FRIDTJOF NANSEN. M.-N. KI. 



lliat the straiidflat has been dcvchjpe'l rlurinj^ l'J"^' pcriofls, with fliffcrciit 

 levels (jf the shore-line. 



A most characteristic feature in tlic topography of the Norwegian 

 strandfiat, is its incision into the mountain side of the lanrl behind, forming 

 an often sliarply marked line of demarkation between the level strandfiat 

 and tlie mountains ascenrling abruptly anrl steeply, often hundreds of 

 metres. As far as T have seen, .Ahlmann has made no serious attempt 

 to explain how such a horizontal incisifMi could have been formed by the 

 vertically working sul)aërial denudation, although this would naturally 

 have l)een of essential imi)ortance, if his theory should have been made 

 more plausible. Nor does he try to explain how the vertically working 

 subaërial denudation alone can possibly develope such extremely flat, 

 and nearly horizontal i)lanes, as occur c. g. in Smølen, Frøia, Heroi, 

 Donna, Risvær, and .Solvær. In the case of Smolen he himself has ob- 

 viously had a notion that it was necessary to open some opportunity of 

 a finishing touch by a horizontally working agency, the marine denudation, 

 as was mentioned on a previous page (9), but, as if to weaken the effect 

 of this admission, he also draws in the erosion of the inland ice, as having 

 a planing effect, which I consider very unfortunate, as will be discussed 

 in a later chapter. 



If the assumption that the strandfiat is a base-levelled plain, due 

 to subaërial denudation, be correct, we might expect that this process 

 would have had the greatest facilities in developing a broad strandfiat in 

 southern and south-eastern Norway, where tlie initial land was low, and 

 sloping gently towards the coast, — while it would require infinitely longer 

 time on the initially high west coast, especially if it be assumed, with A., 

 that his "distal base-levelled plain" was mainly formed before this coast 

 was dissected by the many deep fjords, channels, and valleys of the glacial 

 periods, i. c. at a time when a very much greater mass of rock had to be 

 worn away before the land could be base-levelled. 



We find, however, just the contrary: an often broad and well developed 

 strandfiat along the steep and high west coast of Norway, while there are 

 only slight indications of such a formation along the southern and south- 

 eastern coast. 



It is, however, not always easy to grasp what A. exactly means by 

 his base-levelled plain, for in some regions, c. g. in southern Norway, 

 it may have a relief of a hundred metres above the sea, and in that case 

 it would still be much rock to plane away before we reach the strandfiat. 



If the Norwegian strandfiat is solely a "base-levelled plain," it would 

 also be extremely difficult to understand why subaërial denudation has 

 not developed similar strandfiats along anv old coast, where the coast-line 

 has remained stationary during a time necessary for base-levelling, and 

 why it is that, on the contrary, typical strandfiats occur chiefly in regions 

 that have been covered by ice-caps, or have at least had very cold climates 



