Breathtaking Fjords

Fjords are geological indicators of past climate. Their presence in coastal areas across high latitudes provides clear evidence of where continental ice sheets once extended, demonstrating the immense erosional power of the planet's glacial periods.

The marine ecology within fjords is highly adapted to the deep, dark, and often stable water environment. Specialized cold-water corals and sea pens thrive on the steep walls where they avoid light and filter the nutrient flow entering the basin.

The steep, sheer cliffs of the fjords are prone to rapid runoff, feeding fresh, sediment-laden water into the surface layer. This influx creates a brackish, less dense top layer that floats above the heavy, saline ocean water, a state known as water column stratification.

At the mouth of most fjords lies a shallow rock barrier called a sill. This underwater ridge, created by glacial deposition, restricts the circulation of deeper water, leading to stratified water layers and low oxygen levels in the basin below the sill depth.

Fjords are long, narrow inlets characterized by steep sides and great depth, formed by the geological process of glaciation. Massive valley glaciers widened and deepened existing river valleys, carving them into distinctive U-shaped troughs before being flooded by the sea.