Festningen Geotope Protected Area
Encyclopedia
Festningen Geotope Protected Area is located at the outermost edge of Grønfjorden
's mouth to Isfjorden
on Nordenskiöld Land
, Spitsbergen
in Svalbard
, Norway
. The profile is a cliff which runs along the coast from Kapp Starostin to Festningsodden. It covers an areas of 16.6 square kilometres (6.4 sq mi), of which 14 square kilometres (5.4 sq mi) is on land and 3 square kilometres (1.2 sq mi) in the sea. Barentsburg
is the closest settlement, located 6 kilometres (4 mi) away, across Grønfjorden. Festningen was protect on 26 September 2003, as part of a major expansion of the protected areas in Svalbard. The protected areas is administrated by the Norwegian Directorate for Nature Management
and the Governor of Svalbard
. Festningen ("The Fortress") is a traditional name given by Norwegian hunters to the area because it looked like a natural fortress.
The geotope
profile consists of geological succession deposits from several hundred millions of years. It dates from the Tertiary
age and has nearly vertical layers, with continual exposure from the Permian
to the Tertiary age. The fossils and geology was recorded during the 1910s and 1920s, and is used within geological sciences as a strategic reference profile. Fossilized footprints of an Iguanodon
dinosaur, 0.5 metres (1.6 ft) in diameter, dating from 100 million years ago, have been found at Festningen. They were 10 to 12 m (32.8 to 39.4 ) long and 3 to 5 m (9.8 to 16.4 ) tall. Located on a cliff, they were highly exposed to erosion; after they were found and copied, the slab fell into the sea.
Grønfjorden
Grønfjorden is a 16km long fjord, separated from Isfjorden to the north by Festningsodden in the west and Heerodden in the east. It lies within the western portion of Nordenskiöld Land...
's mouth to Isfjorden
Isfjord (Svalbard)
Isfjorden is the second longest fjord in the Norwegian archipelago of Svalbard. It lies on the west side of Spitsbergen, an island in the Arctic Ocean about midway between Norway and the North Pole, and the largest in the archipelago. A portion of Isfjorden is included in the national parks of...
on Nordenskiöld Land
Nordenskiöld Land
Nordenskiöld Land is the land area between Isfjorden and Van Mijenfjorden on Spitsbergen, Svalbard.The area is named after Swedish explorer and geologist Nils Adolf Erik Nordenskiöld....
, Spitsbergen
Spitsbergen
Spitsbergen is the largest and only permanently populated island of the Svalbard archipelago in Norway. Constituting the western-most bulk of the archipelago, it borders the Arctic Ocean, the Norwegian Sea and the Greenland Sea...
in Svalbard
Svalbard
Svalbard is an archipelago in the Arctic, constituting the northernmost part of Norway. It is located north of mainland Europe, midway between mainland Norway and the North Pole. The group of islands range from 74° to 81° north latitude , and from 10° to 35° east longitude. Spitsbergen is the...
, Norway
Norway
Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...
. The profile is a cliff which runs along the coast from Kapp Starostin to Festningsodden. It covers an areas of 16.6 square kilometres (6.4 sq mi), of which 14 square kilometres (5.4 sq mi) is on land and 3 square kilometres (1.2 sq mi) in the sea. Barentsburg
Barentsburg
Barentsburg is the second largest settlement on Svalbard, with about 500 inhabitants , almost entirely Russians and Ukrainians. The Russian-owned Arktikugol has been mining coal here since 1932.-Status:...
is the closest settlement, located 6 kilometres (4 mi) away, across Grønfjorden. Festningen was protect on 26 September 2003, as part of a major expansion of the protected areas in Svalbard. The protected areas is administrated by the Norwegian Directorate for Nature Management
Norwegian Directorate for Nature Management
The Norwegian Directorate for Nature Management is Norway's national governmental body for preserving Norway's natural environment, including establishing and regulating national parks and other protected areas...
and the Governor of Svalbard
Governor of Svalbard
The Governor of Svalbard represents the Norwegian government in exercising its sovereignty over the Svalbard archipelago .The position reports to the Norwegian Ministry of Justice, but it maintains all Norwegian interests in the area, including environmental protection, law enforcement,...
. Festningen ("The Fortress") is a traditional name given by Norwegian hunters to the area because it looked like a natural fortress.
The geotope
Geotope
Geotope is the geological component of the abiotic matrix present in an ecotope. Example geotopes might be: an exposed outcrop of rocks, an erratic boulder, a grotto or ravine, a cave, an old stone wall marking a property boundary, and so forth....
profile consists of geological succession deposits from several hundred millions of years. It dates from the Tertiary
Tertiary
The Tertiary is a deprecated term for a geologic period 65 million to 2.6 million years ago. The Tertiary covered the time span between the superseded Secondary period and the Quaternary...
age and has nearly vertical layers, with continual exposure from the Permian
Permian
The PermianThe term "Permian" was introduced into geology in 1841 by Sir Sir R. I. Murchison, president of the Geological Society of London, who identified typical strata in extensive Russian explorations undertaken with Edouard de Verneuil; Murchison asserted in 1841 that he named his "Permian...
to the Tertiary age. The fossils and geology was recorded during the 1910s and 1920s, and is used within geological sciences as a strategic reference profile. Fossilized footprints of an Iguanodon
Iguanodon
Iguanodon is a genus of ornithopod dinosaur that lived roughly halfway between the first of the swift bipedal hypsilophodontids and the ornithopods' culmination in the duck-billed dinosaurs...
dinosaur, 0.5 metres (1.6 ft) in diameter, dating from 100 million years ago, have been found at Festningen. They were 10 to 12 m (32.8 to 39.4 ) long and 3 to 5 m (9.8 to 16.4 ) tall. Located on a cliff, they were highly exposed to erosion; after they were found and copied, the slab fell into the sea.