Map of geological environments and selected mineral occurrences

Greenland is geologically and geographically very much related to northern Canada and Scandinavia although recent political history is mostly coupled with Europe. Greenland, the largest island in the world, covers 2,175,600 km2. It is 1,250 km wide from east to west and 2,675 km from north to south. The up to three kilometre thick Inland Ice covers some 80% of Greenland; the ice-free zone around the Inland Ice is up to 300 km wide and covers an area of ca. 410,000 km² , which, by comparison, is more than Germany (357,000 km²).

The mineral occurrences in a region are determined by the geological environment and the geological processes forming the mineral accumulations. The environments are a reflection of the geotectonic evolution and thus linked to global plate tectonic scenarios through time.