The Tidal Landscape
On Norway’s west coast there is a place where the lowest tide on earth touches the shores. In Egersund, in the county of Rogaland, there is an amphidromic point or tidal node which has always affected the social, economic and physical life along the coast of Southwestern Norway.
01
The Tide and Amphidromic point
At Egersund, the coastline is completely unique as there is virtually no difference between high and low tide resulting from the courses of the sun and moon. There is an amphidromic point to be found here which always makes the tidal difference equal to zero. Such points are the result of the earth's rotation and the interference between several tidal waves. For centuries this has made the area particularly suitable as a harbour area for loading and unloading, entry and exit, and storage.
02.
The ice-age landscape
For several thousand million years, mountain ranges as large as the Himalayas were worn down in the area during hot and cold periods of which about 200 of these were ice-ages. As the last ice-age approached its end about 10,000 years ago, the ice and enormous amounts of melted water left their final traces in the Egersund landscape. Today the area is experienced as a significantly hilly landscape that contains a myriad of lakes and a number of round cliffs that are often completely bare. The ice also left exciting sculptures made of rocks in all shapes and sizes. Some balance on each other, others stand on top of each other and some, like Trollpikken, protrude out from the mountain.
03.
Anorthosite - the moon rock
When the mountain ranges were worn down throughout the many ice ages, special rocks emerged from the earth's interior which, over time, have formed the resource base for the population in the area. The entire area has been formed by magma, i.e. molten rock which, deep inside the earth about 930 million years ago, crystallised and formed the rock known as anorthosite. In an international context, this is a rare rock that can only be found in similar quantities in Canada and on the moon! You could therefore say that here you can find out how it feels to be walking on the surface of the moon! Astronauts and scientists from NASA have even visited the area to train in collecting rock samples on the moon.