Gloppedalsura scree

About

Northern Europe's largest scree, Gloppedalsura, consists of landslide stone blocks on top of an end moraine. An end moraine is a flat area of ​​loose material that is located at the bottom of a glacier during a period when the glacier retreats.

Frost blasting set enormous forces in motion
More than 10,000 years ago, the glaciers melted away in this area, and a large end moraine dammed up the Hunnedalselva river towards Veen and Vikeså, and thus a lake formed in Byrkjedalsgryta. The lake terraces in Byrkjedal 240 meters above sea level testify to this moraine-dammed lake. Frost blasting then caused huge amounts of blocks of rock to erupt from the southern side of the mountain. We can only imagine the forces that were at work when this took place. During a visit to the rock mound, we see that the size of some of these boulders is gigantic. The landslide eventually settled over the end moraine like a 100 meter thick rock mound. Hunnedalselva river and the water in Byrkjedalsgryta now had to find a new outlet and dug a ravine from Byrkjedal towards Gilja and Giljajuvet.