49 Fun Facts About Fjords

A fjord is a long, narrow sea inlet with steep sides created by what?

A former glacier carved the fjord: the ice gouged a deep trough that flooded with seawater when it retreated and sea levels rose.

Without its fjords, how long would Norway's roughly 29,000 km coastline be?

About 2,500 km is the figure once the nearly 1,200 fjords are excluded, against roughly 29,000 km with them, an extreme case of the coastline paradox.

What shape of valley does a glacier carve, which later becomes a fjord?

Rivers cut V-shaped valleys; the ice's abrasion and 'segregation' leaves the broad U with steep walls.

The rocky shoal at the mouth of most fjords, left where the glacier's erosion weakened, is called what?

A sill or threshold is the shallow rock bar at the mouth where the glacier's erosion weakened; water rushing over it can create violent currents, as at Norway's Saltstraumen.

The Bay of Kotor in Montenegro is often called a fjord but is actually what?

It is the flooded valley of the vanished Bokelj River; rias lack a fjord's glacial sill and overdeepening.

Which 19th-century Norwegian scientist first proposed that fjords were carved by glaciers?

Jens Esmark argued in 1824 that glaciers had carved Norway's fjords and valleys, and that much of Northern Europe had once lain under thick ice, an early ice-age theory.

What was discovered on the bottoms of Norwegian fjords in 2000?

Coral reefs were found on the bottoms of Norwegian fjords in 2000; they host plankton, anemones, fish and several shark species, and Fiordland's fjords have deep-water corals unusually near the surface.

Which Alaskan fjord, a wilderness south of Juneau, ends at the Sawyer Glaciers?

Tracy Arm, within the Tracy Arm-Fords Terror Wilderness south of Juneau, is a roughly 48 km fjord ending at the tidewater North and South Sawyer Glaciers.

The spelling 'fiord' survives mainly in which country's English?

New Zealand keeps the 'fiord' spelling, hence Fiordland National Park in the South Island's southwest, while most other English-speaking countries write 'fjord'.

Which Irish town's name comes from Old Norse for 'inlet of the mud flats'?

Wexford comes from Old Norse Veisafjǫrðr, 'inlet of the mud flats', a Viking-era name; Waterford and Carlingford likewise end in the fjord-derived '-ford'.

Norway's Sognefjord reaches roughly what depth below sea level?

About 1,300 m (1,308 m) is the Sognefjord's maximum depth, while the threshold at its mouth is only 100 to 200 m deep, keeping the deep basin still.

What nickname does the Sognefjord carry?

King of the Fjords is the Sognefjord's nickname: at 205 km it is Norway's longest and deepest fjord, and 'Sogn' may come from a word meaning 'to suck', after the tidal surge at its mouth.

Which glacier, continental Europe's largest, sits above the inner end of the Sognefjord?

Jostedalsbreen, continental Europe's largest glacier at roughly 480 km², lies above the inner Sognefjord near Fjærland, with peaks around it rising to about 2,000 m.

The Nærøyfjord and Geirangerfjord were jointly listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in which year?

2005 was the year UNESCO inscribed the 'West Norwegian Fjords – Geirangerfjord and Nærøyfjord', citing their exceptional natural beauty and classic fjord geology.

How wide is the Nærøyfjord at its narrowest point?

About 250 m is the Nærøyfjord's narrowest width; the 17-km branch of the Sognefjord has occasionally frozen over in cold winters.

Which waterfall faces the Seven Sisters directly across the Geirangerfjord?

The Suitor (Friaren) faces the Seven Sisters directly across the Geirangerfjord; legend says it courts them in vain, and the Sisters' tallest strand free-falls about 250 m.

Which unstable mountainside threatens Geiranger with a tsunami if it collapses into the fjord?

Åkerneset, a fissured slope above the Sunnylvsfjord, is monitored around the clock because a collapse would send a tsunami toward Geiranger, the scenario of the 2015 Norwegian film The Wave.

What agricultural nickname does the Hardangerfjord region carry?

The fruit orchard of Norway is the nickname of the Hardangerfjord region, whose mild fjord-side slopes grow apples, cherries and plums that blossom each May.

Preikestolen, or Pulpit Rock, rises about 604 m above which fjord?

Lysefjord, the 42-km 'light fjord' named for its pale granite walls, lies 604 m below Preikestolen; the path to the rock was rebuilt by Nepalese Sherpas in 2013.

Kjeragbolten, the wedged boulder in Rogaland, hangs over an abyss roughly how deep?

About 1,000 m (984 m) separates Kjeragbolten from the Lysefjord below; the five-cubic-metre boulder, wedged by a glacier, is a favourite photo spot and BASE-jumping site.

The Trollfjord in northern Norway, a detour on the Hurtigruten route, has an entrance only how wide?

About 100 m is the width of the Trollfjord's entrance; the whole fjord is just 2 km long, cutting into Austvågøya in Lofoten, and Hurtigruten ships nose in when conditions allow.

Norway's Hurtigruten coastal service between Bergen and Kirkenes was founded in what year?

1893 was the year Richard With's steamship Vesteraalen made the first Hurtigruten sailing, from Trondheim north to Hammerfest, then the fastest link between north and south.

The Flåm Line drops 866 m from Myrdal to the Sognefjord at a maximum gradient of what?

5.5 percent (1 in 18) is the Flåm Line's steepest gradient, among the steepest of any standard-gauge adhesion railway; the 20-km branch opened in 1940.

What historic event took place in the Oslofjord's Drøbak narrows in April 1940?

Colonel Eriksen's aging Oscarsborg fortress fired on the invasion flotilla; Edvard Munch painted the same fjord in The Scream.

Norway's third-longest fjord, at about 130 km, shares its name with which city?

Trondheim gives the Trondheimsfjord its name; the 130-km fjord stays ice-free all year, and the tiny island of Munkholmen sits just off the city's harbour.

Which Nordland fjord is often called the Narvik Fjord in English, after the iron-ore port?

Ofotfjord, 78 km long and 553 m deep, is the fjord on which Narvik stands; 'Narvik Fjord' is an English convenience, not an official Norwegian name.

Hornindalsvatnet in western Norway, a former fjord cut off from the sea, holds what record?

Europe's deepest lake is Hornindalsvatnet, officially measured at 514 m; its floor lies about 460 m below sea level, a legacy of the glacier that once carved a fjord there.

The Norwegian Fjord horse is always what colour?

Dun is the only colour: every Fjord horse carries the dun gene, in five recognised shades from brown dun to yellow dun, with the dark dorsal stripe running through its two-tone mane.

The Arctic fjord chain of Nansen Sound, Greely Fiord and Tanquary Fiord lies in which country?

Canada's Ellesmere Island, in Nunavut, holds the Nansen Sound, Greely Fiord and Tanquary Fiord chain, a high-Arctic fjord system far longer than Norway's 205-km Sognefjord.

The deepest fjord on Earth, Skelton Inlet at 1,933 m, is on which continent?

Antarctica's Skelton Inlet, an ice-filled fjord opening onto the Ross Ice Shelf, reaches 1,933 m; Chile's Messier Channel, at 1,358 m, is deeper than any Norwegian fjord.

Scoresby Sund, one of the world's largest fjord systems, is on the coast of which island?

Greenland's east coast holds Scoresby Sund, named for English whaler-explorer William Scoresby, who mapped it in 1822; Ittoqqortoormiit is its only permanent settlement.

Which ice stream, the Northern Hemisphere's most productive, feeds the Ilulissat Icefjord?

It moves 20 to 35 m a day and calves about 20 billion tonnes of icebergs a year, some so tall they ground on the fjord floor.

Milford Sound in Fiordland was called the eighth wonder of the world by which writer?

Rudyard Kipling, who toured New Zealand in 1891, called Milford Sound the eighth wonder of the world; Mitre Peak rises 1,683 m almost straight from the water.

Milford Sound's mean annual rainfall of about 6,412 mm makes it what?

The wettest inhabited place in New Zealand is Milford Sound, where about 6,412 mm falls a year and a single day can bring over 250 mm, spawning temporary waterfalls.

The sealer who named Milford Sound around 1812 was honouring a harbour in which country?

Wales is the country: John Grono named the sound after Milford Haven in Pembrokeshire, his birthplace, and the fiord's mouth, Dale Point, also carries a Pembrokeshire name.

Which explorer named Doubtful Sound 'Doubtful Harbour' in 1770, unsure he could sail out?

James Cook named it Doubtful Harbour in 1770, doubting the winds would let Endeavour back out; at up to 421 m it is the deepest of the South Island's fiords.

In 2025, Fiordland was the largest of how many national parks in New Zealand?

13 national parks existed in New Zealand in 2025, Fiordland the largest at 12,607 square kilometres, sheltering the takahē and the southern brown kiwi.

Kenai Fjords National Park is centred on which great mass of ice, source of at least 38 glaciers?

Exit Glacier sits at the end of the park's only road; Jimmy Carter first protected the area as a national monument in 1978.

Howe Sound, a network of fjords just northwest of Vancouver, received what designation in 2021?

UNESCO Biosphere Reserve status came in September 2021 as Átl'ka7tsem/Howe Sound Biosphere Region; the sound runs 42 km from the Strait of Georgia to its head at Squamish.

George Vancouver named Puget Sound in 1792 after whom?

A lieutenant on his expedition, Peter Puget, who explored the southern reaches in 1792, gave the sound its name; it originally covered only the waters south of the Tacoma Narrows.

Killary Harbour, often billed as Ireland's only fjord, lies between which two counties?

Mayo and Galway share Killary Harbour, the 16-km inlet forming their border; Mweelrea, Connacht's highest mountain, drops into it on the Mayo side, and some geologists call it a shallower 'fjard'.

The Westfjords peninsula of Iceland is joined to the rest of the island by an isthmus only how wide?

About 7 km is the width of the isthmus between Gilsfjörður and Bitrufjörður that ties the Westfjords to the mainland; the region is Iceland's least populous, with roughly 7,000 people.

Chile's fjords and channels stretch from Cape Horn north to roughly which latitude?

About 42° S, at the Reloncaví Sound near Puerto Montt, is where Chile's fjord country begins, running south to Cape Horn; Chono and Kawésqar (Alacalufe) peoples navigated it for centuries.

Which Scottish sea inlet is described as Scotland's longest fjord, at 65 km?

Loch Fyne, on Argyll's coast, runs 65 km inland, the longest of Scotland's sea lochs; Loch Linnhe, the next longest, reaches about 50 km.

Since 1825, Denmark's Limfjord has technically been what kind of waterway?

A sound is what the Limfjord became after an 1825 storm breached the Agger Tange dunes from the North Sea, turning North Jutland into an island.

What is the Norwegian term for the protective island fringe sheltering the coast's inner channels?

Skjærgård, literally 'skerry guard', is the belt of islands and skerries shielding the coast; sheltered channels behind it let boats travel almost the whole coast in calm water.

What is an epishelf lake?

Meltwater trapped behind a floating ice shelf forms an epishelf lake: the fresh water floats on denser seawater beneath, as in Antarctica's Beaver Lake and the former Disraeli Fiord lake in Canada.

Which pair of Norwegian place names both end in an Old Norse word for an inlet?

Hardanger and Stavanger both end in Old Norse angr, 'inlet'; Geiranger carries the same ending, and such names often shifted from the fjord to the settlements around it.

What is the Māori name of Milford Sound, adopted as part of its official dual name in 1998?

Piopiotahi, 'a single piopio', recalls the extinct thrush-like bird said to have flown there in mourning after Māui's death; the dual name came with the 1998 Ngāi Tahu settlement.