12 Prof. E. Hull — Tlte Norwegian Fjords. 



of the valley as it moves seaward ; or second, the power of the ice 

 in piling up masses of moraine matters on reaching the chain of 

 islands which follows the coast from Stavanger (lat. 59°) to the 

 Trondhjem Fjord. This, I understand, is the more favoured 

 explanation with the Scandinavian geologists. 



It is almost unnecessary to state tliat during the Glacial Period 

 the whole of Norway and S^'eden was covered deep with snow and 

 ice, except where lofty peaks thrust their heads above the vast ice-field 

 of the interior. 



Those who are unfamiliar with the results of glacial erosion either 

 in past or recent times in Scandinavia, the Alps, or the British Isles, 

 in wearing down the surfaces of the hardest rocks into hiimmocky 

 forms called roches moutonnees, or covering tlie surfaces with 

 grooves and striae, and transporting blocks of rock to great distances 

 from the central snowfields and scattering them over the plains, 

 can little realize the extent to which the glaciers of this region covered 

 the lands and invaded the ocean bed during 'the Great Ice Age' of 

 post-Tertiary times. The Norwegian ice, during a period of great 

 elevation, descending in both directions filled the fjords, also the 

 North Sea and, to a varying distance, the Atlantic, and meeting the 

 ice descending from the Scottish Highlands caused it to change its 

 course, while both together swept round the coast of Scotland and 

 entered the Atlantic, where it was broken iip and dissolved by the 

 warm waters of . the Gulf Stream.^ On the other hand, the ice 

 descending over the plains of Sweden filled the Gulf of Bothnia 

 and the Baltic, and invaded the plains of Russia and neighbouring 

 countries. During a recent visit to the Baltic I was everywhere 

 greatly impressed by the evidence of the former action of the great 

 ice-flow in moulding the surface of the rocks, and transporting from 

 distant sources blocks of granite or other rocks which lie on the 

 surface or have been turned to use for walls and buildings. 



It can scarcely be doubted that on the Atlantic side this ice must 

 liave eroded the surface and deepened the beds of the fjords ; and 

 this view is confirmed by tlie fact that (as in the case of the Sogne 

 Fjord) the position of maximum depth of nearly 4,000 feet is just 

 where the fjord is bounded on eitlier hand by mountains of great 

 extent and elevation, and where in consequence the ice would 

 accumulate in greater mass and be most effective in eroding the bed 

 of the glaciers. 



I conclude, therefore, that the ice of the Glacial Period has been an 

 agent in deepening the channels of the valleys, but to what extent it 

 is impossible to say, as we are not certain to what extent the piling 

 up by moraine matter in the passage through the chain of islands 

 has decreased the depth of the channels. We may, however, conclude 

 that both these agencies have combined to produce the remarkable 

 conformation of these wonderful sea-locks which give to the fjords 

 their special interest. They are, as far as I am aware, reproduced 

 nowhere else. 



^ This remarkable movement of the ice was first recognized by Professor 

 James Geikie, and is shown in plate vii of the Monograph of the British Isles 

 above quoted. 



