WHY DOES SCANDINAVIA HAVE SO MANY ISLANDS?
The multitude of islands dotted along Scandinavia’s coastline were created by glaciation. During the last ice age, Scandinavia was smothered by an ice sheet up to 1.9 miles thick. Advancing glaciers scoured the landscape, carving deep valleys called fjords, but also leaving mountains of debris. The crushing weight of the ice warped Earth’s crust downward, pushing coastal areas underwater. Since the ice melted some 19,000 years ago, the region has been slowly bouncing back to its former altitude, rising by a few millimetres each year. As the submerged land is lifted, elevated areas jut out of the sea to form islands.