Torghatten

Coordinates: UTM 33W 0365083 7255985, 65°23'54.7''N 12°5'41.3''E

Primary interests: Science, tourism, education

The famous “hole in the mountain” is a national tourist attraction with international reputation. The Torghatten mountain is a residual mountain developed in basement granites and nappe gneisses as a part of the strandflat. The spectacular "hole" is a marine abrasion cave that has broken through the mountain, permitting a view through it from certain positions on-shore and off-shore. The hole, together with numerous raised shorelines and smaller caves were formed at high sea levels during the Pleistocene.

Several of the younger, post-glacial shorelines and beach gravel and boulder deposits host Stone-Age archaeological sites.

Torghatten is an example of Quaternary landscape evolution. The site displays very well the processes that created the strandflat and the numerous inselbergs on it. The effects of glacio-isostatic reboundare very well illustrated through bedrock notches and gravel/boulder beach deposits at various levels (and ages). The Torghatten hole itself evidence the extreme efficiency of near-sealevel frost-action combined with marine abrasion.

This site is used for tourism, education and science. The area around Torghatten has great value since it combines several perspectives, both historical and geological, as well as the mythology about the mountains at Helgeland. Posts with QR-qodes giving information about geology are placed along the trail to the hole. The site has considerate potential, as one may construct “via ferrata”-type trails over the mountain summit without much environmental impact.