The rise and fall of a mountain range
Once upon a time, Norway was taller than the Himalayas, and the area now occupied by Bergen lay buried beneath 30 kilometres of rock. In the exhibition, you will get to know the geological processes that build up the Earth's crust, and the forces that wear it down, told through models, animations and rock samples.
What can you see in the exhibition?
In The rise and fall of a mountain range, you can see:
- A six-minute animation of 560 million years of geological history
- Models and rock samples that tell the story of western Norway
- Four-billion-year-old zircon minerals from Bømlo
- Tiny diamonds that only form under immense pressure
How western Norway was formed
Once upon a time, Norway was taller than the Himalayas. The area now occupied by Bergen has lain buried beneath 30 kilometres of rock. But how do researchers know this?
The processes that shape and reshape the Earth's surface are ongoing, even 4.6 billion years after the planet formed. In this exhibition, you will get to know the geological processes that build up the Earth's crust, and the forces that wear it down.
560 million years in six minutes
The rock floor beneath our feet today was once kneaded about in the depths like bread dough. We tell the story of western Norway through models, animations and a wealth of rock samples, giving new meaning to the term 'fast-forward': 560 million years of geological history compressed into six minutes.
You will also learn how researchers see 'silent witnesses' to history where the rest of us see only stone. Four-billion-year-old zircon minerals from Bømlo are used to date volcanic rocks. And the discovery of tiny diamonds, which only form under immense pressure, tells us that north-western Norway was once pushed deep into the roots of the mountains.
When two continents collided
Norway's geological history is closely tied to the history of the Caledonian mountain range. For western Norway, the story begins around 500 million years ago.
The continents Laurentia (Greenland and North America) and Baltica (where Norway-to-be lay) had drifted apart for millions of years, separated by the Iapetus Ocean. Now they began to approach each other again: the seabed off Laurentia cracked, sank and was overridden by the seabed off Baltica.
As the seabed sank into the depths, molten rock, magma, rose up through the layers above the sinking plate. The molten masses formed great arcs of volcanic islands off the coast of Laurentia, in processes that took tens of millions of years. Some of these island arcs today form parts of Scandinavia.