Prelims ask
Galdhøpiggen, Norway. West-flowing short rivers versus east-flowing Baltic rivers.
Europe · Old fold
Scandinavian Mountains
- Countries
- Norway and Sweden, with a fringe in northern Finland.
- Length
- About 1,700 km.
- Orientation
- Northeast–southwest.
- Mountain type
- Old fold
- Plates
- Caledonian orogeny: Laurentia against Baltica. Later uplifted and scoured by ice. Not an Alpine-age chain.
- Highest peak
- Galdhøpiggen, 2,469 m, Norway. Exam-safe summit. Glittertind’s ice cap has been argued higher in some years; the rock summit used in exams is Galdhøpiggen.
- Rivers that rise here
- Short, steep rivers fall west to the Norwegian Sea. Longer Swedish rivers (Lule, Ume, Dal) flow southeast to the Baltic.
- Climate and rain shadow
- Westerlies drop heavy snow and rain on Norway. Sweden lies in the relative rain shadow. Fjords are glacial, not tectonic rifts of the East African type.
Mains use
A north–south old range in the westerly belt: windward coast, leeward interior, glaciated valley form.