Coastal and Oceanic Landform (24. Fjord)

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•  Fjord is long, narrow inlet with steep sides or cliffs.

• Created in a valley carved by glacial activity.

• The word comes to English from Norwegian.

• Whole coast of Norway and the island of Greenland have many fjords.

• Formed by a glacier cuts a U-shaped valley by ice segregation &  abrasion of bedrock.

• Glacial melting rebound of Earth's crust as the ice load and eroded sediment is removed

• Most fjords are deeper than the adjacent sea

•  Sognefjord, Norway,1,300 m  below sea level.

• Fjords  have a sill or shoal  at their mouth.

Geirangerfjord, Norway

• Sill causes extreme currents and large saltwater rapid.

• Saltstraumen in Norway is often described as the world's strongest tidal current.

Features of fojord

1.Coral reef

• Some coral reefs were discovered along the bottoms of the Norwegian fjords.

• New Zealand's fjords are also host to deep sea corals.

2.Skerries

• Rocky coast is divided into thousands of island blocks, some large and mountainous while others are merely rocky points or rock reefs, menacing navigation. These are called skerries.

•  The term skerry is derived from the Old Norse sker, which means a rock in the sea.

• Commonly formed at the outlet of fjords.

• Submerged glacially formed valleys perpendicular to the coast join with other cross valleys in a complex array. 
• The island fringe of Norway is such a group of skerries

Magdalenafjord in the high arctic archipelago Svalbard of Norway

Location of fojord

West cost of Europe

• Faroe Islands
• Westfjords of Iceland
• Eastfjords of Iceland
• Norway
• Kola Bay in Russia

West coast of New Zealand

• Fiordland,southwest of the South Island

Northwest coast of North America

• Coast of Alaska, United States: Lynn Canal, Glacier Bay
• British Columbia Coast, Canada: from the Alaskan Border along the Portland Canal to Indian Arm
• Hood Canal in Washington

Northeast coast of North America

• Labrador: Saglek Fjord, Nachvak Fjord, Hebron Fjord
• The east coast of Ungava Bay.
• Greenland: Kangerlussuaq, Ilulissat Icefjord, Scoresby Sund
• Saguenay Fjord, Quebec

• Chile

Europe

• Ireland Lough Swilly, Carlingford Lough and Killary Harbour
• Scotland 
• the Gullmaren on the west coast of Sweden

North America

• Canada Ilulissat Icefjord, the most productive ice fjord in the world.

Sognefjord in Norway, the third longest fjord in the world,

The longest fjords in the world are:

1. Scoresby Sund in Greenland 350 km
2. Greely Fiord/Tanquary Fiord in Canada 230 km
3. Sognefjord in Norway 204 km 

Deep fjords include:

1. Skelton Inlet in Antarctica 1,933 m 
2. Sognefjord in Norway 1,308 m 
3. Messier Channel in Chile

New Zealand's Milford Sound

Tysfjord in Norway north of the Arctic Circle boreal zone

Hardangerfjord in Hordaland, Norway.