Scandinavian Mountains

The Scandinavian Mountains are a mountain range running along the Scandinavian Peninsula, chiefly through Norway and Sweden, with a small extension into Finland. They include rugged highlands, plateaus, and glaciated peaks.

Caledonian orogeny: A mountain-building episode that formed a belt across parts of northwestern Europe during the Paleozoic Era. This collision built much of the bedrock now exposed in the range.
Scandinavian Ice Sheet: A vast ice sheet that covered much of northern Europe during the last glacial period. Its repeated advances scoured lowlands and valleys around the mountain chain.
Galdhøpiggen: A mountain in Norway, the highest peak in the Scandinavian Mountains and Northern Europe. It is the range’s highest summit and a landmark of the Jotunheimen massif.
European route E6: A major north–south road route running through Norway and Sweden. Its mountain crossings connect communities along the peninsula’s western side.
Alps: A major European mountain system stretching across eight countries, including France, Switzerland, Italy, and Austria. The Alps are higher and younger, providing a contrast with the eroded Scandinavian range.
Fennoscandian Shield: An ancient region of exposed Precambrian rocks underlying much of northern Europe. It forms the older geological foundation east of the range’s Caledonian rocks.
Jostedalsbreen: A large ice cap in western Norway and mainland Europe’s largest glacier by area. Its outlet glaciers show how ice still modifies the range’s western slopes.
Kebnekaise: A mountain in Swedish Lapland and Sweden’s highest mountain massif. Its changing glacier-capped summit illustrates the effects of a warming climate.
Bergen Line: A railway linking Oslo and Bergen across the mountains of southern Norway. Its high-altitude route demonstrates the engineering demands of crossing the range.
Ural Mountains: A north–south mountain chain in western Russia commonly treated as part of the boundary between Europe and Asia. The Urals offer a distant northern European comparison in age, orientation, and setting.

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