind has long since cleared our fjord of ice, but in the distance a massive flotilla of ice streams southward out of the Kangerlussuaq Fjord.
