Murchison Promontory ( 71°58′N 94°57′W / 71.967°N 94.950°W / 71.967; -94.950 ( Murchison Promontory ) ), a cape ( promontory ) in the northern Canadian Arctic , is the northernmost mainland point of the Americas and of Canada. Located 1,087 nautical miles (1,251 mi; 2,013 km) from the North Pole , it is 64 km (40 mi) farther north than Point Barrow , Alaska , the northernmost point of all U.S. territory .
10-640: Murchison Promontory extends along the northern edge of the Boothia Peninsula , at right angles to the Bellot Strait , which separates it from Somerset Island . Situated in the Kitikmeot Region ( Inuktitut : Qitirmiut ) of Nunavut , its northernmost point, Zenith Point , is located at 72°00′N 94°39′W / 72.000°N 94.650°W / 72.000; -94.650 ( Zenith Point ) . The nearest community
20-454: A large peninsula in Nunavut 's northern Canadian Arctic , south of Somerset Island . The northern part, Murchison Promontory , is the northernmost point of mainland Canada. Bellot Strait (Ikirahaq) separates the peninsula from Somerset Island to the north. Babbage Bay is on the east coast, as is Abernethy Bay, just to the south. The community of Taloyoak lies in the far south and is
30-726: Is Taloyoak , approximately 250 km (160 mi) to the south. The area was first explored in April 1852 by the Canadian Captain William Kennedy and the French explorer Joseph René Bellot while searching for traces of John Franklin 's lost Arctic expedition . The strait was then named after Bellot, who drowned the following year after falling through the ice in the Wellington Channel . Irish -born Francis Leopold McClintock also wintered in
40-768: Is an extinct genus of conodonts in the family Cordylodontidae . It is suggested that Cordylodus andresi can be a marker of the Cambrian Stage 10 . Fossils of Cordylodus have been found in Argentina, Australia, Canada (Quebec), China, Colombia ( Tarqui , Huila ), Kazakhstan, Malaysia, Mexico, Norway, the Russian Federation, Sweden, and the United States, in the states of Alaska, Minnesota, Nevada, New York, Oklahoma ( Bromide Formation ), Vermont and Wyoming. C. horridus has been recovered from
50-535: The Northwest Passage passed through the Bellot Strait. Larsen deemed the strait too shallow for larger vessels and described how his vessel was almost crushed by ice floes when there was a change in the wind's direction. On his return voyage Larsen passed north of Somerset Island. 71°N 94°W / 71°N 94°W / 71; -94 Cordylodus Cordylodus
60-477: The area with his ship Fox in the winter of 1858–1859 in his search for the Franklin expedition. In July 1859, McClintock named the promontory, which his expedition determined to be the northernmost point of the mainland, after Royal Geographical Society president Roderick Murchison . Murchison was a prominent supporter of Jane Franklin in her efforts towards a continued search for her husband, which included
70-596: The peninsula's only significant population centre. Paisley Bay is on the west coast, as is Wrottesley Inlet (between Paisley Bay and Bellot Strait). Prior to the detachment of Nunavut in 1999, the Boothia Peninsula and the nearby Melville Peninsula were the only parts of mainland Canada that belonged to the District of Franklin in the then Northwest Territories . The balance of the District of Franklin
80-452: The sponsorship of McClintock's expedition . In 1937 Scot E. J. "Scotty" Gall passed the promontory on his ship Aklavik on the first crossing of the Bellot Strait , travelling from the western shore to the eastern for the Hudson's Bay Company . Boothia Peninsula Boothia Peninsula ( / ˈ b uː θ i ə / ; formerly Boothia Felix , Inuktitut Kingngailap Nunanga ) is
90-778: Was all situated within the Arctic Archipelago . On the peninsula there are outcrops of Early Ordovician rocks, over which Late Ordovician and Silurian rocks are identified ( Middle Ordovician is not exposed). Over 1000 conodont fossils of 37 species in 28 genera were collected from these strata. Genera include Teridontus , Cordylodus , Rossodus , Variabiloconus , Semiacontiodus , Drepanoistodus , Parapanderodus , Ulrichodina , Acodus , Colaptoconus , Polyplacognathus , Pteracontiodus , Milaculum and Phosphannulus . Conodont zones are distinguished in Lower and Upper Ordovician. John Ross
100-566: Was forced by ice to stop for four years at its easternmost point starting in 1829. He named it after his patron Sir Felix Booth . Ross encountered a large Inuit community whom he described as living in "snow cottages" (i.e., igloos ) and immortalized in Ross's painting North Hendon . In 1831, his nephew James Clark Ross went overland and reached the north magnetic pole which was then on its western side. He also crossed west to King William Island . Henry Larsen 's second successful traverse of
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