
Davis Strait, lying between Greenland and Nunavut, Canada.
'Davis Strait' (
French: ''Détroit de Davis''); lies between mid-western
Greenland and
Baffin Island in the
Canadian territory of
Nunavut.
With a water depth of one to two
km the
strait is substantially shallower than the
Labrador Sea to the south or
Baffin Bay to the north. It is underlain by complex geological features of buried
Grabens (basins) and
ridges, probably formed by
strike-slip faulting during
Paleogene times about 45 million to 62 million years ago. The strike-slip faulting transferred
plate-tectonic motions in the Labrador Sea to Baffin Bay.
The strait was named for the English explorer
John Davis (1550–1605), who explored the area while seeking a
Northwest Passage.
External links
★
June 2005 Satellite photograph of Davis Strait from
MODIS, showing meltwater ponds.