Documenti di Didattica
Documenti di Professioni
Documenti di Cultura
of
Longyearbyen
Karsten Piepjohn, Rolf Stange,
Malte Jochmann & Christiaane Hübner
i n and !
r s i ons rbyen
e xcu gyea
n
Withund Lo
aro
LoFF
1
2
Introduction
S
valbard tells a fantastic history through the seemingly unremarkable rocks of the dark-shaded
mountain ranges that lie exposed beside the glaciers and along the cold coasts. Geological
history is excellently presented, as if in a geology textbook, because the ice-free areas are not
covered by vegetation the way they are in Central Europe, for example. A large proportion of Earth’s
history is exposed on the islands of the small archipelago, which makes Svalbard uniquely attractive
to geologists in the Arctic.
The present landscape shows distinct
land forms characteristic of cold climate
conditions on Earth: in Longyearbyen,
the Quaternary Ice Age still has not
ended.
In this booklet, we would like to
take you on an exciting journey through
the ancient past in the surroundings
of Longyearbyen. We will start with a
brief general description of Svalbard’s
geological history, and then zoom in on
the geology and the present landscape
in and around Longyearbyen.
4
By the end of the Devonian, the climate
became more humid: the oldest forests
on Earth grew along the shores of
ancient rivers in what is now Dickson
Land west of the Russian settlement of
Pyramiden.
5
During the Triassic and Jurassic, 250 to 150
million years before present, Svalbard travelled
continuously northwards into the humid climate
zone of the Earth. It was still covered by a
shallow sea, but the water was colder than in
the sub-tropical seas of the Carboniferous and
Permian. Life was dominated by ammonites
and huge marine dinosaurs such as ichthyosaurs
and plesiosaurs. During Lower Cretaceous
times (150-100 million years ago), the shallow
sea disappeared, and Svalbard emerged as land
where dinosaurs several meters tall, such as Ichthyosaurus at Kapp Thordsen
Iguanodon, grazed in the Cretaceous forests. (Photo: Dierk Blomeier).
By the beginning of the Tertiary some 65
million years ago, Svalbard had already reached
its present geographical latitude. The island was
characterized by extensive humid forests similar
Plesiosaurus
to the present forests in Central Europe. If it
were possible to travel back to Svalbard of 65
million years ago, we would find the vegetation
very familiar. How strange to think that the
dinosaurs had just died out at that time! Forty
million years ago, the climate worldwide started
to cool down and about 3 million years ago,
the present Quaternary Ice Age started in the
northern hemisphere. The landscape of Svalbard
became what we see today.
Ammonite from
Ostrogradskij
fjella, Hornsund.
6
2 The geology of Longyearbyen
2.1 Introduction
T
he geology of Longyearbyen and Svalbard. Either no sediments were deposited
its surroundings is dominated by at all or the deposited layers were eroded before
marine and terrestrial mudstones and the Tertiary sedimentation began – a time gap of
sandstones of the youngest chapters of Earth’s 35 million years (marked by the double dotted
history. Looking from Longyearbyen across line in the picture of Hiorthfjellet in middle of
Adventfjorden at Hiorthfjellet, you can see an the book). However, the whole mountainside of
almost horizontal succession of Cretaceous and Hiorthfjellet from the base to the top exhibits a
Tertiary sedimentary beds with the oldest rock time span of 85 million years!
units at the bottom and the youngest deposits At the beginning of the Tertiary era, ancient
on top. swamps led to the formation of the coal seams in
The lower and middle parts of Hiorthfjellet Nordenskiöld Land which became the economic
consist of 140-100 million-year-old deposits basis for the foundation of Longyear City more
of the Early Cretaceous era, whereas the upper than 100 years ago. In Longyeardalen and
third of Hiorthfjellet is formed of 65-55 million- Adventdalen, it is easy to recognize the bottom
year-old Tertiary sediments. The sedimentary of the Tertiary sediments, because all the mine
succession is not continuous: deposits from the entrances lie like pearls on a necklace at the level
time interval between 100 and 65 million years of the coal seam.
ago (Late Cretaceous) are not represented in
The pearl necklace of mines in Longyeardalen (from left to right): Gruve 1B at Sverdrupbyen (180 masl),
Gruve 1A above the church (240 masl), the mine at Hiorthfjellet (550 masl), Gruve 2B at Sukkertoppen
(270 masl), Gruve 2B above Nybyen (230 masl) and another mine opening to Gruve 2B close to
Larsbreen. Picture taken from the entrance of Gruve 4 (just below Sarkofagen at 160 masl).
7
2.2 The Early Cretaceous
time period (145-100
million years ago)
T
he oldest deposits in the Longyearbyen consolidation within spherical aureoles than in
area are Early Cretaceous siltstones at the surrounding mudstones. Often, remnants
the base of Hiorthfjellet. During this of bones or bivalve shells or ammonites can be
era, Spitsbergen was characterized by constant found within the «cannonballs».
shifts between marine and terrestrial conditions During times of low sea level, the shallow
due to changes in sea level. Thus, Spitsbergen sea retreated and Spitsbergen became land with
was land which was repeatedly inundated by a large flat, river-crossed plains and deltas along
shallow shelf sea. Most of the Cretaceous marine the coast. Characteristic sediments are green
deposits are dark-gray to black mudstones and and gray successions of sandstone and mudstone
siltstones which contain very characteristic with abundant plant remains and dinosaur
structures called geodes or concretions. They footprints. Spitsbergen’s flat landscape must have
look like cannonballs and are often perfectly been covered by extensive forests: evidence that
spherical in shape, with diameters up to 30 supports this is the existence of coal seams at
centimeters. the base of Adventtoppen, the mountain ridge
When marine animals die, their bodies opposite Longyearbyen airport. Such coal layers
– or parts of them – sink to the sea bottom, can only be generated by decomposing organic
where they are deposited in and covered by material from growing plants under terrestrial
mud. Due to the decomposition of this organic conditions.
material, chemical processes result in a harder
Geodes or
«cannonballs»
at Øienbukta,
Bohemanflya.
8
Footprints of an Iguanodon, a dinosaur up to
8 meters long and 5 meters tall and weighing
up to 4.5 tons. These tracks were found close
to Barentsburg. The sediments that make up
the lower slopes of Hiorthfjellet represent the
age when Iguanodon was walking through the
Early Cretaceous forests of Spitsbergen.
I
n Svalbard, no sediments of Late Cretaceous until the uplift stopped 65 million years ago.
age are preserved: 100 million-year-old Early Most information about Svalbard’s environment,
Cretaceous sandstones and siltstones are climate, plants and animals during the hiatus is
directly overlain by 65 million-year-old deposits lost together with the eroded sediments.
from the Early Tertiary age. Geologists call such Worldwide, the Cretaceous – Tertiary
a break a «hiatus». In Svalbard, the narrow boundary represents a major event in the
joint or boundary between the two rock units evolution of life on Earth. During one of the
represents a time gap of 35 million years! most important mass extinctions in Earth’s
What happened in this period? Probably history 65 million years ago, a huge number of
sedimentation continued into the lower part plants and animals – entire genera – suddenly
of the Early Cretaceous while Svalbard was disappeared from Earth’s surface. This was the
slowly uplifted. This uplift raised Svalbard over time when the dinosaurs died out. As one of
the water surface of the surrounding oceans the consequences, the evolution of mammals
– Svalbard became land, and erosion started exploded after the dinosaurs had died out.
removing the previously deposited sediments
9
2.4 The Early Tertiary
time period (65-23
million years ago)
W
hen you look from the center of Tertiary was distinctly different from what it is
Longyearbyen to the slopes on either today: the characteristic topography with the
side of Longyeardalen, you can see plateau mountains and vast fjords in central
the cableways of the old coal transportation Spitsbergen and the high mountain ranges along
system and the buildings and entrances of the west coast of Spitsbergen did not exist!
several abandoned coal mines, all at the same Sixty-five million years ago, the landscape of
altitude at the base of the Tertiary sediments. central Spitsbergen was dominated by a large
Here lie several coal seams which are the most bay that opened towards a shallow ocean in the
important productive coal deposits of Svalbard south and was bounded by flat land areas west,
in Longyearbyen, Barentsburg and Sveagruva. north and east.In the area around Longyearbyen,
The landscape of Spitsbergen in the Early geologists have found evidence of sandy beaches,
tidally influenced
lagoons and tidal
flats similar to those
of the wave energy-
dominated shores of
the Wadden Sea along
the Danish and North
German coast. Muddy
deposits with high
organic content, coal
and plant remains are
evidence of coastal plain
swamps which probably
extended from the coast
approximately 10 km
inland. This coastal
plain was protected from
waves and storms by
barrier bars and islands.
Modified from
C.J.Lüthje (2008).
10
Satellite image of the North German Wadden Sea
(Photo: NASA).
11
It is important to know that Thulitheripus
svalbardii is the first pantodont found in Europe,
and that pantodonts had been only known from
the Early Tertiary in North America before the
tracks were discovered in Longyearbyen. So,
this finding is additional evidence that North
America and Svalbard were still attached
together in the Early Tertiary – it was still
possible to walk from Longyearbyen to North
Greenland. Most probably, the small group
of pantodonts came over from Greenland to
Svalbard to graze in the rich vegetation of the
swamps near the coast of the ancient bay near
Longyearbyen. At Hiorthfjellet, the level of the
old coal mine marks the point of time, when
Thulitheripus svalbardii was walking across the
Tertiary swamps of Spitsbergen.
In Early Tertiary times, Svalbard had already
reached the high polar latitudes where it is
situated today. The existence of the coal and very
well preserved imprints of leaves in the Tertiary
sandstones – not only in Spitsbergen but almost
everywhere around the Arctic Ocean – show
that the climate on Earth was much warmer than
it is today. There were no glaciers and there was
probably no sea ice around the North Pole. At
the same time, conditions in southern Germany
were sub-tropical and palm trees were growing in
Paris and London! Sixty-five million years ago,
Fossil leaf from Longyearbreen moraine.
the climate in Spitsbergen was warm-temperate
with high humidity equally distributed over the
year. The mean annual temperature has been and consist mostly of black to dark-gray shale,
estimated at +12°C in the Early Tertiary – this mudstones and fine-grained gray and green
is significantly warmer than the current mean sandstones. As in the Early Cretaceous times,
annual temperature of +8.5°C in Germany! sea level changes led to alternating marine and
The sediments that were deposited in the terrestrial conditions in the Longyearbyen area,
time span between 55 and 30 million years with flat coastal plains at low sea levels and
ago in central Spitsbergen are monotonous shallow inland sea at high sea levels.
12
2.5 The collision between
Svalbard and Greenland
I
n the Early Tertiary, Svalbard was still crashes – but is much, much larger! On both
attached to Northeast Greenland. Due to sides of the entrance to Isfjorden, sediments more
simultaneous opening of Baffin Bay and than three kilometers thick have been turned
the North Atlantic, Greenland was pushed into a vertical position; the folded rock units
northeastwards against Svalbard like a bulldozer. are easily recognizable in the mountains. In the
This collision produced a 300-kilometer long, Longyearbyen area, the fold structures at the end
folded and thrust-faulted mountain range along of the steep cliff along the road to the airport
the west coast of Spitsbergen, the so-called are related to this deformation of the edges of
West Spitsbergen Fold-and-Thrust Belt. It Svalbard and Northeast Greenland.
resembles the deformable zones of cars after car
13
Folds along the road to Longyearbyen airport: Lower Cretaceous, 100 million-year-old siltstones
which have been deformed, folded and thrust-faulted during the formation of the Tertiary
Fold-and-Thrust Belt some 50 million years ago.
14
After the deformation that formed the West Thirty-five million years ago, the land bridge
Spitsbergen Fold-and-Thrust Belt, Svalbard between Greenland and Svalbard sank beneath
started to break loose from Northeast the waves; North America and Europe were
Greenland. finally separated, and Svalbard drifted to its
current position.
N
o deposits younger than 30 million down and changed to almost cool-temperate
years are preserved in the area of with mean annual temperatures around +8°C in
Longyearbyen. Like the «missing Late Svalbard. By the end of the Tertiary the climate
Cretaceous» they have either been eroded after became increasingly colder until the Quaternary
deposition or were never deposited at all. In Ice Age started in the Arctic, leading to the
this period, the global climate started to cool situation we know today.
2.7 Coal
Coal geology
Sixty million years ago, even though Svalbard As parts of the land slowly subsided, ground
was situated north of 70° latitude, vegetation water level rose and coastal swamps could grow
dominated a landscape that looked very unlike thicker and thicker. Where grasses, ferns and
the one we see today. Due to the high latitude horsetail had created stable ground along lakes
there was a long polar night just as there is today, and lagoons, hazelnut bushes and birch trees
but nonetheless the climate was relatively warm moved in and were then followed by trees we
and offered suitable conditions for blooming might recognize as elm, beech, plane and giant
landscapes. There is no comparable place on redwood – or at least their ancestors. The land
earth today! continued subsiding and was flooded while rivers
15
transported mud and sand from inland out into sandstone, mudrock and conglomerate, we can
the sea. Eventually the former wetlands and find five main layers of coal, so-called seams.
mires were covered with several kilometers of The seams have been given names: the
sediments. main seam here is called Longyear seam. At
How do we know about those forests and the bottom we find the Svea seam (which is
wetlands then? Well, they are still there! The more than 5 meters thick at the active mine
land was pressed up again, luckily rising to even Svea Nord, 45 km southeast of Longyearbyen),
a bit higher than it was 60 million years ago. If overlain by the thin Todalen seam. Above are the
we walk inside the coal mines, we can find fossils Svarteper and Askeladden seams.
and imprints of ancient plants in the roof and Between the seams, layers of mudrock,
the surrounding rocks. And the coal itself is sandstone and conglomerate tell geologists a
nothing else other than peat that has been slowly story about tidal flats, beaches and rivers 60
roasted for some million years at around 80°C. million years ago.
What happened exactly? When the peat To find out if a seam is worth mining in a specific
was slowly covered by sediments, the water it area, a many analyses and evaluations must
contained was pressed out and thus it dried, be done. Factors such as coal seam thickness,
turning slowly into brown coal (lignite). content of inorganic material (so called ash),
Typically temperature rises by about 30°C per sulfur content, energetic value and the location of
1000 meters of depth, and at the same time the coal field decide whether mining can be done
the pressure increases. More and more water economically or not.
is pressed out of the coal and at some point
the brown coal changes its chemical structure
and becomes black and lustrous. This point is
called the geochemical gelification and more
or less marks the change from brown coal to
bituminous coal – the stuff which is mined
in Longyearbyen. The whole process is called
coalification and explains how 6-10 meters of
peat can be converted into 1 meter of energy-rich
coal. If this process were to continue, further
increases in temperature, pressure and time
would turn the coal into anthracite, graphite and,
at very high pressure, diamond.
The mine in the old Advent City on the
northern side of Adventfjorden produced
cretaceous coal. All the other mines in
Longyearbyen worked early Tertiary bituminous
coal. We can imagine the coal layers in the
surrounding mountains as the jam in a layer
cake. In an up to 50-meter thick succession of
16
Compared to Svea Nord, Gruve 7 is a small
mine with just over 20 employees and an annual
production of 90 000 tons. It works the Longyear
seam with a thickness between 1 and 2 meters,
typically 1.6 meters. The coal is extracted using
the technique called «room and pillar»mining;
Mining operation inside Gruve 7
this production method allows 70-80% of the
(Photo: Tommy Dahl Markussen; SNSK).
coal to be exploited. The rest of the coal is left in
place as pillars that maintain stability in the mine.
The bulk of the coal from Gruve 7 is shipped
Coal mining to Germany where it is used in the metallurgic
All the mines in the vicinity of Longyearbyen are industry as an important factor in the production
underground coal mines. In 1906 the American of car engines, among other things. The coal is of
«Arctic Coal Company» started mining in very good quality and requires no washing. The
the valley that is now named after the founder rest of the coal (about 25,000 tons/year) is used
John Munro Longyear. In 1916 the Norwegian in the local power plant to generate electricity
«Store Norske Spitsbergen Kulkompani» and community heating for Longyearbyen.
(SNSK) bought Longyear City and has been The coal is transported by truck through
mining in the Longyearbyen area ever since Longyearbyen to the harbor and the power
(apart from two years during the Second World plant. Sometimes the trucks lose lumps of coal.
War). SNSK is Norway’s only coal mine, the If you are lucky enough to find a specimen beside
northernmost active mine in the world and the road, pick it up. Look at the luster and the
produces without subsidies. layered structure; maybe you will even find a leaf
SNSK’s mines are numbered, Gruve 7 (Mine imprint. Can you imagine the plants this black
7) is active today. Though the old mines have lump is made of? Close your eyes and imagine
been abandoned, most of the installations are the warm wind, the smell of the swamps and the
preserved and visible on the mountainsides (see rustling of the leaves of the giant trees that grew
2.1). Most of the coal was transported to the here in the Arctic 60 million years ago!
harbors by cableway.
SNSK’s main office is situated in
Longyearbyen. The main activity, however, is
in Sveagruva: the mine «Svea Nord» started
production in 2002 and is the most productive
mine ever in Svalbard. At its peak, the annual
production was more than 4 million tons! For
comparison, all the other mines worked by
SNSK have produced about 27 million tons
since 1916. Today (2012), SNSK is opening up
a new mine, called Lunckefjellet.
17
18
19
3 Quaternary – the present landscape
around Longyearbyen
3.1 Remnants of the pre-ice age landscape:
peneplains, isolated mountains and valleys
During the ice age, Svalbard was repeatedly as Isfjorden and Adventdalen. A few isolated
covered by huge ice sheets with formidable mountains had resisted erosion while the
destructive power. Nevertheless, the most surrounding bedrock was worn down through
important large-scale landscape features around many million years and towered 500 meters or
Longyearbyen have survived from times far more more above the plain, just as they do today (e.g.
ancient than the last ice age. Nordenskiöldfjellet).
The best examples are the wide mountain Over the next millions of years, uplift raised
plateaus that are characteristic of Longyearbyen’s the plains to higher elevations, creating the
surroundings. If you were to connect the plateaus mountain plateaus. Uplift also led to increased
across today’s valleys, you would essentially erosion, thus turning the wide, shallow river
get the landscape as it would have been many valleys into deep valleys with steep slopes.
million years ago: a wide, rolling peneplain near With the onset of the ice age, these valleys were
sea level, with low hills and muddy rivers. The repeatedly filled with glaciers that created typical
wide, shallow valleys of these rivers probably glacial U-shaped valleys with steep slopes and
created today’s system of fjords and valleys such wide bottoms (Longyeardalen, Bjørndalen).
Nordenskiöldfjellet towering over Plateaufjellet. Bjørndalen, a glacial valley with U-shaped cross
section, incised into a pre-glacial, uplifted plain.
The volume changes of the large Quarternary ice coastlines are 60-70 m above sea level and date
sheet left quite obvious traces in the landscape. back 10,000-11,000 years.
The more than 1000 m thick ice mass pressed You can find quite
the Earth’s crust down by about 200 m. Once obvious fossil beach ridges at
most of this ice had disappeared, the crust Hotellneset, Revneset and the
reacted elastically and started to pop up again, entrance to Bolterdalen, where
returning to its original position. even whalebones and seashells
This uplift resulted in retreating shorelines. have been found in the marine
Traces of this process remain in the form sediment, kilometers away from
of beach ridges and occasionally driftwood, the modern day coastline.
whalebones and seashells well inland. Near
Longyearbyen, the highest traces of former
Fossile seashell in Bolterdalen.
24
3.11 Rock glaciers
A rock glacier is a solid body of rocks and
ice that develops when meltwater percolates
between the rocks and freezes in the permafrost
area. It remains frozen for a long time and fills
the hollows between the rocks completely. The
whole mixture can deform under the influence of
gravity and move slowly downhill at a speed of a
few centimeters per year. Avalanches contribute
significantly to supplying rock glaciers with
debris and ice. There are several nice examples of
rock glaciers around Longyearbyen.
25
3.13 Pingos
Pingos are little hills that can be between 10 and During summer, groundwater can reach the
over 30 meters high and have a diameter of more surface in these areas, but as soon as the surface
than 100 meters at their base. Pingos have a thin is frozen, the water is captured below the surface.
outer layer of soft sediment but most of their There it will re-freeze to form an ice body that
volume consists of solid ice. Most pingos can be can grow and survive for many years. During the
found on the bottom of large valleys. summer, there is usually a small artesian spring
The formation of a pingo can start when somewhere on the pingo, which can create a
groundwater flows from the catchment area large ice-covered area on and around the pingo
of a temperate glacier into the layer under the in autumn.
permafrost. There it is under pressure but The pingo nearest to Longyearbyen is
cannot easily escape through the permafrost. The at Moskuslaguna on the northern side of
groundwater will have to find weak zones within Adventfjorden, but there are more pingos in
the permafrost to reach the surface. Such zones Adventdalen.
are often found in valleys with big rivers. Their
water helps to keep the permafrost weak.
Pingo on the northern side of Adventdalen at the Polygons in Adventdalen beside the road to
opening of Mälardalen. Todalen. See cabin for scale.
26
Geological excursions
We suggest three excursions, depending on your schedule and circumstances:
Family excursion in Longyeardalen
This is a geological excursion for families with children or just anyone who wants
to get some exercise but doesn’t want to emulate a mountain goat. It can be done as
a round trip in the Longyear valley and takes 1-3 hours. It follows roads all the way
but can also be extended with short excursions off-road.
GPS
Safety goggles
Geological
compass
27
Family excursion in Longyeardalen
(1) Soil creep: Beside the road you see tilted wooden stumps. These are the piles
the houses of old Longyear City were built on. The houses burned down during the
Second World War. The stakes were vertical at the beginning of the 20th century. The
tilt is a sign of movement of the active layer, which slowly creeps downslope. At the
same time the piles are pushed up due to frost heave. See chapter 3.12.
(2) Rock towers: The yellowish cliff two-thirds of the way up the slope are part of
a sandstone layer. This more or less horizontal layer resists erosion better than the
overlying siltstones and therefore forms cliffs. See chapter 3.9.
(3) Mud flows: Most of the mud flows in this area are from the same extreme rain event which occurred
in August 1972. During this event 31 mm of rain fell in 48 hours. As a result, the active layer became
oversaturated with water and was destablized. The wet mud ran downslope and formed channels. Typical
for such mud flows are the levees on either side of the channels and the fans at the lower end. Some of the
channels even crossed the road. See chapter 3.10.
Rolling stones: Blocks break loose from the cliffs of the sandstone layers and tumble down the slope,
especially in the early winter when temperatures change a lot and in early summer when temperatures rise.
Sometimes the boulders roll all the way to the river bed. See chapter 3.8.
(4) Rock glacier: The terrace at the foot of the slope behind Huset was used as a ski-jump in the old
days. Those terraces are rock glaciers. See chapter 3.11.
(5) Level of the coal seam: The installations of Gruve 1A (the American mine) are clearly visible
high above the church. The opening of Gruve 1B is just above Sverdrupbyen; Gruve 4 is at the foot of
Sarkofagen. On the other side of Longyeardalen you see Gruve 2B and the leavings from Gruve 2B at
Sukkertoppen. Look across to Hiorthfjellet and you may discern the installations of the mine far up on
the mountainside. All these mines exploited the same geological coal level, namely the Longyear coal seam.
Imagine the coal as the jam in a layer cake. The cake is tilted slightly towards you and the big erosion
monster (i.e. ancient glaciers) has «eaten» (eroded) the part of the cake where the valleys Longyeardalen
and Adventdalen are today. Before erosion, these too were filled with coal and rock. See chapter 2.1, 2.4
and 2.7.
(6) Alternative: Longyearbreen and fossilized forests: See (20).
Walk back to Huset and cross the valley.
(7) Alternative: Larsbreen: Walk up to Nybyen and continue along the river to Larsbreen. Bring a
rifle! At the end of the valley you see the river coming out of the meltwater channel of Larsbreen’s ice-cored
moraine. In winter it is possible to enter this «moraine cave». See chapter 3.6. and 3.7.
(8) Alternative: Gruve 2B, Santa Claus’ home: climb up the steep slope to Gruve 2B. This
mine entrance was established in 1937. In 1943 the mine caught fire during the German attacks and
burned until 1962. In 1959 the leavings outside the mine entrance started burning spontaneously: self-
combustion. The red, oxidized rock material outside Gruve 2B bears witness to those fires. Gruve 2 was
finally closed in winter 1967/68. SNSK maintains the installations and it is possible to enter some of the
buildings. Every year in Advent season, Santa Claus moves in here. The children of Longyearbyen deliver
their Christmas wish-lists to the mailbox he sets up at the road in Nybyen. See chapter 2.7.
(9) Avalanches: behind Spitsbergen Hotel you see the artificial ridge that was built after the
catastrophic avalanche in 1953, when three people lost their lives. The avalanche was a slush avalanche
that came down Vannledningsdalen with destructive power. (9b) The little footbridge «Perleporten» (The
Pearly Gate) was partly destroyed during a slush avalanche in late January 2012. See chapter 3.4.
(10) Longyearelva, a tamed arctic river: Before humans came here the river bed covered the entire
width of the valley. Today, diligent work with earth-moving equipment keeps the river in its artificial bed –
and away from houses and roads. In winter the river dries out completely. See chapter 3.5.
(11) A rising island, raised beaches: It is not easy to see anymore, but several of the rows of houses
are built on raised beach terraces. If you walk to the end of Vei 236, you can clearly trace the line of the old
beach. See chapter 3.2.
You can end your excursion with a visit to Svalbard Museum and learn more about Svalbard’s
fascinating geology.
28
29
Excursion to Trollstein – for mountain goats
(12) Tidal flat: The innermost shoreline of Adventfjord is a big tidal flat. At low tide
you can walk out on the tidal flat and look for traces of benthic marine animals such as
worms and shellfish. You might also be able to see nice sedimentary structures such as
ripplemarks, created by water currents. At high tide the whole area is flooded. See chapter
3.5.
Pass the dog pen and follow the road upwards into the valley.
(13) Svalbard in Cretaceous times: Pass the dam on the grassy ridge to the left and descend into the
valley. The steep rock walls are composed of sedimentary rocks. See (27). You might find embedded
structures that resemble those from the last stop at the tidal flat.
(14) Svalbard in the Tertiary: As you walk up the valley, look for changes in the rocks – very
observant geologists might discover a conglomerate layer that marks the “missing” late Cretaceous time
period as described in chapter 2.3. When you reach the level of the mine entrance (which is to the right)
and if the valley is not filled with snow, you can see the best example of an outcropping coal seam in the
vicinity of Longyearbyen. The well laminated coal is overlain by thick sandstone beds. You are in the
Tertiary Firkanten Formation. See chapter 2.4. and 2.7.
(15) Frost weathering: Walking is difficult on the plateau mountain. Due to freezing and thawing
processes many of the sandstone rocks are standing vertically. You might also see frost separation processes
as patterned ground. See chapter 3.12.
(16) Svalbard in the Tertiary, sea level changes: Sandstones resist erosion quite well and it is thus
the thick sandstone layers that form the plateau mountains in this area. Where the Trollstein ridge starts
you walk upwards onto dark mudrock. The landscape formations get smoother because mudrock is easily
weathered. You walk upwards with geological time: after deposition of the sands close to the beach some
58 million years ago, sea level rose and the shoreline moved inland. The former beach was suddenly 100-
200 meters below sea level. The sand from the coast did not reach that deep into the marine basin and
was deposited elsewhere. Where you are standing, only the muddy particles were deposited. Remnants of
plants and animals also sank to the bottom and contributed to the high organic content that is responsible
for the dark colors of the rocks.
(17) Svalbard in the Tertiary, the filling of a marine basin: As you walk up the beautiful ridge, note
how more and more sandstone layers intercalate the mudrock. The top of Trollstein consists again of pure
sandstones which form manifold sedimentary structures such as dunes and ripples. You might see heavily
folded structures that developed when an earthquake triggered a submarine sand slump around 50 million
years ago. The change from the lower mudrocks to the overlying sandstones tells us the story of a basin that
slowly filled up with sediments: the ancient shoreline was much closer here on top of the mountain than in
the layers further down where we only find mudrock. Nordenskiöldfjellet is even higher. There we can find
coal and plant fossils at the summit, a sure sign of terrestrial deposition. The basin was totally filled up with
sediments at the place and time when the coal was deposited as peat. There were originally coal-bearing
layers also above Trollsteinen, but these have been eroded by glaciers, wind and weather.
(18) A changing glacier, Larsbreen: Many signs that show us that Larsbreen is not as thick as it
has been. These moraine cones were once covered by ice. Careful study of the moraines also shows that
Larsbreen once hung over towards Longyearbreen. See chapter 3.6.
Alternative at (18): walk down the moraine of Larsbreen instead of walking to Longyearbreen.
(19) Meltwater channels: In winter it is possible to enter the glacier by following the channels. A
fascinating experience!
(20) Longyearbreen and fossilized forests: When you come to the rocky moraine of Longyearbreen,
lift up some rocks. Do you see that there is mainly ice below them? See chapter 3.2 and 3.7. Stroll around
and look for hints of a warmer climate in Svalbard once upon a time – you can find amazing imprints of
fossilized leaves and trees, remnants of the huge forests that covered Svalbard some 45 million years ago!
The leaves are from the Tertiary deposits at Nordenskiöldfjellet. See chapter 2.4.
(21) to (25): see (5) to (1)
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Excursion by car to Adventdalen
(27) Svalbard in Cretaceous times: Walk along the cliffs at the shore. Pay
attention to the different rock types you encounter: mudrock, silt- and sandstone
from the Cretaceous Carolinefjellet Formation. These sediments were deposited
on the sea floor around 100 million years ago. You can find beautiful sedimentary
structures and trace fossils. You can also find marine fossils such as shells and
(rarely) ammonites. Look for cannon-balls! With a lot of luck you can find
fossilized wood here. See chapter 2.2.
(28) Rockfall and mudflows: see excursion stop (3).
(29) Raised beaches: Between the road and the end of the runway you can see differences in the
vegetation, arranged like horizontal stripes. Those differences represent different ancient shore lines from
the time since the last Ice Age. See chapter 3.2.
(30) Island collision, folding. In the cliffs beside the road you can see how the sedimentary rocks are
folded. See chapter 2.5. The layers are part of the Cretaceous Carolinefjellet Formation, see excursion stop
(27).
(31) Longyearelva, a tamed arctic river: See (10).
(32) Adventelva, a wild arctic river: Adventelva is still wild and changes his braided river beds every
year. See chapter 3.5.
(33) Longyearbyen CO2-lab: Store Norske Spitsbergen Kulkompani and UNIS started a project to
realize the dream of storing CO2 from the coal-fired power plant in the rocks deep under Adventdalen.
Most of the drill holes from this scientific project are here, and a visitors’ center is planned.
(34) Coal mines: On the western side of Endalen you see the mine openings of Gruve 2, which goes
through the mountain all the way to Longyearbyen. Gruve 2 has been the most productive mine in the
Longyearbyen area. On the eastern side of Endalen the mine constructions of Gruve 5 are clearly visible.
See also (5).
(35) Permafrost and frost creep: UNIS has a measuring station that registers frost creep and
temperature. At www.unis.no you will find online temperature data down to 19 meters. See chapter 3.12.
(36) Ice wedges and frost polygons: Beside the road can you see large polygons and lines. In the
depressions that form these patterns, massive ice wedges are hidden. See chapter 3.14.
(37) Whale bones and mummified shells on an ancient shore terrace: Where the road makes a sharp
left turn stop the car and continue a bit into the small valley. Here you can find shells in their living position
(even the mummified body is preserved!) and whale bones that have been dated to an age of 10,000 years.
You will also find typical foreshore sediments and marinoglacial sediments. You are standing exactly where
the shore was 10,000 years ago when the land was still much lower. See chapter 3.2.
(38) Gas below the permafrost: North of the Bolterdalen bridge you can see a metal pipe sticking out
of the ground. This is a coal exploration drill hole, drilled in 1967. From below the permafrost at a depth of
105 meters, gas came up the hole and continued for more than one decade until the hole was sealed. Even
today there is gas pressure in the well. The gas burns well and consists mainly of methane generated by the
coal. The permafrost forms the top seal for the gas.
(39) Mine 7: The only active coal mine in Longyearbyen. See chapter 2.7.
(40) Enjoy the fantastic view over Adventdalen. Imagine the valley filled with water, as a big fjord,
just as it was 10,000 years ago. Try also to imagine the ancient landscape before the deep valleys were cut in
by erosion (see chapter 3.1). From here you can see:
(40a) The ice cap at Bassen. See chapter 3.6.
(40b) The pingos in Adventdalen. See chapter 3.13.
(40c) The braided river system and the estuary of Adventelva. See chapter 3.5.
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10,000-year-old whale bones (to the left) in the river bed of Bolterdalen.
Hiorthfjellet in the background.
Acknowledgements
We are very grateful to the Svalbard Environmental Protection Fund
and Store Norske Spitsbergen Kulkompani for funding this booklet.
Thanks also to Elke Morgner for comments, Bjørn Frantzen and
Karin Stensson for encouraging us along the way and Tiril Varpe, the
youngest geologist model in Longyearbyen.
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