Selection of geomorphosites in the Rondane National Park (central Norway): landforms and popularization

Abstract

Since 1962, the Norwegian massif of Rondane has been a National Park. It is part of the Scandes Mountains and lies near the 62nd north parallel and the 9th east meridian. Its relief has three main properties. First, the massif extends from 1000 m a.s.l. to 2178 m a.s.l. and lies on the Norwegian fjell. Thus, it belongs to the higher massifs of Norway and presents high Atlantic mountain landscapes with sharp summits, large glacial cirques and extended slopes. Secondly, the Rondane is the most continental high mountain of Norway and one of the driest areas of Scandinavia. Thus, it has no authentic glacio-nival belt. Finally, the massif has a quartzitic structure that provides both a homogeneous lithology and widely represented active and inherited periglacial features. For these three reasons, the massif of Rondane has a rich geomorphological potential, which could be the subject of a popularization of reliefs. The major aim of this paper is to present the landforms of the massif in this perspective. This paper follows three stages: 1) The study of the main properties of the massif of Rondane, 2) The use of a deductive method for the selection of geomorphosites, 3) A thought about tools of popularization, considering the selection of information about relief to be transmitted to the public and the language to be used in the perspective of popularization.