The two longest and deepest fjords in the world, Geirangerfjord and Nærøyfjord, are found in Norway. Offering exceptional and symbolic panoramas of Scandinavia, they are inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List.
With their massifs, they rise more than 1400 m above sea level and plunge 500 m below. And many landscapes and geographical elements are present around and in these fjords: waterfalls, wild rivers, glacial lakes, deciduous forests, glaciers, underwater moraines. There are also cultural remains around the sites. For example, old transhumance farms testify to a human presence in this exceptional place.
A remarkable natural site
Located in the southwest of the Scandinavian country, these two large fjords in Norway can rise from 250 m to 2.5 km wide. The diverse and rich landscapes of the fjords form exceptional panoramas. Thus, these two sites being separated from each other by 120 km make this region unique in the world. All the fjords cover 122,712 hectares, of which 10,746 are marine. The (light) human contribution to the region adds a historical and cultural touch which makes it possible to learn more about the way in which the human being apprehended the places.
These fjords offer splendid landscapes even more majestic than the rest of the country’s fjords. The mountains are erected on the sides of the river like ramparts of crystalline rocks over 1400 m high. This allows the appearance of many waterfalls and the coniferous forests allow wild rivers to flow that flow to glacial lakes and glaciers.
Geologically, the place shows traces of recent active glaciation, especially during the Pleistocene ice age. Many geological factors (postglacial isostatic uplift, geomorphological expression) are studied by researchers. Thus, they can in particular better understand the instability of slopes and massifs and model the geological risks.