Paleic surface

The paleic surface or palaeic surface (Norwegian: paleisk overflate, from Ancient Greek palaios, meaning 'old') is an erosion surface of gentle slopes that exist in South Norway. Parts of it are considered a continuation of the Sub-Cambrian peneplain found further east.

The Paleic surface is sometimes erroneously referred to and considered equal to Norway's "pre-glacial surface" – the surface that existed in Norway just prior to the Quaternary glaciations.

The lower levels the Paleic surface are thought to have been formed by the following key processes: etching, stripping and pediplanation. The climate under which these processes occurred was likely warm relative to the present.

Albeit the tilted plateau-like topography of south Norway had been described early on the 19th century it was Hans Reusch who first described it, in 1901, using a denudation chronology approach, in doing so he was the first to recall W.M. Davis’ cycle of erosion ideas to explain it. Reusch also coined the name.

There have been various attempts at defining the subset of surfaces that compose the paleic surface in southern Norway. Geomorphologist Karna Lidmar-Bergström and co-workers recognize five widespread stepped surfaces. However, not all steps can be fitted into the five-step scheme, perhaps due to local doming. On eastern Norway some of the stepped surfaces merge into a single surface. In south-western Norway the Paleic surface is strongly dissected by valleys and fjords.Dovre and Jotunheimen are residual mountains rising from the highest of the stepped surfaces. These mountains define a former envelope surface that is warped. Possibly the warping of the envelope surface reflects doming of the crust associated with the uplift of the Scandinavian Mountains in the Cenozoic. The Paleic surface has been reconstructed over the fjord area of western Norway. In the reconstructed paleic surface’s very gentle valleys follow the same course as Sognefjord, Hardangerfjord, Gudbrandsdalen and Østerdalen, but not of other valleys and fjords of western Norway.

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