Grand Banks of Newfoundland

The Newfoundland (English: Grand Banks ) is a group of underwater plateaus southeast of Newfoundland on the North American continental shelf. The area is known for the high seas.

At depths of 25 to 100 meters there take the cold Labrador Current and the warm Gulf Stream to each other. The meeting of these two streams and the situation on the shelf with the result that more nutrients are flushed to the surface. These conditions contribute to the Newfoundland is one of the richest fishing grounds on earth. Fish species such as cod, haddock, but also scallops and American lobsters are caught. After hours of extensive overfishing since the 1990s, strict rules of the Canadian government to give the fish stocks time to recover apply.

In addition to the abundance of fish caused the clash of warm and cold flow increased fog. There are also occasional icebergs and the heavy traffic on the trans-Atlantic shipping route which makes the Grand Banks to a dangerous area captains. Here also the fishing trawler Andrea Gail is gone.

On November 18, 1929, an earthquake occurred with magnitude 7.2 on the Richter scale in the southwestern part of the Grand Banks. The resulting landslide caused major damage to the transatlantic telephone cables. Added to this was a rare Atlantic tsunami, which hit the south coast of Newfoundland and in which 27 people lost their lives.

Also, oil deposits were discovered on the Grand Banks. One of the biggest oil fields include the projects Hibernia, Terra Nova and White Rose. Oil production in 1982 had, however, suffered a setback when the oil rig Ocean Ranger sank in a severe winter storm.

In the early morning hours of 11 September 1995, the highest waves was even spotted on the Grand Banks. The passenger liner Queen Elizabeth 2 was taken on the way to New York from a 33 -meter-high monster wave caused by the unusually far drawn into the North Atlantic Hurricane Luis.