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FJORD, or FIORD

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Originally appearing in Volume V10, Page 452 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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See also:

FJORD, or FIORD , the anglicized See also:Norwegian word for a See also:long narrow See also:arm of the See also:sea See also:running far inland, with more or less precipitous cliffs on each See also:side. These " sea-lochs," as they are sometimes called, See also:present many See also:peculiar features. They differ entirely from an See also:estuary in the fact that they are bounded sea-wards by a rocky See also:sill, covered by shallow See also:water, and they deepen inland for some distance before the bottom again curves up to the See also:surface. They are thus true See also:rock basins drowned in sea-water. It is pointed out by Dr H. R. See also:Mill that See also:Loch See also:Morar on the See also:west See also:coast of See also:Scotland, a fresh-water See also:basin 178 fathoms deep, with its surface 30 ft. above sea-level, which is connected with the sea by a See also:short See also:river, is exactly similar in configuration to Loch Etive, 8o fathoms deep, filled with sea-water which pours over the seaward sill in a See also:waterfall with the retreating See also:tide; that Loch See also:Nevis with a See also:depth of 70 fathoms has its sill 8 fathoms below the surface, while the gigantic Sogne Fjord in See also:Norway, more than too m. in length, is a rock basin with a maximum depth of 700 fathoms. Any inland rock basin such as Loch Morar would become a fjord if the seaward portion sank below sea-level. The origin of these rock basins has not yet been satisfactorily determined. See also:Recent See also:work upon somewhat similar basins in the high See also:Alps has suggested See also:local weathering of surface rock in fracture belts or faulted areas, or dikes, where material is easily eroded, thus producing a trough bounded by high walls in which a See also:lake forms under favourable conditions. But investigations in such regions as the Rocky Mountains and the See also:Yosemite Valley, where there is frequently a " reversed grade " similar to that near the seaward end of rock basins and fjords, seem to show, in some cases at least, that such a formation may be due to the " gouging " effect of a See also:glacier coming down the valley which it constantly deepens where the See also:ice pressure and the See also:supply of eroding material are greatest. There may be several causes, but the results are the same in all these drowned valleys.

The See also:

mass of sea-water in the depth of the basin is either unaffected by the seasonal changes in surface temperature, which in Norway penetrate no deeper than 200 fathoms, or else, as in Loch Goil, the fresher film of surface water responds quickly to seasonal changes, while the See also:heat of advancing summer penetrates so slowly to the depth of the basin that it takes six months to reach the bottom, arriving there in See also:winter. It has been found that where the fresher surface water has been frozen over, the temperature may be as much as 450 F. at a few fathoms from the surface. When the surface is warmest, on the other See also:hand, the depths are coldest.

End of Article: FJORD, or FIORD

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