The landscape is the result of the combined effects of endogenic and exogenic processes. Human activities affect both the climate and physical environment.
Erdalen, a U-valley in Stryn i Western Norway.
Because exogenic processes are governed by climate, climate has contributed to the development of the contemporary landscapes.
Surface processes
The growth and decay of ice sheets are closely related to variations in temperature and precipitation. Changes in precipitation control the activity of surface runoff and hence the efficiency of fluvial and aeolian processes.
At NGU we focus primarily on how surface processes contribute to develop the landscape. We explore how these processes are related to local and regional tectonic processes and to their underlying structural controls.
In-depth studies
In-depth studies of glacial, gravitational, fluviatile, lacustrine, and marine processes make it possible to understand how landscapes in high northern latitudes have evolved through time. Structural geology and thermochronology have contributed to our understanding of the boundaries to landform domains.
It is a goal to contribute within the field of landscape and climate development by transferring knowledge from research on land - ice - ocean systems in numerous regions, into models that try to reconstruct the modern global natural and man- induced climate variability.
Long-term development
Current projects at NGU are dedicated to long-term development of (pre-) glacial landscapes and how they control the modern depositional environment. Our activities involve weathering, sedimentary transfer and sedimentation processes. Paleo-environmental reconstruction is also carried out based on data from various sediment archives, including terrestrial, lacustrine and marine environments.
Published: 11. January 2008