Von Otterøya

Von Otterøya in loca­ted in the cent­re of Hin­lo­pen Strait.

Von Otterøya is the third-lar­gest one out of the many islands in Hin­lo­pen Strait. The­re are two which are even lar­ger, Wil­hel­møya and Wahl­ber­gøya, which dif­fer mark­ed­ly in geo­lo­gy and land­scape from Von Otterøya and all the smal­ler islands in the area. Von Otterøya and the smal­ler ones are almost enti­re­ly com­po­sed of dole­ri­te, a mag­ma­tic rock type that coo­led down as an intru­si­on well below the sur­face of the earth. So it was not a sur­face vol­ca­no. The colum­nar struc­tu­re of the dole­ri­te is not as per­fect­ly well deve­lo­ped as that of clas­si­cal basalt, a rela­ted mag­ma­tic rock-type. But it is visi­ble also in dole­ri­tic cliffs.

As the smal­ler islands are all com­po­sed of dole­ri­te, they are most­ly quite simi­lar in terms of sce­n­ery and geo­mor­pho­lo­gy. They are most­ly quite rocky, with coar­se blocks, low hills and small cliffs.

The­re are no gre­at heights. The hig­hest hill on Von Otterøya does not reach bey­ond 76 met­res abo­ve sea level. All the smal­ler islands are even lower. The maxi­mum distance from coast to coast on Von Otterøya is a good 8 km, and it is actual­ly often less than 2 km in many places and direc­tions.

The land­scape is very bar­ren, the­re are only a few flowers. But the lichen flo­ra is often impres­si­ve and gives rock sur­faces a rather colou­red appearance.

Level sur­faces often have well-deve­lo­ped series of fos­sil beach rid­ges, and you can find remains of old wha­le­bo­nes in many places inland.

Von Otterøya does not have much of human histo­ry bey­ond occa­sio­nal visits by expe­di­ti­ons such as the Swe­dish sec­tion of the Arc-de-Meri­di­an expe­di­ti­on (1899-1902).

Pho­to gal­lery: Von Otterøya

Some images from the nor­t­hern part of Von Otterøya. I find the many old wha­le­bo­nes, geo­mor­pho­lo­gi­cal wit­nesses of post­g­la­cial gla­cio-iso­sta­tic land uplift, very impres­si­ve.

Click on thumb­nail to open an enlar­ged ver­si­on of the spe­ci­fic pho­to.

← Back