The High Coast () is a part of the

coast A coast (coastline, shoreline, seashore) is the land next to the sea or the line that forms the boundary between the land and the ocean or a lake. Coasts are influenced by the topography of the surrounding landscape and by aquatic erosion, su ...

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

on the

Gulf of Bothnia The Gulf of Bothnia (; ; ) is divided into the Bothnian Bay and the Bothnian Sea, and it is the northernmost arm of the Baltic Sea, between Finland's west coast ( East Bothnia) and the northern part of Sweden's east coast ( West Bothnia an ...

, in the

Ångermanland Ångermanland ( or ) is a historical province (''landskap'') in the northern part of Sweden. It is bordered (clockwise from the north) by Swedish Lapland, Västerbotten, the Gulf of Bothnia, Medelpad and Jämtland. The name is derived from the ...

province of northeast Sweden, centered in the area of the municipalities of

Kramfors Kramfors () is a locality and the seat of Kramfors Municipality in Västernorrland County, Sweden. It had a population of 5,990 inhabitants in 2010. The town grew on the western bank of the Ångerman river in the 19th century as harvested logs ...

Härnösand Härnösand () is a Urban areas in Sweden, locality and the seat of Härnösand Municipality in Västernorrland County, Sweden with 25,012 inhabitants in 2023. It is called "the gate to the High Coast" because of the world heritage landscape just ...

and

Örnsköldsvik Örnsköldsvik (; ), often shortened to just Ö-vik, is a Urban areas in Sweden, locality and the seat of Örnsköldsvik Municipality in Västernorrland County, Sweden, with 32,953 inhabitants in 2017. Its natural harbour and archipelago is in th ...

. It is notable as an area for research on

post-glacial rebound Post-glacial rebound (also called isostatic rebound or crustal rebound) is the rise of land masses after the removal of the huge weight of ice sheets during the last glacial period, which had caused isostatic depression. Post-glacial rebound an ...

and eustacy, in which the land rises as the covering

glacier A glacier (; or ) is a persistent body of dense ice, a form of rock, that is constantly moving downhill under its own weight. A glacier forms where the accumulation of snow exceeds its ablation over many years, often centuries. It acquires ...

s melt, a phenomenon first recognised and studied there. Since the last

ice age An ice age is a long period of reduction in the temperature of Earth's surface and atmosphere, resulting in the presence or expansion of continental and polar ice sheets and alpine glaciers. Earth's climate alternates between ice ages, and g ...

, the land has risen 300 meters, which accounts for the region's unusually tall cliffs. The High Coast and the Finnish

Kvarken Kvarken ( (as opposed to South Kvarken); ) is the narrow region of the Gulf of Bothnia separating the Bothnian Bay (the inner part of the gulf) from the Bothnian Sea. The distance from the Sweden, Swedish mainland to the Mainland Finland, Finnish ...

constitute the Swedish/Finnish

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO ) is a List of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) with the aim of promoting world peace and International secur ...

World Heritage Site World Heritage Sites are landmarks and areas with legal protection under an treaty, international treaty administered by UNESCO for having cultural, historical, or scientific significance. The sites are judged to contain "cultural and natural ...

because of its exceptional geology and unique example of

isostatic rebound Post-glacial rebound (also called isostatic rebound or crustal rebound) is the rise of land masses after the removal of the huge weight of ice sheets during the last glacial period, which had caused isostatic depression. Post-glacial rebound ...

Geology

The relief of the High Coast is that of a large scale joint valley terrain that dissects uplifted remnants of the

Sub-Cambrian peneplain The sub-Cambrian peneplain is an ancient, extremely flat, erosion surface (peneplain) that has been exhumed and exposed by erosion from under Cambrian strata over large swathes of Fennoscandia. Eastward, where this peneplain dips below Cambrian an ...

. During the

Ice Ages An ice age is a long period of reduction in the temperature of Earth's surface and atmosphere, resulting in the presence or expansion of continental and polar ice sheets and alpine glaciers. Earth's climate alternates between ice ages, and Gre ...

of the past 2-3 million years, the High Coast was repeatedly covered by continental ice sheet, including the Fennoscandian ice sheet until roughly 9600 years ago. When the glaciers retreated from the High Coast, the ground, which had been compacted by the weight of the ice sheet, went through rapid uplift, a process known as isostatic rebound. This rebound caused an uplift of roughly 285 meters, the highest known isostatic rebound on Earth. The region is still rising, on the order of 8 mm per year. Remains of the former shorelines can be seen along the High Coast. Some of the fish species found in the High Coast are relict species from the most recent ice age, including the

Fourhorn sculpin The fourhorn sculpin (''Myoxocephalus quadricornis'') is a species of ray-finned fish belonging to the family Cottidae, the typical sculpins. This species has a Holarctic distribution and can be found in marine, brackish and fresh waters. Taxono ...

. Other animal species resident to the high coast include

brown bears The Brown Bears are the sports teams that represent Brown University, an American university located in Providence, Rhode Island. The Bears are part of the Ivy League conference. Brown's mascot is Bruno. Both the men's and women's teams share th ...

lynx A lynx ( ; : lynx or lynxes) is any of the four wikt:extant, extant species (the Canada lynx, Iberian lynx, Eurasian lynx and the bobcat) within the medium-sized wild Felidae, cat genus ''Lynx''. The name originated in Middle Engl ...

, and

moose The moose (: 'moose'; used in North America) or elk (: 'elk' or 'elks'; used in Eurasia) (''Alces alces'') is the world's tallest, largest and heaviest extant species of deer and the only species in the genus ''Alces''. It is also the tal ...

History

The area known today as ''Höga Kusten'' has historically been known as the ''Ångermanland Coast''. In 1974, the term ''High Coast'' () was coined in connection with a report on the area.Höga Kustenutredningen. Huvudrapport Höga Kusten-kommittén. Härnösand: Kommittén, 1974 (Swedish) 329 s., 5 maps (Main report from the High Coast Committee. Härnösand 1974. In 2000,

put the area on the World Heritage List:

"The High Coast site affords outstanding opportunities for the understanding of the important processes that formed the
glaciated A glacier (; or ) is a persistent body of dense ice, a form of rock, that is constantly moving downhill under its own weight. A glacier forms where the accumulation of snow exceeds its ablation over many years, often centuries. It acquires d ...
and land uplift areas of the Earth's surface."

In 2006, the High Coast was joined with the Finnish

areas. The World Heritage Site ranges from the

High Coast Bridge High may refer to: Science and technology * Height * High (atmospheric), a high-pressure area * High (computability), a quality of a Turing degree, in computability theory * High (tectonics), in geology an area where relative tectonic uplift to ...

(Swedish: Högakustenbron) in the South to Skagsudde in the North.

References

Bibliography

*Bergström, Lars (1975). ''Höga kusten: natur, människor och tradition längs kusten från Sundsvall till Örnsköldsvik - ett av Sveriges vackraste och mest särpräglade landskap Stockholm : Bonniers 1975 80pp (The High Coast: the landscape, people and traditions along the coast from Sundsvall to Örnsköldsvik - one of Sweden's most beautiful and distinctive landscapes)'' (Swedish)

External links

Höga Kusten tourism websiteHigh Coast/Kvarken Archipelago World Heritage Site's official website

High Coast Hike - Annual Hiking Event

Skuleskogen Nationalpark website

Skule Mountain - Visitor Guide

Ulvön Island - Visitor Guide

Höga Kusten BridgeVästernorrland County Museum Website

UNESCO World Heritage profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:High Coast Ångermanland Landforms of Västernorrland County Landforms of Sweden Coasts of the Baltic Sea World Heritage Sites in Sweden Culture of Västernorrland County

Geology

History

See also

References

Bibliography

External links