The Trondheim Fjord or Trondheimsfjorden (), an inlet of the Norwegian Sea, is

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, 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 ...

's third-longest

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, Icel ...

at long. It is located in the west-central part of the country in

Trøndelag Trøndelag (; sma, Trööndelage) is a county in the central part of Norway. It was created in 1687, then named Trondhjem County ( no, Trondhjems Amt); in 1804 the county was split into Nord-Trøndelag and Sør-Trøndelag by the King of Denma ...

county, and it stretches from the municipality of

Ørland Ørland is a municipality in Trøndelag county, Norway. It is part of the Fosen region. Ørland is located at the southwestern tip of the Fosen peninsula at the northern shore of the mouth of Trondheimsfjord where the Stjørnfjorden arm begin ...

in the west to the municipality of

Steinkjer Steinkjer is a municipality in Trøndelag county, Norway. It is part of the Innherad region. The administrative centre of the municipality is the town of Steinkjer which is located on the inner part of the Trondheimsfjord. The town is also th ...

in the north, passing the city of

Trondheim Trondheim ( , , ; sma, Tråante), historically Kaupangen, Nidaros and Trondhjem (), is a city and municipality in Trøndelag county, Norway. As of 2020, it had a population of 205,332, was the third most populous municipality in Norway, an ...

on its way. Its maximum depth is , between Orkland and Indre Fosen. The largest islands in the fjord are

Ytterøya Ytterøya is an island in the Trondheimsfjord in the municipality of Levanger in Trøndelag county, Norway. The long island has an area of has about 600 residents (as of 2018). The highest point is the tall Sanstadkammen. The island has good ...

and Tautra; the small island of

Munkholmen Munkholmen ( no, Monk's islet) is an islet in the municipality of Trondheim in Trøndelag county, Norway. The island sits in the Trondheimsfjord about northwest of the island of Brattøra and the mouth of the river Nidelva in the center of the ...

is located near the

harbor A harbor (American English), harbour (British English; see spelling differences), or haven is a sheltered body of water where ships, boats, and barges can be docked. The term ''harbor'' is often used interchangeably with ''port'', which is a ...

of Trondheim; and there are several islands at the entrance of the

. The narrow ''Skarnsundet'' is crossed by the Skarnsund Bridge. The part of the fjord to the north of 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 chan ...

is referred to as the ''

Beitstadfjorden Beitstadfjorden () is the innermost arm of the Trondheimsfjord in Trøndelag county, Norway. It is located in the municipalities of Steinkjer, Inderøy, and a small part extends into Indre Fosen. The fjord has a length of from southwest to nort ...

''. The main part of the Trondheimsfjord is ice-free all year; only Verrasundet, a long and narrow fjord branch in the northern part of the fjord, might be ice covered in winter. The

might also freeze over in winter, but only for a few weeks. The towns of

Stjørdalshalsen Stjørdalshalsen (also known as Stjørdal or Halsen) is a town and the administrative centre of the municipality of Stjørdal in Trøndelag county, Norway. It is located between the rivers Stjørdalselva and Gråelva to the south and north and by ...

Levanger Levanger is a municipality in Trøndelag county, Norway. It is part of the district of Innherred. The administrative centre of the municipality is the town of Levanger. Some of the notable villages in the municipality include Alstadhaug, E ...

, and

are found on the eastern and northeastern shores of the fjord.

Aker Verdal Aker Verdal AS formerly known as Aker Kværner Verdal is a construction yard for large steel constructions and substructures for offshore oil platforms. The yard is owned by Kvaerner and is located in Verdal in Nord-Trøndelag, Norway. ...

Verdal Verdal is a municipality in Trøndelag county, Norway. It is part of the Innherad region. The administrative centre of the municipality is the town of Verdalsøra. Some villages in the municipality include Forbregd/Lein, Lysthaugen, Stiklest ...

produces large offshore installations for the

petroleum Petroleum, also known as crude oil, or simply oil, is a naturally occurring yellowish-black liquid mixture of mainly hydrocarbons, and is found in geological formations. The name ''petroleum'' covers both naturally occurring unprocessed crud ...

sector. A yard in Indre Fosen completed the luxurious apartment ship ''

MS The World MS ''The World'' is a private residential cruise ship operated like a condominium complex, with large apartments that can be purchased. The residents, from many countries, can live on board as the ship travels. Some residents choose to live on b ...

''. Fiborgtangen is a peninsula along the eastern shore of the fjord where a large

paper mill A paper mill is a factory devoted to making paper from vegetable fibres such as wood pulp, old rags, and other ingredients. Prior to the invention and adoption of the Fourdrinier machine and other types of paper machine that use an endless belt ...

owned by Norske Skog is located. The Trondheimsfjord has rich

marine life Marine life, sea life, or ocean life is the plants, animals and other organisms that live in the salt water of seas or oceans, or the brackish water of coastal estuaries. At a fundamental level, marine life affects the nature of the planet. ...

, with both southern and northern species; at least 90 species of fish have been observed, and the fjord has the largest biological production among Norway's fjords. In recent years,

deep water coral The habitat of deep-water corals, also known as cold-water corals, extends to deeper, darker parts of the oceans than tropical corals, ranging from near the surface to the abyss, beyond where water temperatures may be as cold as . Deep-water co ...

s (''

Lophelia pertusa ''Lophelia pertusa'', the only species in the genus ''Lophelia'', is a cold-water coral that grows in the deep waters throughout the North Atlantic ocean, as well as parts of the Caribbean Sea and Alboran Sea. Although ''L. pertusa'' reefs are h ...

'') were discovered in the fjord, not far from the city of

. Several of the best

salmon Salmon () is the common name for several commercially important species of euryhaline ray-finned fish from the family Salmonidae, which are native to tributaries of the North Atlantic (genus '' Salmo'') and North Pacific (genus '' Onco ...

rivers in Norway empty into the fjord. Among these are the rivers Gaula (in Orkland just south of Trondheim),

Orklaelva Orkla is a river in Trøndelag and Innlandet counties in Norway. At in length, it is the longest river in Trøndelag county. The river follows the Orkdalen valley, discharging into the Orkdal Fjord, an arm of the large Trondheimsfjorden, at t ...

(also in Orkland), Stjørdalselva (in Stjørdal), and Verdalselva (in

). The lowland east and south of the fjord represents one of Norway's best

agricultural Agriculture or farming is the practice of cultivating plants and livestock. Agriculture was the key development in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that enabled peopl ...

areas. The more rugged and mountainous

Fosen Fosen is a traditional district in Trøndelag, consisting of the municipalities Osen, Roan Åfjord, Ørland, Indre Fosen, Orkland, Heim, Hitra and Frøya. The district is dominated by forested valleys, lakes, coastal cliffs but also shallow ar ...

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 a ...

lies to the west and northwest, giving some shelter from the

wind Wind is the natural movement of air or other gases relative to a planet's surface. Winds occur on a range of scales, from thunderstorm flows lasting tens of minutes, to local breezes generated by heating of land surfaces and lasting a few ...

common to coastal areas. The Trondheimsfjord was an important

waterway A waterway is any navigable body of water. Broad distinctions are useful to avoid ambiguity, and disambiguation will be of varying importance depending on the nuance of the equivalent word in other languages. A first distinction is necessary ...

in the

Viking Age The Viking Age () was the period during the Middle Ages when Norsemen known as Vikings undertook large-scale raiding, colonizing, conquest, and trading throughout Europe and reached North America. It followed the Migration Period and the Germ ...

, as it is still today. In 1888, an undersea

mudslide A mudflow or mud flow is a form of mass wasting involving fast-moving flow of debris that has become liquified by the addition of water. Such flows can move at speeds ranging from 3 meters/minute to 5 meters/second. Mudflows contain a signific ...

caused a

tsunami A tsunami ( ; from ja, 津波, lit=harbour wave, ) is a series of waves in a water body caused by the displacement of a large volume of water, generally in an ocean or a large lake. Earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and other underwater exp ...

that killed one person in Trondheim and ruptured three

railway Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a p ...

lines. Four

giant squid The giant squid (''Architeuthis dux'') is a species of deep-ocean dwelling squid in the family Architeuthidae. It can grow to a tremendous size, offering an example of abyssal gigantism: recent estimates put the maximum size at around Tra ...

have been found in the fjord, which is among the highest concentrations in the world.

Name

The fjord is named after the city of

, but originally the name of the fjord might have been just ''*Þrónd'' or ''*Þróund'' in

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

. A name like that would be related to the verb ''þróast'', which means to 'thrive' or 'flourish' and the name ''Þrór'', which means 'likeable' or 'stoutish' (and was one of

Odin Odin (; from non, Óðinn, ) is a widely revered 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, victory, ...

's nicknames). If this is the case, then the people living around the fjord (the ''þrœndir''; see

) named themselves after the fjord. (Compare ''sygnir'', which means 'the people living around the fjord

Sogn Sogn is a traditional district in Western Norway ''(Vestlandet)''. It is located in the county of Vestland, surrounding the Sognefjord, the largest/longest fjord in Norway. The district of Sogn consists of the municipalities of Aurland, Bales ...

'.)

Media gallery

Korsvika2 110606.jpg, Korsvika, eastern Trondheim, view towards north. Munkholmen og et fyr.jpg, Lighthouse and the island

Aasenfiord.JPG, Åsenfjord, near Stjørdal. The Tirpitz was moored nearby during parts of World War II. 03 Trondheim fjord a (5669409042).jpg, Coastal farm area along the fjord. Skarnsundbrua-2016.jpg, Skarnsund Bridge, the only road crossing on the fjord. Nyhavna and Brattora, Trondheim 02.jpg, Harbour of Trondheim

References

External links

Norwegian Journal of Geology:The deglaciation of Trondheimsfjord

{{authority control Fjords of Trøndelag Geography of Trondheim Indre Fosen Ørland Orkland Skaun Malvik Stjørdal Frosta Levanger Verdal Steinkjer

Name

Media gallery

See also

References

External links