The discovery of the Ice Age

In 2023, it will be 200 years since the discovery of the 'Ice Age', or rather the theory of the Ice Age.

Professor Jens Esmark was on a journey and was accompanied by two students. On one part of the trip, which went from Stryn in the west to Skjåk in the east, they had to pass through a high mountain area with glaciers and not least traces of the glaciers in the form of moraines and erratics (boulders left by the ice).

Figure taken from Geo365.no and Professor Geir Hestmark's article on "Discovery of the Ice Age".

And it was at the border between west and east that the "eureka moment" struck; it must have been the glacier that deposited soil and rock up here in the mountains, as they had also observed in low-lying areas by the fjord in western Norway (more specifically Forsand in Rogaland). Down at sea level lies the "Esmark moraine", which is a deposit from the last advance of the "Ice Age" about 10 000 years ago.

The Esmark moraine in 2008. Photo: Geir Hestmark (photo taken from Geo365.no)

You can also read more about this amazing story on Geo365.co.uk.