page_title: Fjord
section_title: Freshwater fjords
hierarchical_section_title: Fjord / Freshwater fjords
caption_attribution_description: English: Aerial view of the Norwegian village of Årdalstangen, located between lake Årdalsvatnet (back) and Årdalsfjorden (front)&#160;– an inner branch of Sognefjorden; the river Hæreidselvi flows from the lake to the fjord. At the very end of the lake, Øvre Årdal can also be seen. On the left, just below a cloud, the southern end of Seimsdalen is seen. Čeština: Letecký pohled na Årdalstangen, Sogn, Norsko Русский: Аэрофотоснимок норвежского населённого пункта Ордалстанген, расположенного между озером Ордалсватнет (на заднем плане) и оконечностью Ордалс-фьорда (на переднем плане)&#160;— ответвления Согне-фьорда; из озера в фьорд течёт река Херэйдсэлви. В дальней части снимка, за озером, виден Эвре-Ордал; слева, под облаком, видна южная оконечность Сеймсдалена.
context_page_description: In geology, a fjord or fiord is a long, narrow inlet with steep sides or cliffs, created by a glacier. There are many fjords on the coasts of Alaska, Antarctica, British Columbia, Chile, Denmark, Greenland, the Faroe Islands, Iceland, Ireland, Kamchatka, the Kerguelen Islands, New Zealand, Norway, Novaya Zemlya, Labrador, Nunavut, Newfoundland, Quebec, Scotland, South Georgia Island, Staten Island, and Washington state. Norway's coastline is estimated at 29,000 kilometres with nearly 1,200 fjords, but only 2,500 kilometres when fjords are excluded.
context_section_description: Some Norwegian freshwater lakes that have formed in long glacially carved valleys with sill thresholds, ice front deltas or terminal moraines blocking the outlet follow the Norwegian naming convention; they are frequently named fjords. Ice front deltas developed when the ice front was relatively stable for long time during the melting of the ice shield. The resulting landform is an isthmus between the lake and the saltwater fjord, in Norwegian called "eid" as in placename Eidfjord or Nordfjordeid. The post-glacial rebound changed these deltas into terraces up to the level of the original sea level. In Eidfjord, Eio has dug through the original delta and left a 110 m (360 ft) terrace while lake is only 19 m (62 ft) above sea level. Such deposits are valuable sources of high quality building materials (sand and gravel) for houses and infrastructure. Eidfjord village sits on the eid or isthmus between Eidfjordvatnet lake and Eidfjorden branch of Hardangerfjord. Nordfjordeid is the isthmus with a village between Hornindalsvatnet lake and Nordfjord. Such lakes are also denoted fjord valley lakes by geologists.
  One of Norway's largest is Tyrifjorden at 63 m (207 ft) above sea level and an average depth at 97 m (318 ft) most of the lake is under sea level. Norway's largest lake, Mjøsa, is also referred to as "the fjord" by locals. Another example is the freshwater fjord Movatnet (Mo lake) that until 1743 was separated from Romarheimsfjorden by an isthmus and connected by a short river. During a flood in November 1743 the river bed eroded and sea water could flow into the lake at high tide. Eventually Movatnet became a saltwater fjord and renamed Mofjorden (Mofjorden). Like fjords, freshwater lakes are often deep. For instance Hornindalsvatnet is at least 500 m (1,600 ft) deep and water takes an average of 16 years to flow through the lake. Such lakes created by glacial action are also called fjord lakes or moraine-dammed lakes.
  Some of these lakes were salt after the ice age but later cut off from the ocean during the post-glacial rebound. At the end of the ice age Eastern Norway was about 200 m (660 ft) lower (the marine limit). When the ice cap receded and allowed the ocean to fill valleys and lowlands, and lakes like Mjøsa and Tyrifjorden were part of the ocean while Drammen valley was a narrow fjord. At the time of the Vikings Drammensfjord was still four or five m (13 or 16 ft) higher than today and reached the town of Hokksund, while parts of what is now the city of Drammen was under water. After the ice age the ocean was about 150 m (490 ft) at Notodden. The ocean stretched like a fjord through Heddalsvatnet all the way to Hjartdal. Post-glacial rebound eventually separated Heddalsvatnet from the ocean and turned it into a freshwater lake. In neolithic times Heddalsvatnet was still a saltwater fjord connected to the ocean, and was cut off from the ocean around 1500 BC.
  Some salt water fish got trapped in lakes that originally were part of the salt fjord and gradually became freshwater fish such as the arctic char. Some freshwater fjords such as Slidrefjord are above the marine limit.
  Like freshwater fjords, the continuation of fjords on land are in the same way denoted as fjord-valleys. For instance Flåmsdal (Flåm valley) and Måbødalen.
  Outside of Norway, the three western arms of New Zealand's Lake Te Anau are named North Fiord, Middle Fiord and South Fiord. Another freshwater "fjord" in a larger lake is Western Brook Pond, in Newfoundland's Gros Morne National Park; it is also often described as a fjord, but is actually a freshwater lake cut off from the sea, so is not a fjord in the English sense of the term. Locally they refer to it as a "landlocked fjord". Such lakes are sometimes called "fjord lakes". Okanagan Lake was the first North American lake to be so described, in 1962. The bedrock there has been eroded up to 650 m (2,133 ft) below sea level, which is 2,000 m (6,562 ft) below the surrounding regional topography. Fjord lakes are common on the inland lea of the Coast Mountains and Cascade Range; notable ones i
caption: Årdalstangen village on the small isthmus between Årdalsvatnet lake (behind) and Årdalsfjorden branch of Sognefjorden (front)
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