or is a long river which flows northwards, ending up as a tributary to the river

Ranelva Ranelva is a long river in Rana Municipality in Nordland county, Norway. It is one of the longest rivers in Nordland county. The catchment area of the river is . Before the power stations of ''Reinforsen'' (1925) and Langvatnet (1964) were bui ...

at ''Hjartåsen'' in the small village of Storvoll in the

Dunderland Valley The Dunderland Valley (, ) is a valley in Rana Municipality in Nordland county, Norway. It reaches from just below the eastern Saltfjellet plateau about south of the Arctic Circle. The mountain Bolna is situated in the uppermost boundary of ...

Rana Municipality or is a municipality in Nordland county, Norway. It is part of the Helgeland traditional region. The administrative centre of the municipality is the town of Mo i Rana, which houses the National Library of Norway. Other population centers in R ...

Nordland Nordland (; , , , ) is one of the three northernmost Counties of Norway, counties in Norway in the Northern Norway region, bordering Troms in the north, Trøndelag in the south, Norrbotten County in Sweden to the east, Västerbotten County to t ...

county,

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard also form part of the Kingdom of ...

. The river should not be confused with the nearby stream, also named Messingåga, which flows into the river

from the east, just north of the village of Dunderland. The river is located in an untouched natural area, in one of the most important areas of

wetland A wetland is a distinct semi-aquatic ecosystem whose groundcovers are flooded or saturated in water, either permanently, for years or decades, or only seasonally. Flooding results in oxygen-poor ( anoxic) processes taking place, especially ...

birds in

. It is very rich with

Arctic char The Arctic char or Arctic charr (''Salvelinus alpinus'') is a cold-water fish in the family Salmonidae, native to alpine lakes, as well as Arctic and subarctic coastal waters in the Holarctic realm, Holarctic. Distribution and habitat It Spaw ...

and

trout Trout (: trout) is a generic common name for numerous species of carnivorous freshwater ray-finned fishes belonging to the genera '' Oncorhynchus'', ''Salmo'' and ''Salvelinus'', all of which are members of the subfamily Salmoninae in the ...

, and has been proposed to be preserved both by

environmental organizations An environmental organization is an organization coming out of the conservation or environmental movements that seeks to protect, analyse or monitor the environment against misuse or degradation from human forces. In this sense the environme ...

and by the

Norwegian parliament The Storting ( ; ) is the supreme legislature of Norway, established in 1814 by the Constitution of Norway. It is located in Oslo. The unicameral parliament has 169 members and is elected every four years based on party-list proportional represe ...

Path

From the small lake of ''Kjerringvatnet'' (), the river ''Kjerringelva'' () flows in an eastern direction. This river meets the stream ''Jarfjellbekken'', which flows in a northern direction from the tarn ''Jarfjelltjønna'' through ''Austerskardet'', north of the lake ''Kopparvatnet''. Messingåga has its beginning at ''Elivollan'' (), where the ''Kjerringelva'' and ''Jarfjellbekken'' meet. The river flows in a northern direction, through the ''Messingdalen'' valley, east of the mountain ''Messingen''. On its way northwards, the river absorbs (from the west) five brooks flowing from the mountain ''Jarfjellet'', and (from the east) it also absorbs another five brooks from the mountain ''Kjerringfjellet'' and one brook from the mountain ''Harafjellet''. Messingåga flows through an area of

moraine A moraine is any accumulation of unconsolidated debris (regolith and Rock (geology), rock), sometimes referred to as glacial till, that occurs in both currently and formerly glaciated regions, and that has been previously carried along by a gla ...

s and deposits from glacial rivers. On its way to lake Kopparvatnet, it flows through an area of mounds and knots of moraines ( kettle area).

Power production

In 2005, the ''MiljøEnergi Nordland AS'' electric company delivered a formal application to the

Norwegian Water Resources and Energy Directorate The Norwegian Water Resources and Energy Directorate ( or NVE) is a Norwegian government agency established in 1921. It is under the Ministry of Petroleum and Energy and regulates the country's water resources and energy supply. Its mandate in ...

, in order to get a license to use parts of Messingåga to produce electricity.Søknad om utbygging av kraftverk (Sakstype C-41), Registreringsnr 4325, Saksnr 200502031, Vassdragsnr 156.F1A MESSINGÅGA Two alternatives have been presented: One installation of with an energy production of , and another installation of with an energy production of .

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Messingaaga Rana, Norway Rivers of Nordland Rivers of Norway

Path

Power production

See also

References