nunatak
NUN-ah-tak
A rocky peak or ridge that protrudes through the surface of a glacier or ice sheet — an island of rock in a sea of ice. Nunataks are refugia: during glaciations, plants and animals survived on these ice-free summits while the world around them was buried. Some of the genetic diversity of modern alpine species can be traced to populations that held on, isolated, on nunataks.
Etymology
Inuit nunataq, meaning "lonely peak" or "land surrounded by ice." The word entered English through Greenlandic exploration.
Notes
Already entered in the climbing section as a formation. This version adds the ecological dimension — the nunatak as refugium.
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