Modern Mysteries

Mystery as fisherman captures photograph of very rare black iceberg

By T.K. Randall
June 13, 2025 ·  0 comments

Why is this iceberg such a strange color ? Image Credit: Facebook / Hallur Antoniussen Icebergs are almost always white in color, which makes this particular sighting - which occurred back in May approximately 100 kilometers offshore in the Hopedale channel - so unusual.

It was spotted between Nain and Hopedale by Hallur Antoniussen, a native of the Faroe Islands who had been working aboard the Saputi factory freezer trawler.

The unusual coloration and shape of the iceberg quickly drew his attention.

"I have seen icebergs that are rolled, what they say have rolled in the beach with some rocks in it," he told CBC Radio. "This one here is completely different. It's not only that [it] is all black."

"[It] is almost ... in a diamond shape."

It's worth bearing in mind that Antoniussen has seen countless icebergs over the last 50 years, so for an iceberg to surprise him it would have to be something unusual indeed."It's something you don't see very often, and a camera is not something I run around [with] when I'm working," he said. "So, I just ran to my room and took my phone and snapped this picture."

So why is the iceberg black ?

One possibility is that it contains debris that was churned up when it scraped across the ocean floor in the distant past, and later exposed when the iceberg flipped over.

Some have also suggested that it might be ash from an ancient volcanic eruption.

Whatever the case, it's certainly unusual.

Source: CBC.ca | Comments (0)

Tags: Iceberg, Canada