Halleberg is a

table mountain Table Mountain ( naq, Huriǂoaxa, lit= sea-emerging; af, Tafelberg) is a flat-topped mountain forming a prominent landmark overlooking the city of Cape Town in South Africa. It is a significant tourist attraction, with many visitors using the ...

by lake

Vänern Vänern ( , also , ) is the largest lake in Sweden, the largest lake in the European Union and the third-largest lake of all Europe after Ladoga and Onega in Russia. It is located in the provinces of Västergötland, Dalsland, and Värmland in ...

Vänersborg Municipality Vänersborg Municipality (''Vänersborgs kommun'') is a municipality in Västra Götaland County in western Sweden. Its seat is located in the city of Vänersborg. The present municipality was created during the local government reform in the ea ...

Västergötland Västergötland (), also known as West Gothland or the Latinized version Westrogothia in older literature, is one of the 25 traditional non-administrative provinces of Sweden (''landskap'' in Swedish), situated in the southwest of Sweden. Väs ...

, Sweden. Halleberg, part of which protrudes into Lake Vänern is separated in the south by about wide

valley A valley is an elongated low area often running between Hill, hills or Mountain, mountains, which will typically contain a river or stream running from one end to the other. Most valleys are formed by erosion of the land surface by rivers ...

from the adjacent

Hunneberg

Hunneberg is a Sweden, Swedish mountain just east of Vänersborg and ...

(also a table mountain). The northern part of Halleberg called ''Hallesnipen''.

Geology

Hallberg has an average height of about above lake Vänern, or above sea level; the highest point is above sea level. Halleberg consists of

Cambrian The Cambrian Period ( ; sometimes symbolized C with bar, Ꞓ) was the first geological period of the Paleozoic Era, and of the Phanerozoic Eon. The Cambrian lasted 53.4 million years from the end of the preceding Ediacaran Period 538.8 million ...

Ordovician The Ordovician ( ) is a geologic period and System (geology), system, the second of six periods of the Paleozoic Era (geology), Era. The Ordovician spans 41.6 million years from the end of the Cambrian Period million years ago (Mya) to the start ...

and

Permian The Permian ( ) is a geologic period and stratigraphic system which spans 47 million years from the end of the Carboniferous Period million years ago (Mya), to the beginning of the Triassic Period 251.9 Mya. It is the last period of the Paleoz ...

rocks. The

Palaeozoic The Paleozoic (or Palaeozoic) Era is the earliest of three geologic eras of the Phanerozoic Eon. The name ''Paleozoic'' ( ;) was coined by the British geologist Adam Sedgwick in 1838 by combining the Greek words ''palaiós'' (, "old") and '' ...

rocks are deposited directly on the crystalline

peneplain 390px, Sketch of a hypothetical peneplain formation after an orogeny. In geomorphology and geology, a peneplain is a low-relief plain formed by protracted erosion. This is the definition in the broadest of terms, albeit with frequency the usage ...

bedrock, which in this range consists of göta granite. The Cambrian

sedimentary rock Sedimentary rocks are types of rock that are formed by the accumulation or deposition of mineral or organic particles at Earth's surface, followed by cementation. Sedimentation is the collective name for processes that cause these particles ...

s are

sandstone Sandstone is a clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate grains. Sandstones comprise about 20–25% of all sedimentary rocks. Most sandstone is composed of quartz or feldspar (both silicates) ...

and

alum shale The Alum Shale Formation (also known as alum schist and alum slate) is a formation of black shale of Middle Cambrian to Tremadocian (Lower Ordovician) in age found predominantly in southern Scandinavia. It is shale or clay slate containing py ...

. The sandstone layer is on average thick. Above this there is then a thick

slate Slate is a fine-grained, foliated, homogeneous metamorphic rock derived from an original shale-type sedimentary rock composed of clay or volcanic ash through low-grade regional metamorphism. It is the finest grained foliated metamorphic rock. ...

which in turn covered by about of

. The Ordovician is represented by a calcareous slate. During the Permian it was pushed into

diabase Diabase (), also called dolerite () or microgabbro, is a mafic, holocrystalline, subvolcanic rock equivalent to volcanic basalt or plutonic gabbro. Diabase dikes and sills are typically shallow intrusive bodies and often exhibit fine-graine ...

which lays as a protective cover and thus protect the mountain from

erosion Erosion is the action of surface processes (such as water flow or wind) that removes soil, rock, or dissolved material from one location on the Earth's crust, and then transports it to another location where it is deposited. Erosion is distin ...

. The diabase on Västgötabergen known locally for staircases.

Economic Geology

Anthraconite, alum shale and diabase has previously been mined in several places on the mountain.

Nature

Around the food of the Halleberg are elongated scree of large stacked, sharp-edged boulders. In a few places, there are so-called steps, where there are roads or paths up the mountain. The vegetation on the mountain plateau is dominated by

spruce A spruce is a tree of the genus ''Picea'' (), a genus of about 35 species of coniferous evergreen trees in the family Pinaceae, found in the northern temperate and boreal (taiga) regions of the Earth. ''Picea'' is the sole genus in the subfami ...

and

pine A pine is any conifer tree or shrub in the genus ''Pinus'' () of the family Pinaceae. ''Pinus'' is the sole genus in the subfamily Pinoideae. The World Flora Online created by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew and Missouri Botanical Garden accep ...

, and the expanse of

bog A bog or bogland is a wetland that accumulates peat as a deposit of dead plant materials often mosses, typically sphagnum moss. It is one of the four main types of wetlands. Other names for bogs include mire, mosses, quagmire, and muskeg; a ...

, while on scree lower parts are more species. In contrast to Hunneberg, on Halleberg there is simply lake ''Hallsjön'', three-kilometer long but narrow. On Halleberg is the Ecopark Halle-Hunneberg (comprising the Halle- och Hunnebergs platåers naturreservat and the Halle- och Hunnebergs branters naturreservat).

Halleberg Ancient Fortress

Halleberg is also

Scandinavia Scandinavia; Sámi languages: /. ( ) is a subregion#Europe, subregion in Northern Europe, with strong historical, cultural, and linguistic ties between its constituent peoples. In English usage, ''Scandinavia'' most commonly refers to Denmark, ...

's largest

hillfort A hillfort is a type of earthwork used as a fortified refuge or defended settlement, located to exploit a rise in elevation for defensive advantage. They are typically European and of the Bronze Age or Iron Age. Some were used in the post-Roma ...

(about ). It is almost completely naturally fortified by the mountain's steep slopes, large stone ramparts being primarily at the ''Storgårdsklev'' steps in the southwest. There are three stone ramparts, with a total length of , of which the longest is about long and high. Small ramparts have in passable gaps, for example at the '' Lilleskog and Björkås trappa'' staircase. The hill fort was built during the

Migration Period The Migration Period was a period in European history marked by large-scale migrations that saw the fall of the Western Roman Empire and subsequent settlement of its former territories by various tribes, and the establishment of the post-Roman ...

of the 3rd-4th centuries. It was a refuge during the Swedish-Danish wars of the 15th-17th centuries, for example during the

Gyldenløve War The Scanian War ( da, Skånske Krig, , sv, Skånska kriget, german: Schonischer Krieg) was a part of the Northern Wars involving the union of Denmark–Norway, Brandenburg and Sweden. It was fought from 1675 to 1679 mainly on Scanian soil, ...

in 1676, but also during

Gustav III's Russian War Gustav, Gustaf or Gustave may refer to: *Gustav (name), a male given name of Old Swedish origin Art, entertainment, and media * ''Primeval'' (film), a 2007 American horror film * ''Gustav'' (film series), a Hungarian series of animated short cart ...

of 1788. The Danes only managed to conquer the castle once, in 1612. During the Basse War (''Bassefejden'' in Swedish) of 1490–1510, Halleberg was besieged for seven years. The place name (in about 1325 ''Haal''), had previously only a hall, including a 'rock face' entrance hall, a 'cliff' or similar.

Halleberg in mythology

Halleberg is considered by some to be the location of

Valhalla In Norse mythology Valhalla (;) is the anglicised name for non, Valhǫll ("hall of the slain").Orchard (1997:171–172) It is described as a majestic hall located in Asgard and presided over by the god Odin. Half of those who die in combat e ...

. Part of the mountain is still called ''Häcklan''. One of

Odin Odin (; from non, Óðinn, ) is a widely revered Æsir, god in Germanic paganism. Norse mythology, the source of most surviving information about him, associates him with wisdom, healing, death, royalty, the gallows, knowledge, war, battle, v ...

's name was ''Häcklaman''.

External links