Fiord

Fiord or Fjord (Old Norse Fjörthr), inlet of the sea, or a narrow bay, extending far inland between steep walls of rock. Fiords usually have branches that jut from the main body of water. The walls of a fiord extend deep below the surface of the water. Fiords tend to be most shallow near the mouth, and deepest inland.

Most geologists believe that fiords were formed when glaciers carved deep grooves in the coastline. Later these grooves filled with water as the sea level rose. Many fiords began as river mouths and were deepened by glaciers. Fiords frequently exceed 305 m (1,000 ft) below sea level in depth, and they may be more than 6 km (4 mi) wide and more than 161 km (100 mi) long.

Many of the world's fiords are located along the coast of Norway. Sogne Fjord, Norway's longest fiord, extends inland for about 204 km (127 mi) and attains a depth of more than 1,308 m (4,291 ft). Fiords are also found along the coasts of British Columbia, Alaska, Iceland, Greenland, Nova Scotia, Maine, southern Argentina, and New Zealand. The largest fiord in the world is Admiralty Inlet, on the north-west coast of Baffin Island, which is some 32 km (20 mi) wide at its mouth, narrowing along its length of about 370 km (230 mi). Inlets called sea lochs, or firths, which mark the coast of Britain (especially Scotland), are similar to fiords.