Building Norway's Landscape

Lithospheric plate tectonics and diastrophism have shaped and continue to shape Norway and its physical geography. Norway is a part of the Eurasian Plate, and drifts northwesterly at a rate of 2cm/year. As a result of divergent plate boundaries, volcanism, and sea-floor spreading in the Norwegian-Greenland Sea, Greenland broke away from Norway. Major division took place along eastern Greenland and northern Norway, and landmasses like the Voring  and More Plateaus became submerged by water, now known as the Norwegian Sea, which is linked to the North Atlantic and North seas.

In depth reconstruction and mapping of faults and Greenland's separation from Norway HERE.

Because of Lithospheric plate movements and ever-changing geography, theoretically, over the next 50 million years, Oslo will drift roughly 1,100km to the northeast and will be at the same latitude that Mid-Norway is today.

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Norway’s mountains represent compression, folding, anticlines, and convergent plate boundaries—especially the Scandinavian Peninsula, which formed about 400 million years ago, due to continental subduction, and covers Sweden, Norway, and most of northern Finland. 

The peninsula was a part of the Caledonian Orogeney and emerged when the continents of Laurentia, Baltica, and Avalonia converged and tectonic rifts between the Eurasian and North American plates occurred, closing the North Iapetus Ocean and contributing to the formation of Pangea.

The western slope, facing Norway, drops into the North and Norwegian Seas, forming Norway’s fjords and to the north, bordering between Norway and Sweden.

Alfred Wegener geographically matched the Caledonian Mountains in Norway and Sweden with the Canadian Appalachians. Today, the Scandinavian Mountains are historically and geographically connected with the mountains of Scotland and Ireland, along with the Appalachians of North America.

Primarily, the peninsula is made up of metamorphic rock.

Map of Norway's geology

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Additionally, throughout Norway’s vast geographical landscape, there are numerous sections of horsts and grabens. The most well known graben is known as the Oslo Rift, which began to form during the Permian era due to volcanism and tectonic uplift.

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While there isn’t a lot of recent volcanic action in Norway, on Jan Mayen, lies Beerenberg—an extrusive, active stratovolcano, and the world’s northernmost subaerial volcano.

Beerenberg’s most recent eruption was in 1985, with five previously recorded, all of which were explosive. 

More on Beerenberg:

http://volcano.oregonstate.edu/beerenberg

http://www.jan-mayen.no/geology.htm

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Sources:

Brekke, H. (2000). The tectonic evolution of the Norwegian Sea Continental Margin with emphasis on the Voring and More Basins. Geological Society. 167. 327-378. Web. Retrieved from Geological Society of London, Special Publications 24 Jan. 2013.

Eldrett, J.S. and Harding, I.C. Palynological analyses of Eocene to Oligocene sediments from DSDP Site 338, Outer VA ring Plateau: Reconstructing The Environment Of The Voring Plateau. Marine Micropaleontology. 73. 226-240. Retreived from Geological Society of London, Special Publications.

Highline Community College. (2009, November 18). Plate Tectonics. Dept. of Physical Sciences. Retrieved from http://people.highline.edu/iglozman/classes/pscinotes/platetectonics.htm

Jones, K. and Blake, S. (2003). Mountain Building in Scotland. Open University Worldwide.

European Volcanological Society. (2013). Mission Beerenberg, Jan Mayen Island. European Volcanological  Society. Web. 29 Jan. 2013. Retrieved from http://www.sveurop.org/gb/menu/fr_menu.htm

Matte, P. (2001). The Variscan caollage and orogeny (480-290 Ma) and the tectonic definition of the Armorica microplate: a review. Terra Nova, 13, 122-128. Print.

Mosar, J., Torsvik. Opening the Norwegian and Greenland Seas: Plate tectonics in Mid Norway since the Late Permian. BATLAS. nd. Web. 3 February 2013. Retrieved from http://www.geodynamics.no/guest/BAT_Mosar_Torsvik.pdf.

Ramberg, I. B., Bryhni, I., Nottvedt, A. and Rangnes, K. (Eds.). The Making of Land: Geology of Norway. Trondheim. Norsk Geolgoisk Forening, 588-590. 2008. Print.

Wikipedia Commons

Image Sources:

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0921818107000719

http://www.lunduniversity.lu.se/o.o.i.s?id=24890&news_item=4763

http://matsolsson.net/Bergvandring/Berg/2011%20aug%20Norge/Galdhopiggen%2013%20aug/engGaldhopiggen.html

http://www.westcoastpeaks.com/Peaks/galdhopiggen.html

http://volcano.oregonstate.edu/beerenberg

http://www.volcano.si.edu/world/volcano.cfm?vnum=1706-01

http://www.geodynamics.no/guest/BAT_Mosar_Torsvik.pdf

http://www.geodynamics.no/guest/BAT_Mosar_Torsvik.pdf