1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Nunatak

NUNATAK, a name applied in Greenland (and thence extended in use elsewhere) to a hill or mountain peak appearing above the surface of a glacier. Greenland is for the most part covered by an ice-cap of a certain thickness which moves slowly downwards to the sea. It will rise upwards and pass over a barrier if there is no outlet, but it will flow between and around mountain peaks leaving them standing as hills (nunataks) above the general surface of the ice-cap. These prominences are sometimes covered with arctic vegetation, and arctic flowers bloom freely upon them in the summer.