Frost in the Norwegian Arctic: 6/6: Weather Fixed

Harbor on a Saturday Morning

The people of Ingoy are an incredible bunch. Tonight we were invited to a local gathering of everyone on the island (fairly certain everyone that can walk) to promote the 150th anniversary of their lighthouse happening next summer. Artists from Oslo have come in for the occasion and are planning a theater/dance performance based around the rugged landscape (not my just my words but the theme). Being clearly the only group at the event that did not live there, they were welcoming and curious as to our findings/success on the island and even asked if it was ok that they did the talking at the event in Norwegian. We said that would be fine. They also somehow managed to find an incredible mix of the Beach Boys, Cat Stevens, and CCR to melodically guide us through the social event. Good work...

Erlend's boat in town

The event capped off our afternoon of hitting the peats and sands to determine our last objectives on the island with two days of work left to complete. A nagging question for our geomorphic group has been how to put into context the stair-step-like raised beaches on the southern coast of the island. These beaches are remnant from past sea levels, marking the successive stand stills for beach formation as the crust rebounded out of being glacially depressed (sounds like a downer).

Follow the ridges you can see somewhat parallel to the coastline inland...those are the stair-steps

In reality, they are the type of landscape feature that surficial geologists dream of (very sequential, easy to recognize in person and from aerial photos, just subtle enough that you can still drive people nuts by getting really excited about them). The only problem with them though has been the availability of dateable material (carbon, not romance) without bringing in heavy 'fern gully' destroying-type machinery. Today we were shown a way to get at the samples needed for radiocarbon dating by the rabbits: Rabbit holes. They are excellent little amateur archaeologists and in many locations have found habitat under the massive peat layers. Our systematic inventory of areas suitable for sampling consisted of starting at the first of the ridges, then following them until we found a hole. Q: Are there shells in the bottom of the hole from Petre Rabbitsan? A: Yes...try there. Next ridge. This is in reality a gross oversimplification but suitable for the purpose of finding shells under thick organic material forming for thousands of years. You ain't just digging...

I will let the pictures and captions tell the rest of the story because it is a beautiful night, the midnight sun will be out in 30 minutes, and I have to try and see if I can get FaceTime to wish my mother, Brenda, a very happy birthday. Please feel free to send warm birthday wishes to: bwfrost@gmail.com. Extra points for further distance from Farmington, ME. She'd think it was great! Night...

Shells are found quite quickly beneath the surface but be weary of areas that have already been dug by human hands. Is that really a viking ship? Don't mind us, just passing through...

Much of the soil here under the peat is comprised of marine carbonates. Many different types of shells are present and in tact just as common as pebbles in Maine