Joint valley landscape or fissure valley terrain ( sv, sprickdalslandskap, sprickdalsterräng) is a type of relief common in

Fennoscandia __NOTOC__ Fennoscandia (Finnish language, Finnish, Swedish language, Swedish and no, Fennoskandia, nocat=1; russian: Фенноскандия, Fennoskandiya) or the Fennoscandian Peninsula is the geographical peninsula in Europe, which includes ...

. The landscape originates from the erosion of

joints A joint or articulation (or articular surface) is the connection made between bones, ossicles, or other hard structures in the body which link an animal's skeletal system into a functional whole.Saladin, Ken. Anatomy & Physiology. 7th ed. McGraw- ...

in the

bedrock In geology, bedrock is solid Rock (geology), rock that lies under loose material (regolith) within the crust (geology), crust of Earth or another terrestrial planet. Definition Bedrock is the solid rock that underlies looser surface mater ...

which leaves out small plateaus or ridges in between. When the block summits in joint valley landscape are of different height it may indicate the past movement of a vertical

geological fault In geology, a fault is a planar fracture or discontinuity in a volume of rock across which there has been significant displacement as a result of rock-mass movements. Large faults within Earth's crust result from the action of plate tectonic ...

Karna Lidmar-Bergström Karna Lidmar-Bergström (born 1940) is a Swedish geologist and geomorphologist known for her study of Pre-Quaternary landforms in Sweden and Norway. In 2004 she was elected into the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences.Blekinge Blekinge (, old da, Bleking) is one of the traditional Swedish provinces (), situated in the southern coast of the geographic region of Götaland, in southern Sweden. It borders Småland, Scania and the Baltic Sea. It is the country's second ...

Bohuslän Bohuslän (; da, Bohuslen; no, Båhuslen) is a Swedish province in Götaland, on the northernmost part of the country's west coast. It is bordered by Dalsland to the northeast, Västergötland to the southeast, the Skagerrak arm of the North Sea ...

Linköping Linköping () is a city in southern Sweden, with around 105,000 inhabitants as of 2021. It is the seat of Linköping Municipality and the capital of Östergötland County. Linköping is also the episcopal see of the Diocese of Linköping (Church ...

Västervik Västervik is a city status in Sweden, city and the seat of Västervik Municipality, Kalmar County, Sweden, with 36,747 inhabitants in 2021. Västervik is one of three coastal towns with a notable population size in the province of Småland. Cl ...

Stockholm Stockholm () is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, largest city of Sweden as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in Scandinavia. Approximately 980,000 people liv ...

and

Hudiksvall Hudiksvall () is a city and the seat of Hudiksvall Municipality, in Hälsingland, Gävleborg County, Sweden with 15,015 inhabitants in 2010. Hudiksvall is also known as Glada Hudik ( en, Happy Hudik), a term that originated in the 19th century as ...

. In the last three areas the flat summits of the landscapes are parts 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 ...

. In addition to this there is a large-scale joint valley landscape that extends from the

High Coast The High Coast ( sv, Höga Kusten) is a part of the coast of Sweden on the Gulf of Bothnia, in the Ångermanland province of northeast Sweden, centered in the area of the municipalities of Kramfors, Härnösand, Sollefteå and Örnsköldsvik. It i ...

inland. The landscape type was first identified by Sten De Geer who in 1926 called it ''rutplatåland'' (lit. square plateau land). Joint valley landscapes are among the few places in southern Sweden where there are steep slopes in excess of 25°.

Gallery

References

Landforms of Finland Landforms of Norway Valleys of Norway Landforms of Sweden Valleys of Sweden {{sweden-geo-stub