ancient block of ice, colored an uncommon black, detected near Labrador shoreline, might be approximately 100 millennia old
Up in the chilly North Atlantic, it's common to see icebergs floating by, but this one stood out. Snapped by a fisherman off Labrador, a photo shows an iceberg that's anything but typical - a coal-black monstrosity surrounded by its pure, white neighbors.
Fisherman Hallur Antoniussen, a seasoned sailor with years of experience off Greenland's coast, wasn't used to seeing such a sight. "It's all black," he remarked. "Nearly diamond-shaped." He captured this unusual image off the coast of Labrador, aboard the Saputi, over a hundred kilometers away in May. "It's something you don't see every day," Antoniussen added.
The viral photo sparked a flood of comments, like "It's an Oil Berg" and "Looks like a giant woolly mammoth!" But just what does this mysterious black iceberg represent?
Ice Ain't Always Nice
Antoniussen has seen his fair share of icebergs, but none like this one. CBC reached out to Lev Tarasov, a physicist and glacial earth systems modeler at Memorial University, to shed some light on the matter.
The easiest explanation, Tarasov suggested, is dirt. Yes, you heard that right - dirt. Greenland's glaciers aren't simply flowing rivers of ice. They act like giant machines, scraping the bedrock underneath. This friction mixes stone into a fine, dark powder that sometimes finds its way into the ice, sometimes for millennia.
As parts of these icy rivers move at speeds of up to 20 kilometers per year, they create ice streams that operate like conveyor belts. These streams carry ancient, dirt-streaked ice to the coast, where it eventually calves off into the sea as icebergs. Usually, these bergs are white or pale blue, but occasionally, a chunk breaks off that sports such a thorough infusion of ancient debris - ash, rock, or silt - that it turns black.
Tarasov estimates the ice in question is at least a millennium old but could be as old as 100,000 years.
Got Dirt?
However, dirt isn't the only possible explanation. Another possibility is volcanic ash. Icebergs sometimes carry the lingering remnants of ancient eruptions. As glaciers flow across varied landscapes, they pick up soot from wildfires and layers of ash laid down by distant volcanoes. Over time, these streaks become trapped within the ice.
Iceland, with its volcanic reputation, comes to mind. And scientists suspect that beneath Greenland's icy heart, subglacial hotspots could be lurking. So Tarasov doesn't dismiss this option outright - we just don't know where all the hidden hotspots under Greenland lie.
There's one more radical theory.
Some evidence indicates an asteroid strike in northwest Greenland. If this black iceberg originated near the Hiawatha impact crater, cosmic dust from that colossal smash-up might have gotten frozen into the glacier, only to reemerge hundreds of thousands of years later in a melting chunk of ice.
The End of the Line
Exotic as it may appear, the black iceberg's future journey is unlikely to be glamorous.
As it drifts southwards through Baffin Bay and along the Labrador coast, the iceberg continues to melt. Though the dark exterior is all we see, nearly 90% of any iceberg lies beneath the waterline.
Tarasov believes most of the clean ice has already dissolved. What remains is a compacted, dirty core - the last surviving piece of a larger, steadily deteriorating mass.
- This unusual iceberg, making waves in the North Atlantic, is a product of science, specifically environmental science, as it showcases the interplay between earth, climate, and ecology.
- The black iceberg, unlike its pristine counterparts, carries health-and-wellness implications for our planet, as it could signify the presence of pollutants from volcanic ash or even cosmic dust.
- Fitness-and-exercise enthusiasts might find this black iceberg a metaphor for resilience, as it travels through the changing climate, facing melt and potential harm.
- The dark iceberg's journey, representing climate change, is a stark reminder of the impact of environmental-science phenomena on our world.
- As the black iceberg melts, it becomes a cautionary tale about the potential consequences of dirt and debris accumulation, a concern that intersects science, health, and the environment.
