Look carefully at the first photo. Do you see the two gigantic cruise ships. It looks like they are stuck in a lake in the mountains. Actually, the fjord leads to the ocean, and the water is very deep.

A fjord is carved out of the mountains by glacier activity. Fjords are often deeper the further inland you go. Sometimes people name fjords as canals, inlets or a sound.

Fjords are not just found in countries like Norway, Greenland and Iceland. Hoods Canal in Washington State is actually a fjord. It doesn't have the dramatic cliffs that Norway fjords have, but the average depth of Hoods Canal is 500 feet.

Related Terms

glacier- often forms a fjord
port - fjords make good ports for a few ships that need deep water
cliff - fjords often have steep cliff along their banks
reef - some fjords have growing reefs
sound - sometimes considered a fjord
canal - can actually be a fjord in some cases