nunatak

[nuhn-uh-tak]

nun·a·tak

[nuhn-uh-tak]
noun
a hill or mountain that has been completely encircled by a glacier.

Origin:
1875–80; < Inuit (West Greenlandic) nunataq
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2012.
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Nunatak is always a great word to know.
So is doohickey. Does it mean:
a printed punctuation mark (‽), available only in some typefaces, designed to combine the question mark (?) and the exclamation point (!), indicating a mixture of query and interjection, as after a rhetorical question.
a gadget; dingus; thingumbob.
Collins
World English Dictionary
nunatak (ˈnʌnəˌtæk)
 
n
an isolated mountain peak projecting through the surface of surrounding glacial ice and supporting a distinct fauna and flora after recession of the ice
 
[C19: via Danish from Inuktitut]

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
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Encyclopedia Britannica
Encyclopedia

nunatak

isolated mountain peak that once projected through a continental ice sheet or an Alpine-type ice cap. Because they usually occur near the margin of an ice sheet, nunataks were thought to be glacial refuges for vegetation and centres for subsequent reoccupation of the land. Later studies revealed the existence of more likely areas of refuge and the fact that postglacial weathering may destroy glacial evidence on peaks. Thus, identification of a true nunatak is difficult, and such peaks often cannot be used to determine former ice thicknesses.

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Encyclopedia Britannica, 2008. Encyclopedia Britannica Online.
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