Landforms and uplift history of southern Norway

Abstract After a review of previous ideas on the morphogenesis of southern Norway, a description of relief features is presented and a comparison with the suite of landforms occurring at the passive continental margin of eastern Australia is performed. Major landscape features such as high plateaux, a great escarpment, and a coastal plain are similar in the two areas. Glacial erosion has not obliterated the tectonically initiated landforms in southern Norway, except for at certain locations. Particularly, the lower parts and valleys of the Palaeic relief have experienced some reshaping by glacial erosion. On the other hand, the deeply incised valleys have been altered to a considerable extent with the most extensive reshaping in the outer parts. A model with rejuvenation of topography in the Middle–Late Cenozoic due to uplift of the Palaeic surface and continued warping is suggested for southern Norway and compared with the different interpretations of Australian relief development. This surface uplift of southern Norway initiated an abrupt fall in the river profiles. The uplift can be calculated not to have exceeded 1200 m and was preceded by Cretaceous–Palaeogene initial doming with a maximum surface uplift of about 1000 m.

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