The Langesundsfjord (), also known as the Breviksfjord (), is a stretch of

fjord In physical geography, a fjord or fiord () is a long, narrow inlet with steep sides or cliffs, created by a glacier. Fjords exist on the coasts of Alaska, Antarctica, British Columbia, Chile, Denmark, Germany, Greenland, the Faroe Islands, Ice ...

from northern

Skagerrak The Skagerrak (, , ) is a strait running between the Jutland peninsula of Denmark, the southeast coast of Norway and the west coast of Sweden, connecting the North Sea and the Kattegat sea area through the Danish Straits to the Baltic Sea. The ...

, between the islands of Sandøya, Bjørkøya and Siktesøya in

Porsgrunn is a city and municipality in Telemark in the county of Vestfold og Telemark in Norway. It is part of the traditional region of Grenland. The administrative centre of the municipality is the city of Porsgrunn. The municipality of Porsgrunn was ...

municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality'' may also mean the go ...

and the mainland of

Bamble Bamble is a municipality in Vestfold og Telemark county, Norway. It is part of the traditional region of Grenland. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Langesund. General information Name The Old Norse form of the name ...

municipality, in

Telemark Telemark is a traditional region, a former county, and a current electoral district in southern Norway. In 2020, Telemark merged with the former county of Vestfold to form the county of Vestfold og Telemark. Telemark borders the traditional ...

county A county is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposesChambers Dictionary, L. Brookes (ed.), 2005, Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, Edinburgh in certain modern nations. The term is derived from the Old French ...

in the southeastern part of

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...

Location

The fjord stretches from the

strait A strait is an oceanic landform connecting two seas or two other large areas of water. The surface water generally flows at the same elevation on both sides and through the strait in either direction. Most commonly, it is a narrow ocean channe ...

Langesund until Brevik, where it separates into the

Frierfjord Frierfjorden is a fjord in the Grenland traditional district in the county of Telemark, Norway. It is an arm of the Langesundsfjord and well into the 1700s was also known as the Langesundsfjord. Frierfjorden stretches from the opening to Lange ...

and the

Eidangerfjord Eidangerfjord is a fjord located in Porsgrunn municipality in Telemark county, Norway. It is 6 km long, and stretches between Brevik and the island village of Sandøya. The largest island located in the fjord is Kattøya, located at the he ...

. In the mediaeval period the fjord was named ''Grenmar'', after the ''grener'' people who lived here and ''mar'' which was

Old Norse Old Norse, Old Nordic, or Old Scandinavian, is a stage of development of North Germanic languages, North Germanic dialects before their final divergence into separate Nordic languages. Old Norse was spoken by inhabitants of Scandinavia and t ...

for sea. Later, well into the 1700s, the entire stretch from Langesund gap and up to

Skien Skien () is a city and municipality in Vestfold og Telemark county in Norway. In modern times it is regarded as part of the traditional region of Grenland, although historically it belonged to Grenmar/Skiensfjorden, while Grenland referred the Norsj ...

was referred to as Langesundsfjord. Langesundsfjorden is especially noted for the discovery of

fluorescent Fluorescence is the emission of light by a substance that has absorbed light or other electromagnetic radiation. It is a form of luminescence. In most cases, the emitted light has a longer wavelength, and therefore a lower photon energy, tha ...

minerals In geology and mineralogy, a mineral or mineral species is, broadly speaking, a solid chemical compound with a fairly well-defined chemical composition and a specific crystal structure that occurs naturally in pure form.John P. Rafferty, ed. (2 ...

. Many of the minerals found here are relatively rare. Commercial quarrying for decorative stone started in the late 1880s. In 1881,

Diderik Cappelen Diderik or Didrik is a Norwegian male given name. In North Germanic languages, the native form would be ''Tjodrik'', but ''Diderik'' and ''Didrik'' have been loaned from Low German and are now a common name in Norway. It may also be a variant of t ...

(1856-1935), first found Cappelenite in Langesundsfjorden. Cappelenite, which he discovered in small veins within

Nepheline syenite Nepheline syenite is a holocrystalline plutonic rock that consists largely of nepheline and alkali feldspar. The rocks are mostly pale colored, grey or pink, and in general appearance they are not unlike granites, but dark green varieties are al ...

pegmatite A pegmatite is an igneous rock showing a very coarse texture, with large interlocking crystals usually greater in size than and sometimes greater than . Most pegmatites are composed of quartz, feldspar, and mica, having a similar silicic com ...

, is a rare

yttrium Yttrium is a chemical element with the symbol Y and atomic number 39. It is a silvery-metallic transition metal chemically similar to the lanthanides and has often been classified as a "rare-earth element". Yttrium is almost always found in com ...

barium Barium is a chemical element with the symbol Ba and atomic number 56. It is the fifth element in group 2 and is a soft, silvery alkaline earth metal. Because of its high chemical reactivity, barium is never found in nature as a free element. Th ...

borosilicate Borosilicate glass is a type of glass with silica and boron trioxide as the main glass-forming constituents. Borosilicate glasses are known for having very low coefficients of thermal expansion (≈3 × 10−6 K−1 at 20 °C), ma ...

. It is found in the form of greenish-brown hexagonal crystals.''Cappelenite-(Y) Mineral Data'' (Mineralogy Database)
/ref>

Brevik Bridge Brevik Bridge (in Norwegian language, Norwegian ''Breviksbrua'') is one of two bridges that span the mouth of the Frierfjord. It connects the municipalities of Bamble and Porsgrunn in Vestfold og Telemark county. On the west side, in Bamble, lies ...

is a bridge over the mouth of the Frierfjord that connects the municipalities of Bamble and Porsgrunn. On the West side of Bamble lies

Stathelle Stathelle is a town in Norway in the municipality of Bamble in the county of Telemark, Norway. History Stathelle was a former municipality in Telemark. It was separated from Bamble as a municipality of its own in 1851. In 1964, the municipalities ...

, while on the East side lies Brevik in Porsgrunn. Brevik tunnel (''Brevikstunnelen'') on Highway 354 (old E18) goes through the hill in Brevik and connects the Brevik bridge with the rest of the way north.

Gallery of Brevik Bridge

File:Ved Breviksbrua.jpg File:Brevik.JPG File:Breviksfjorden.JPG

References

Other sources

* Larsen, Alf Olav (ed.) (2010) ''The Langesundsfjord – History, Geology, Pegmatites, Minerals'' (Salzhemmendorf, Germany: Bode Verlag GmbH) *Ramberg, I.B., Bryhni, I., Nottvedt, A. & Rangnes, K. (eds) (2008) ''The Making of a Land: The Geology of Norway'' (Geographical Society of Norway)

External links

Langesundsfjord
Porsgrunn Fjords of Vestfold og Telemark {{VestfoldTelemark-geo-stub

Location

Gallery of Brevik Bridge

See also

References

Other sources

External links