the area, was scoured and polished by the movements of these materials. From the southernmost point a swelling complex of ranges, collectively called Langfjellene, runs northward to divide eastern Norway, or Østlandet, from western Norway. The narrow coastal zone of Vestlandet has many islands, and steep-walled, narrow fjords cut deep into the interior mountain region. The major exception is the wide Jæren Plain, south of Stavanger. Glaciation and other forces wore down the surface and created thick sandstone, conglomerate, and limestone deposits known as sparagmite. Numerous extensive areas called peneplains, whose relief has been largely eroded away, also were formed. Remains of these include the Hardanger Plateau— above sea level—Europe's largest mountain plateau, covering about . Terrain Glaciated; mostly high plateaus and rugged mountains broken by fertile valleys; small, scattered plains; coastline deeply indented by fjords. Frozen ground all-year can also be found in the higher mountain areas. Numerous glaciers are still found in Western Norway. Elevation extremes: lowest point: North Sea 0 m highest point: Store Skagastølstind 2,405 m Geology The fjords of western Norway formed in connection to the east-ward tilting of much of Norway during the Cenozoic uplift of the Scandinavian Mountains. This uplift, that occurred long before the Quaternary glaciations, enabled rivers to incise deeply the Paleic relief. A study of Sognefjord suggest that the fluvial and glacial erosion that made the fjords has followed structural weaknesses in the crust. The headvalleys in particular seem to located at structural weakness zones. Western Norway bears some resemblance to other passive margins at lower latitudes like eastern Australia. In both cases a table land is dissected by valleys forming a great escarpment. The main differences is that in Norway valley and fjord bottoms have been widened by glacier erosion, valley sides steepened, and the outer regions of valleys straightened, also by glacier erosion. The deglaciation patterns of the Bergen and Nordfjord–Sunnmøre areas in western Norway are described and correlated. In the Bergen area the coast was first deglaciated at 12,600 B.P., with a succeeding re-advance into the North Sea around 12,200 B.P. Later, during the Allerød, the inland ice retreated at least 50 km, but nearly reached the sea again during the Younger Dryas re-advance, ending at 10,000 B.P. Sunnmøre was ice-free during an interstadial 28,000–38,000 B.P. Later the inland ice reached the sea. The final deglaciation is poorly dated in Sunnmøre, while further south in Nordfjord, it