Q 01/05

A fjord is a long, narrow sea inlet with steep sides created by what?

A) Volcanic collapse

B) A former glacier

C) A river delta

D) An earthquake fault

Answer · why

B) A former glacier

The ice gouged a deep trough that flooded when it retreated and sea levels rose.

Q 02/05

Norway's coastline measures roughly 29,000 km including its fjords. About how long is it without them?

A) 5,000 km

B) 20,000 km

C) 10,000 km

D) 2,500 km

Answer · why

D) 2,500 km

The country has nearly 1,200 fjords, an extreme case of the 'coastline paradox'.

Q 03/05

What shape of valley does a glacier carve, which later becomes a fjord?

A) V-shaped

B) Flat-bottomed and wide

C) W-shaped

D) U-shaped

Answer · why

D) U-shaped

Rivers cut V-shaped valleys; the ice's abrasion and 'segregation' leaves the broad U with steep walls.

Q 04/05

The rocky shoal at the mouth of most fjords, left where the glacier's erosion weakened, is called what?

A) A moraine dam

B) A skerry field

C) A tombolo bar

D) A sill or threshold

Answer · why

D) A sill or threshold

It can cause violent currents; Norway's Saltstraumen is often called the strongest tidal current in the world.

Q 05/05

The Bay of Kotor in Montenegro is often called a fjord but is actually what?

A) A flooded volcanic caldera

B) A true glacial fjord

C) A ria, a drowned river valley

D) A tectonic rift valley

Answer · why

C) A ria, a drowned river valley

It is the flooded valley of the vanished Bokelj River; rias lack a fjord's glacial sill and overdeepening.