Norway Geography

Norway Geography

Norway State of north-western Europe, overlooking the Atlantic Ocean and dependent seas (of Barents, Norway, North) for its 3400 km of coastal perimeter, while by land it borders to the NE with Russia ( for 120 km) and Finland (for 800 km), to the East with Sweden (for 1650 km).

Morphology

According to directoryaah, the territory has distinct and overall unitary peculiarities, despite its considerable extension in the sense of latitude: the two fundamental morphological elements interpenetrate each other, the fjords on one side and the Scandinavian Alps on the other. Geologically, the basic nucleus of the Norway consists of Precambrian soils (granite and gneiss), which emerge mainly in the southern and northern sector. The Caledonian reliefs, worn down and leveled by exogenous agents, make up the Scandinavian Alps. These underwent an intense phase of uplift towards the end of the Tertiary, which manifested itself with greater intensity in the southwestern section. The Trondheim threshold, a depression that extends from the fjord of the same name to the mainland, divides the mountain in two sections. The southern one is the area of ​​the fiellen, as the Norsemen call the monotonous and bare plateaus dotted with lakes and peat bogs; some of them rise in correspondence with the main fjords and rise up to exceed 2000 m asl

The northern area has a more complex and generally less elevated relief, with some summits occupied by glaciers (the Svartisen, 1594 m, descends as far as the coast). At the north end, the mountain is more uniform, sloping down towards the cold and arid plateaus of the Finmark.

The Atlantic coast fractures into the fjords, ancient glacial excavated valleys that were subsequently submerged: the major ones (Sognefjord, Hardangerfjord, Nordfjord) meet in the southwestern coastal stretch and appear perpendicular to it; further to the North they go parallel to the coast (like the Trondheimsfjord); similarly the Vestfjord with the Ofotfjord, and the Andsfjord, between the Lofoten islands and the Vesterålen on one side and the mainland on the other. Notable fjords still open along the coast beyond the North Cape (Porsangen, Laksefiord, Varangerfiord), more open than the previous ones. A myriad of rocks, islets, islands borders the coastal contour. The Norway di Sud-Est includes a series of shelves, engraved by wide and long valleys of erosion in which large streams with an extremely irregular profile flow, roughly parallel.

Hydrography

The course and length of the rivers are connected to the presence and position of the reliefs. This explains the brevity and precipitous profile of the tributary ones of the Mar di Norway; the discreet length and gentler slope of Tana and Alta, which flow into the Arctic Ocean ; the stretch even longer than those that drain the eastern side of the mountain and those that, to the SE, flow into the Skagerrak, including the Glomma (610 km approx.), the largest in the country, however interrupted, like many others, by rapids and waterfalls that make it mostly unusable for navigation. Watercourses are of great importance for the floating of timber and especially for the production of hydroelectricity. There are numerous elongated and sometimes very deep lakes, mostly of fluvio-glacial excavation, which act as regulators of the hydrographic flow: among them the Mjøsa, the largest, and the Hornindalsvatn, the deepest.

Climate

Benefited from the warm waters of the Gulf Stream and subject to the influences of the S-SW winds, the Atlantic face of the Norway enjoys an oceanic climate, milder and more humid than that of the southern and eastern Norway. Winter temperatures are on the Atlantic coast, higher than they would allow the latitude, although decreasing proceeding towards Norway As for the precipitation (both rainy or snowy both), are more abundant on the Atlantic side, where, in the coastal stretch between Stavanger and the Nordfjord, exceed 2000 mm (Bergen, 2300 mm), while on the eastern and southern sides they descend to much lower values, sometimes less than 300 mm.

Biogeography

The flora is given by various elements: subarctic (occupies the valleys and humid plateaus), Atlantic (around Bergen and is characterized by holly, foxglove), sub-Atlantic (found in the lower territories of the province of Oslo, with Gentiana pneumonanthe, Sanguisorba officinalis, Petasites albus) and arctic (in the high mountains represented by Dryas , Salix reticulata and other species). The woods are given by Scots pine and spruce; frequent birch and alder; the beech does not exceed 61 ° lat. Norway

The fauna includes elements characteristic of that of northern Europe. Among the Carnivores, the lynx, the fox, the wolf, the marten, the ermine, the common otter; among the ungulates, the deer, the fallow deer, the moose; among the rodents, the hare of Norway, various mice. Among the birds, the crane, the francolin, the black grouse, the sea eagle and other birds of prey, the wood pigeon, the cuckoo, the hoopoe etc. There are few reptiles, among the amphibians there are the common frog and some species of toad. Numerous insects, especially the Carabid Beetles. The terrestrial molluscs are discreetly represented.

Norway Geography

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