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Fennoscandia (
Finnish,
Swedish and no, Fennoskandia, nocat=1; russian: Фенноскандия, Fennoskandiya) or the Fennoscandian Peninsula is the geographical
peninsula
A peninsula (; ) is a landform that extends from a mainland and is surrounded by water on most, but not all of its borders. A peninsula is also sometimes defined as a piece of land bordered by water on three of its sides. Peninsulas exist on al ...
in Europe, which includes the
Scandinavian
A Scandinavian is a resident of Scandinavia or something associated with the region, including:
Culture
* Scandinavianism, political and cultural movement
* Scandinavian design, a design movement of the 1950s
* Scandinavian folklore
* Scandinavi ...
and
Kola
KOLA (99.9 FM) is a commercial radio station licensed to Redlands, California, and broadcasting to the Riverside-San Bernardino-Inland Empire radio market. It is owned by the Anaheim Broadcasting Corporation and it airs a classic hits radio fo ...
peninsulas, mainland
Finland
Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bo ...
, and
Karelia
Karelia ( Karelian and fi, Karjala, ; rus, Каре́лия, links=y, r=Karélija, p=kɐˈrʲelʲɪjə, historically ''Korjela''; sv, Karelen), the land of the Karelian people, is an area in Northern Europe of historical significance for ...
. Administratively this roughly encompasses the mainlands of Finland,
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 ...
and
Sweden, as well as
Murmansk Oblast
Murmansk Oblast (russian: Му́рманская о́бласть, p=ˈmurmənskəjə ˈobləsʲtʲ, r=Murmanskaya oblast, ''Murmanskaya oblast''; Kildin Sami: Мурман е̄ммьне, ''Murman jemm'ne'') is a federal subject (an oblast) o ...
, much of the
Republic of Karelia
The Republic of Karelia (russian: Респу́блика Каре́лия, Respublika Kareliya; ; krl, Karjalan tašavalta; ; fi, Karjalan tasavalta; vep, Karjalan Tazovaldkund, Ludic: ''Kard’alan tazavald''), also known as just Karelia (ru ...
, and parts of northern
Leningrad Oblast
Leningrad Oblast ( rus, Ленинградская область, Leningradskaya oblast’, lʲɪnʲɪnˈgratskəjə ˈobləsʲtʲ, , ) is a federal subject of Russia (an oblast). It was established on 1 August 1927, although it was not until 1 ...
in Russia.
Its name comes from the Latin words ''Fennia'' (Finland) and ''Scandia'' (Scandinavian). The term was first used by the Finnish geologist
Wilhelm Ramsay
Wilhelm Ramsay (20 January 1865 – 6 January 1928) was a Finland Swede geologist. He became a member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences in 1914 and in 1915 was accepted into the Royal Physiographic Society in Lund. He coined the terms Fen ...
in 1898.
Geologically, the area is distinct because its
bedrock
In geology, bedrock is solid rock that lies under loose material ( regolith) within the crust of Earth or another terrestrial planet.
Definition
Bedrock is the solid rock that underlies looser surface material. An exposed portion of be ...
is
Archean
The Archean Eon ( , also spelled Archaean or Archæan) is the second of four eon (geology), geologic eons of History of Earth, Earth's history, representing the time from . The Archean was preceded by the Hadean Eon and followed by the Proterozo ...
granite
Granite () is a coarse-grained ( phaneritic) intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly cools and solidifies und ...
and
gneiss
Gneiss ( ) is a common and widely distributed type of metamorphic rock. It is formed by high-temperature and high-pressure metamorphic processes acting on formations composed of igneous or sedimentary rocks. Gneiss forms at higher temperatures a ...
with very little
limestone
Limestone ( calcium carbonate ) is a type of carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of . Limestone forms wh ...
, in contrast to adjacent areas in Europe.
The similar term Fenno-Scandinavia is sometimes used as a synonym for Fennoscandia. Both terms are sometimes used in English to refer to a cultural or political grouping of Finland with Sweden, Norway and Denmark (the latter country is closely connected culturally and politically, but not part of the Fennoscandian Peninsula), which is a subset of the
Nordic countries.
See also
*
*
*
*
*
References
Further reading
* Ramsay, W., 1898. Über die Geologische Entwicklung der Halbinsel Kola in der Quartärzeit. Fennia 16 (1), 151 p.
External links
Geological Map of the Fennoscandian ShieldTHE FENNOSCANDIAN SHIELD WITHIN FENNOSCANDIA
Archean geology
Geology of Finland
Geography of Karelia
Geology of Norway
Geology of Sweden
Peninsulas of Europe
1890s neologisms
Regions of Eurasia
{{Europe-geo-stub