THALAS&OLOGICAL IS'OTES ON THE NOETR SEA. 323 



From Gejranger to the sea is GO miles, and near this village 

 is situated the magnificent g)-(:)np of waterfalls known as the 

 Seven Sisters ; but besides this waterfalls are abundant, and 

 even measure from 2,000 to 3,000 feet in height. With a 

 more partieular account of the perfect example of a 

 submerged fjord exhibited by the Sule fjord it is lime to 

 close these unpalatable lists of soundings along the 

 Norwegian coast, and we would fain have the opportunity of 

 speaking of the line inhabitants. Five miles to the west of 

 the busy little fishing town of Aalesund is the submarine 

 valley known to every fisher lad in the place under the 

 name of the Bredsund dybet. It commences immediately 

 below the mouth of the Sule fjord, without change of 

 form, and extends westward for '2o miles to sea, and within 

 a like distance of 25 miles in every direction, and it is one- 

 third deeper than any other spot, except where other fjords 

 debouch into the Atlantic. In general terms it may be 

 described as bound laterally by a sea bottom of 50 fathoms 

 depth, covered with sand, the depth very gradually diminish- 

 ing in receding laterally from the dybet. 



The greatest depth of the Bredsund dybet is 160 fathoms, 

 at the lower extremity. To the right, or north, the 50 

 fatliom soundings correspond precisely to the upper margin 

 of the declivity, which presents a marked slope. On 

 the left hand side the margin is indicated by soundings 

 beginning with 30 fathoms and ending with 60. Extreme 

 breadth 2 miles, remarkably regular, although the course is 

 slightly tortuous. ]\Iid-way a sunken islet dominates its 

 course, rising to within 50 fathoms of the surface of the 

 water. The mid-channel beginning at a mile and a half 

 from the shore with 220 fathoms, soon attains 150, and 

 finally 160 fathoms; but evidently the currents have 

 demolished all the upper portion of the islet, for the 

 surface gently slopes on all sides, and the detritus has 

 reduced the depth of the channel in its proximity by one- 

 third. For a long distance the thalassological Thalweg is 

 a mile wide and the regular steep slopes of the submerged 

 valley may be about 1 : 5. For the first 18 miles the bed 

 consists of fine sand, which nowhere rises so high as the 

 50 fathom soundings, where the sand is invariably coarser, — 

 it hkewise covers the lower 7 miles of the dybet. This 

 truly remarkable physical feature has no outlet into the 

 Atlantic, but terminates in an amphitheatre of horse-shoe 

 form, 2 miles long, beyond which the sea resumes its 



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