48 I'KIDTJOF NANSEN. M.-X. Kl. 



not cxtciifl lo 1I1C oulcr coast before after some time. iJurinj,'- tlie last 

 glacial period scjine part of the outer coast was probably never depressed, 

 as will be mentioned later. 



We do not know how many (|uatcrnary ice ages there have been in 

 Norway. But if there have been only two, as is generally assumed, we are 

 lead to the conclusion that the present plane of the strandfiat has been 

 developed chiefly during the cold time preceding the last glacial period, 

 wliile its formation may already have begun during the time preceding the 

 first, great Ice Age. There are, however, indications which, according to 

 my view, make it probable that there have l)cen several glacial periods in 

 Norway, and that the strandfiat has been developed during several dif- 

 ferent periods, as will be mentioned later. We must then assume that 

 during each interglacial time the ice-caps of Norway have almost entirely 

 disappeared, so that the coast has been able to rise to its normal level 

 at which the strandfiat has been developed. Oxaal [1914, pp. 42 f.] has 

 maintained that there were three glacial periods in Norway, and that the 

 upper level of the Norwegian strandfiat, in about 40 to 50 metres above 

 sea-level, has been planed by marine abrasion during the first interglacial 

 period, while the planes of the lower levels of the strandfiat, in about 

 10 metres or even less above the sea, have been developed during the second 

 interglacial time. My investigations have lead to similar conclusions, 

 which will be mentioned later, after the observations and measurements 

 of the strandfiat in various regions have been described. 



Some writers have maintained that the strandfiat must have been 

 formed before the fjords, because there are no traces of a strandfiat along 

 the coasts of the latter. The answer is: Firstly, that there are actually 

 strandfiats in the fjords, not only in their outer parts where there are 

 often beautifully developed planes, c. g. in the mouth of the Hardanger 

 Fjord; but there are small strandfiats also in their inner parts, as will be 

 described later. 



Secondly, the shore erosion will need a relatively very long time for 

 the development of a strandfiat in most fjords, especially in their inner 

 parts, because the fjord sides are as a rule very steep and high, and consist 

 of resistant rocks. 



Thirdly, the fjords have bien much excavated and deepened by the 

 glaciers during each glacial period, and the strandfiat along their sides 

 would then be more or less obliterated by this erosion, especially in the 

 inner parts of the fjords. 



Fourthly, if the strandfiat was to some extent developed during the 

 first part of each glacial period, before the land \vas too much submerged 

 — the inner parts of the fjords were then soon filled with glaciers, while 

 the planing of the strandfiat may still have continued along the outer coast. 



The fact that nevertheless small strandfiats do occur along the inner 

 coasts of the fjords, is a convincing evidence that the fjords had been 

 formed before the strandfiat was developed. 



