Maniitsoq

"Sukkertoppen, Greenland" redirects here. For the ice cap, see Maniitsoq Ice Cap.

Maniitsoq Sukkertoppen
Town
Maniitsoq
Maniitsoq Location within Greenland
Coordinates: 65°25′00″N 52°54′00″W
State	Kingdom of Denmark
Constituent country	Greenland
Municipality	Qeqqata
Founded	1782
Population  (2020)
• Total	2,534[1]
Time zone	UTC−02:00 (Western Greenland Time)
• Summer (DST)	UTC−01:00 (Western Greenland Summer Time)
Postal code	3912
Website	maniitsoq.gl

Maniitsoq (Greenlandic pronunciation: [maniːtsːɔq]),[2][3][4] is a town in Maniitsoq Island, western Greenland located in the Qeqqata municipality. With 2,534 inhabitants as of 2020^[update],[1] it is the sixth-largest town in Greenland.

History

Archaeological finds indicate that the area has been settled for more than 4,000 years.^[citation needed]

The modern town was founded as New or Nye-Maniitsoq[5][6] in 1782 by Danish colonists relocating from the original Sukkertoppen, a trading post founded in 1755 at the site of present-day Kangaamiut.[7] In time, the original name was taken up again.

In the 19th century, the town served as a major trading post for the Royal Greenland Trading Department's trade in reindeer hides.[8]

Maniitsoq Municipality was a former municipality of Greenland. It is now part of Qeqqata Municipality.

Industry

There have been plans for an Alcoa aluminium smelting plant either at Maniitsoq or Sisimiut for an extended period, at least since 2008, without progressing to construction.[9] The plant would provide employment for 600–700 people,[10] or more than 1 percent of the population of Greenland. As it is a vital decision for the town, wide public consultations were carried out in 2008–2010[11][12][13] by both the town authorities and the Greenland Home Rule Government in order to address potential environmental and social concerns.[14][15]

Transport

Air

Main article: Maniitsoq Airport

Maniitsoq is served by Air Greenland with flights to Nuuk, Kangerlussuaq, and Sisimiut.[16]

Sea

Maniitsoq is a port of call for the Arctic Umiaq ferry.[17]

Population

With 2,534 inhabitants as of 2020^[update], Maniitsoq has experienced a decline in population over a long period of time.[1] The town has lost almost 15% of its population relative to 1990 levels, and nearly 9% relative to 2000 levels.[1]

Migrants from the smaller settlements such as rapidly depopulating Kangaamiut choose to migrate to Sisimiut, the capital in Nuuk, and sometimes to Denmark, rather than Maniitsoq. Kangerlussuaq and Sisimiut are the only settlement in the Qeqqata municipality exhibiting stable growth patterns over the last two decades.

Maniitsoq population dynamics, 1991-2010. Source: Statistics Greenland[1]

Notable people

Sukkertoppen Church, Maniitsoq

• Germaine Arnaktauyok (b. 1946), Inuk printmaker, painter, and drawer
• Mimi Karlsen (b. 1957), politician
• Sofie Petersen (b. 1955), Lutheran Bishop of Greenland
• Rasmus Lyberth (b. 1951), singer, actor
• Thue Christiansen (1940–2022), designer of the Greenlandic flag, artist

Literature

The novel The Prophets of Eternal Fjord by Kim Leine is set in Sukkertoppen.

Maniitsoq structure

Main article: Maniitsoq structure

The Maniitsoq structure is a proposed 3 billion-year-old (3 Ga) impact structure located in the Akia terrane of the North Atlantic Craton,[18][19] centred about 55 km (34 mi) south-east of the town of Maniitsoq, Greenland, at 65°15′N 51°50′W. It's origin has been debated since it was first proposed as an impact structure in 2012.[18] The Maniitsoq structure is not recognised as an impact structure by the Earth Impact Database.[20]

The proposal was criticised for not meeting established criteria for recognising impact craters.[19][21] Subsequent studies in the region have demonstrated that there is no evidence for an impact structure, and a number of observations directly contradict the earlier impact structure proposals.[22][23][24][25]

In support of the proposal, a study published in 2023,[26] used electron microscopy to examine zircon grains from seven sites, including the Maniitsoq structure. The study found distinctive shock-induced planar microstructures in the zircon grains from the four recognized impact structure, as well as in the Maniitsoq structure. These microstructures were not found in grains from the two non-impact tectonic deformation structures.

Twin towns – sister cities

Maniitsoq is twinned with:

• Esbjerg, Denmark
• Salzburg, Austria

References

1. "Population by Localities". Statistical Greenland.
2. The pre-1973 spelling was Manîtsoq or Mannétsoĸ. The name means "Place of Rugged Terrain".
3. Ross, James. Narrative of a Second Voyage in Search of a North-west Passage, and of a Residence in the Arctic Regions During the Years 1829, 1830, 1831, 1832, 1833. A.W. Webster, 1835.
4. Air Greenland. "Maniitsoq Archived 2009-02-11 at the Wayback Machine".
5. Walker, J. & al. "British North America. Published under the superintendence of the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge." Baldwin & Cradock (London), 1834.
6. Colton, G.W. "Northern America. British, Russian & Danish Possessions In North America." J.H. Colton & Co. (New York), 1855.
7. O'Carroll, Etain (2005). Greenland and the Arctic. Lonely Planet. pp. 155–156. ISBN 1-74059-095-3.
8. Kane, Elisha Kent. Arctic Explorations: The Second Grinnell Expedition. 1856.
9. Bennett, Mia (5 June 2017). "Why Greenland Is Tapping Foreign Labor to Fill Fish-Processing Jobs". News Deeply. Retrieved 2019-03-15.
10. "Aluminium smelting plant". Sisimiut Town, Official Website. Retrieved 5 July 2010.^[permanent dead link‍]
11. "Alcoa holds town hall meeting in Sisimiut". Sermitsiaq. 15 January 2008. Archived from the original on 24 May 2012. Retrieved 5 July 2010.
12. "Where should Alcoa plant be located?". Sermitsiaq. 21 February 2008. Archived from the original on 24 May 2012. Retrieved 5 July 2010.
13. "Alcoa in Greenland". Alcoa. Archived from the original on 22 May 2010. Retrieved 5 July 2010.
14. "Alcoa project can paralyse building sector". Sermitsiaq. 13 April 2008. Archived from the original on 2012-05-24. Retrieved 5 July 2010.
15. "Alcoa eller ej". Sermitsiaq (in Danish). 25 March 2010. Archived from the original on 2010-03-28. Retrieved 5 July 2010.
16. "Booking system". Air Greenland. Archived from the original on 22 April 2010. Retrieved 11 July 2010.
17. AUL, Timetable 2009^[permanent dead link‍]
18. Adam A.Garde, Iain McDonald, Brendan Dyck, Nynke Keulen (2012). "Searching for giant, ancient impact structures on Earth: The Mesoarchaean Maniitsoq structure, West Greenland". Earth and Planetary Science Letters. 337–338: 197–210. Bibcode:2012E&PSL.337..197G. doi:10.1016/j.epsl.2012.04.026 – via Elsevier Science Direct.
19. Wolf U. Reimold, Roger L. Gibson, Christian Koeberl (2013). "Comment on "Searching for giant, ancient impact structures on Earth: The Mesoarchaean Maniitsoq structure, West Greenland" by Garde et al". Earth and Planetary Science Letters. 369–370: 333–335. doi:10.1016/j.epsl.2013.04.014 – via Elsevier Science Direct.
20. "Earth Impact Database". www.passc.net. Retrieved 2020-09-30.
21. Wolf U. Reimold, Ludovic Ferrière, Alex Deutsch, Christian Koeberl (2014). "Impact controversies: Impact recognition criteria and related issues". Meteoritics and Planetary Science. 49 (5): 723–731. Bibcode:2014M&PS...49..723R. doi:10.1111/maps.12284. S2CID 128625029.
22. C. L. Kirkland, C. Yakymchuk, J. Hollis, H. Heide-Jørgensen, M. Danišík (2018). "Mesoarchean exhumation of the Akia terrane and a common Neoarchean tectonothermal history for West Greenland". Precambrian Research. 314: 129–144. Bibcode:2018PreR..314..129K. doi:10.1016/j.precamres.2018.06.004. S2CID 135213870.
23. N. J. Gardiner, C. L. Kirkland, J. Hollis, K. Szilas, A. Steenfelt, C. Yakymchuk, H. Heide-Jørgensen (2019). "Building Mesoarchaean crust upon Eoarchaean roots: the Akia Terrane, West Greenland". Contributions to Mineralogy and Petrology. 174 (3): 20. Bibcode:2019CoMP..174...20G. doi:10.1007/s00410-019-1554-x. hdl:10023/18486. S2CID 134027320.
24. C. Yakymchuk, C. L. Kirkland, J. A. Hollis, J. Kendrick, N. J. Gardiner, K. Szilas (2020). "Mesoarchean partial melting of mafic crust and tonalite production during high-T–low-P stagnant tectonism, Akia Terrane, West Greenland". Precambrian Research. 339: 105615. Bibcode:2020PreR..339j5615Y. doi:10.1016/j.precamres.2020.105615. hdl:10023/19439. S2CID 213973363.
25. Pedro Waterton, William R. Hyde, Jonas Tusch, Julie A. Hollis, Christopher L. Kirkland, Carson Kinney, Chris Yakymchuk, Nicholas J. Gardiner, David Zakharov, Hugo K. H. Olierook, Peter C. Lightfoot, Kristoffer Szilas (2020). "Geodynamic Implications of Synchronous Norite and TTG Formation in the 3 Ga Maniitsoq Norite Belt, West Greenland". Frontiers in Earth Science. 8: 562062. Bibcode:2020FrEaS...8..406W. doi:10.3389/feart.2020.562062. hdl:10023/20744.
26. Adam A. Garde; L. Johansson; N. Keulen; A. Schreiber; R. Wirth (2023). "Zircon Microstructures in Large, Deeply Eroded Impact Structures and Terrestrial Seismites". Journal of Petrology, Oxford University Press. 64 (11). Retrieved 28 August 2024.

External links

• Winter's Yearning (POV documentary series): Greenland reckons with its Danish colonial past and the promised future by an US company.