408 H. W. MoncJiton — Marine and Suhaerial Erosion. 



The coast plain is particularly well seen near the mouth of the 

 Hardanger Fjord. Mountains and low hills rise sharply above the 

 flat, which is dotted with houses and farms. At first sight this flat 

 might be taken for sand or gravelly shore deposit, but walking 

 over it one finds that it is solid rock with but little superficial 

 accumulation. This flat belongs to the coast plain. In most 

 cases it looks flatter from the deck of a boat than when one 

 is upon it. In fact, there are many hummocks like the one 

 Mr. Tiddeman showed us on the old Grower platform. There 

 are also valleys no doubt excavated since the coast plain rose 

 above the sea. 



Most of the towns of the Norwegian coast stand on the coast 

 plain, and I may take Bergen as an example, since I know it well 

 myself, and it is probably also known to many of my readers. 

 Bergen is for the most part built on solid rock, the Bergen Schist. 

 The rock is worn into irregular hummocks, with a tendency to 

 a N.W. and S.E. trend. One of these projects between the two 

 harbours forming the Nordaes ; on its top stands the old fort 

 Fredriksborg, nearly 100 feet above the sea. Eock is seen all 

 around the fort and out to the end of the peninsula. Inland the 

 rock slopes downwards, and there is a flat space known as the 

 meadow (Engen), on both sides of which fairly steep streets run 

 down to the st^a. 



On the opposite side of the harbour to the north another knob of 

 rock bears the fort Sverresborg, and to the south a smaller knob 

 forms Sydnaes. This irregular rock surface is all coast plain, and 

 it is sharply marked off from the mountains which rise from it very 

 abruptly on both sides. Inland the valley between the mountains 

 continues, and in it are some small lakes ; probably when the sea 

 stood at the level of the coast plain this was a ' sund,' and the 

 mountains south-west of Bergen formed an island. 



The coast plain is well marked around Os, south of Bergen, and 

 there, as in many other places, I noticed how abruptly the higher 

 hills rise from a flat rock coast plain. 



Dr. Eeusch remarks that all the way from Stavanger northwards 

 to Aalsund the coast plain is for the most part bare rock, without 

 any covering of loose material. He gives a few exceptions, such as 

 the brickfields near Bo on the east side of the north of Karm Isle, 

 a tract round Fitje Church on Storen, and the Isle of Herlo north 

 of Bergen. 



Around Aalsund, he says, there is a good deal of glacial gravel. 

 At the same time, as I saw myself, a good deal of rocky coast plain 

 is exposed near and north of Aalsund. 



The coast plain of Norway, like the raised rock platform of 

 Gower, is, I take it, a base-level of marine erosion, and is evidence 

 that the sea at the time of its formation stood higher or the land 

 lower than it does now. The probability is that it is the level of 

 the land which has altered, for though the old coast plain is now 

 above the sea along nearly the whole coast, it is believed by Eeusch 

 to have been depressed below sea-level in the neighbourhood of 



