Vorma is a river in
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 ...
that brings water from lake
Mjøsa
Mjøsa is the largest lake in Norway and the fourth deepest in Norway and Europe. It is located in the southern part of Norway, about north of the city of Oslo. Its main tributary is the river Gudbrandsdalslågen flowing in from the north; the ...
into the
Glomma
The Glomma or Glåma is Norway's longest and most voluminous river. With a total length of , it has a drainage basin that covers 13% of Norway's surface area, all in the southern part of the country.
Geography
At its fullest length, the river r ...
river. The Vorma is long and flows through the town of
Eidsvoll
Eidsvoll (; sometimes written as ''Eidsvold'') is a Municipalities of Norway, municipality in Akershus Counties of Norway, county, Norway. It is part of the Romerike Districts of Norway, traditional region. The administrative centre of the munic ...
. The Vorma flows from Lake Mjøsa at the village of Minnesund to join with the Glomma just north of
Ã…rnes.
Vorma was so named because it was a "warm" river that never froze over, while both the Glomma and the
Gudbrandsdalslågen routinely freeze. The junction of the Vorma with the Glomma at Årnes and
Nes is the site of the Funnefoss on the Glomma, a fall.
History
The junction of the Minnesund and the Vorma, Eidsvoll, served as an ancient 'ting' place - or meeting place for the local council or parliament - for
Romerike
Romerike is a Districts of Norway, traditional district located north-east of Oslo, in what is today south-eastern Norway. It consists of the Akershus municipalities Lillestrøm, Lørenskog, Nittedal, Rælingen and Aurskog-Høland in the southern ...
during the period when travel by boat was much easier than by land. The "Eidsivating" was, according to tradition, founded by
Halvdan Svarte, and served as the 'ting' place for all of the
Oppland
Oppland is a former county in Norway which existed from 1781 until its dissolution on 1 January 2020. The old Oppland county bordered the counties of Trøndelag, Møre og Romsdal, Sogn og Fjordane, Buskerud, Akershus, Oslo and Hedmark. The ...
s and
Viken. Saint Olav also held a ting there and built a church at this site in 1017.
In 1795 a landslide totally blocked the Vorma at
Disen for 111 days, completely drying the riverbed. A channel was cut around it to prevent a major overflow, with accompanying downstream damage.
On the Vorma, south of
Eidsvoll
Eidsvoll (; sometimes written as ''Eidsvold'') is a Municipalities of Norway, municipality in Akershus Counties of Norway, county, Norway. It is part of the Romerike Districts of Norway, traditional region. The administrative centre of the munic ...
, lies the Svanfoss where the water level in Lake Mjøsa is regulated. A lock, which bypassed the Svanfoss, lifting boats to allow the bypassing of the fall, opened in 1906.
Geology
The Vorma discharges from Lake Mjøsa at the village of Minnesund on the southern lakeshore. The southern shore of Lake Mjøsa is a
terminal moraine
A terminal moraine, also called an end moraine, is a type of moraine that forms at the terminal (edge) of a glacier, marking its maximum advance. At this point, debris that has accumulated by plucking and abrasion, has been pushed by the front e ...
deposit formed by a pause in the glacial ice retreat (the Minnesund pause) that occurred ~9,400 years before the present. The terminal moraine is characterized by substantial clay, sand and gravel deposits. The Vorma has eroded through these deposits, leaving steep banks with many high gradient tributaries forming cascades as they join the Vorma. The river cut down until it met the less-easily eroded intrusive sill (part of the
Oslo Graben) at the town center of Eidsvoll where it formed the
Svanfoss. Falls are also found where the Vorma meets the Glomma - the
Funnefoss.
[Technical note from Norwegian Geotechnical Institute to Jernbaneverket dated 2007-03-22 and titled Project 20071171, High Speed Railway in Norway by Randi Birgitte Svånå]
/ref>
References
* ''East Norway and its Frontier'' by Frank Noel Stagg, George Allen & Unwin, Ltd. 1956
External links
An overview of Norwegian canals, including one on the Vormas
{{coord, 60, 08, 40, N, 11, 27, 45, E, region:NO_source:kolossus-eswiki, display=title
1906 establishments in Norway
Canals in Norway
Canals opened in 1906
Rivers of Akershus