152 IKIDIJOI' NA.NSKN. M.-N. Kl. 



Fig. 117. Soullivvard view Iroin Mcloivær towards Amoi. Stranclllat cut in granite. 



(Sfpt. 9, r 9 I :il. 



Tlic plaU'aus hiiilt uj) of j^ranilc, ov lianl i^iieiss or similar resistant 

 rocks, lia\c not hccii cut hack 1)\- tlic t^laciers likr the plateaus of weaker 

 rocks. Tlieir surfaces are therefore to a great extent ohler, anrl the sea 

 outside tlieni less deep and with more gradual slopes, as the glaciers had 

 more resistant rock to work in. Tlic surfaces of the plateaus are more 

 uneven because, during the length of time after they were first formed, 

 they have been exposed to much glacial erosion, dissecting them and 

 making them more irregular and sloping. The channels between the islands 

 have also l)een wirlened, producing the ajjpearance of more scattered is- 

 lands. The wave erosion must also have had some appreciable effect 

 upon the surfaces, especially of the outer parts of these plateaus, during 

 the long time they have existed; and may have lowered them. Smaller 

 and more isolated plateaus outside the greater ones, may have been 

 lowered to various depths by glacial erosion, as well as by wave erosion, 

 and owing to the resistance of their rock they have not been cut away 

 bv the glaciers like those of weaker rocks. 



Coast of Northern Helgeland and the East Coast of West Fjord. 



The outer coast of northern Helgeland, north of Sol vær and Lovund. 

 and the coast fartlier north along the eastern side of A'est Fjord is chiefly 

 built up of granite and to some small extent of gneiss, /. c. rocks with 

 much power of resistance to erosion. It is therefore in accorrlancc with 

 what might be expected, that neither the emerged nor the submerged 

 strandfiat are developed to any great width in this region. But the 

 emerged strandfiat is seen almost everywhere along the shores, forming 

 a flat, low foreland in front of the steep mountains (cf. Fig. 118) on the 

 peninsulas of the mainland and on the high islands, and its low plane 

 extending seawards over the various groups of small low islands (see 

 Figs. 3, 117, and 119). Being largely cut in granite the surface of these 

 islands is often .somewhat uneven, with small rounded knolls (see Fig. 117). 

 Rekstad gives [1913, PI. I, Fig. il a most interesting illustration of the 

 uneven surface of the strandfiat cut in granite on Briksvær Island, in 

 67'' 16' N. Lat. and 14" E. Long. It consists oi a great manv rounded 



