Avalanche Fan in Nærøyfjorden. Photo: Lars LøfaldliThis fjord landscape in the West of Norway is in the innermost part of two fjord systems that extend all the way into the central mountain massifs that separate East and West Norway.

During the tertiary age, 2.5-55 million years ago, uplift of the landmass formed a high mountain massif parallel to the coast as it is today. In the time that followed, until the ice covered the country, rivers dug out deep v-valleys along weak zones in the bedrock. During the many ice ages that followed in the Quaternary the ice shaped the V-valleys into large Moraine ridge in Gråsteindalen valley, Geirangerfjord area. Photo: Lars Løfaldli
U-shaped valleys with very high and steep mountain sides.

The areas are young and active landscapes where the forces of nature are still working on shaping the terrain. Rockslide scars in the sides of the valleys and large rockslide deposits on the bottom of the fjord are testimony to this. The area is seen as particularly important ”natural history laboratories” because they can contribute to increased knowledge about the formation of landscapes and effects of climate change.