Eldsfjellet

The eclogites in western Norway were formed when Precambrian basement rocks were squeezed and pressed down under great pressure deep under the Caledonian mountain chain. The process may well have triggered some of the deepest earthquakes the world has ever known. The clearest traces of this drama are found in and around Mt. Eldsfjellet, in peaceful Meland.

Gaupås

Isdalen

The valley on the inside of the Svartediks dam, a five minutes' bus ride from Bergen centre, is often referred to by Bergen folk as Isdalen ("Ice Valley") - justifiably, since the area could have been described in textbooks for its ice-carved land forms. The glacier's polishing over ca. 40 ice ages has created a magnificient landscape. The original ice valley climbs up behind Ulriken at the end of Svartediket.

Marmorøyen

Sandviksfjellet

On Sandviksfjellet there are old boulders that have been made into mountains. The stones have been stretched out or squeezed together between huge slabs of rock, during slow, but powerfulprocesses of transport. This conglomerate shows, in quite a special way, the enormous powers that were active during the collision between Norway and Greenland over 400 million years ago.

Vidden

Åsane

Most associate Åsane with ridges, naturally enough (the Norwegian word for "ridge" is "Ås"). A lesser noticed trait in the landscape are the unusual flat areas that lie between the ridges. The Dalselva River, which was channeled at the end of the 1950s, runs down only 2.5 metres from Lake Langavatnet by Vågsbotn to Flatevad, where it goes over into rapids by Fossekleiva. The layers of gneiss stand nearly vertically, and the mountain surface is so even that one might think it had been planed with a planer.