The discovery of the ice age

In 2023, it will be 200 years since the "Ice Age" was discovered, or rather, the theory of ice ages.

Professor Jens Esmark was on a tour of the country and brought two students with him. 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 drift blocks.

Figure taken from Geo365.no and Professor Geir Hestmark's case about "The Discovery of the Ice Age".

And it was at the border between west and east that the "eureka wink" struck; it must have been the glacier that deposited soil and rock up here in the mountains, as they had also observed in lower-lying areas by the fjord in Western Norway (more precisely, Forsand in Rogaland). Down at sea level lies the "Esmark moraine", which is a deposit from the "Istida's" last advance 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 fantastic story at Geo365.no .