Vitenparken

From kilometers to micrometers – land meets sea along the coast and beach

Land meets sea at the shoreline: the shore zone, the tidal flats and the seabed down to where the waves no longer break. Rivers and streams transport nutrients from land to the shoreline. Tides, waves, currents and light create a mosaic of habitats and ecosystems for seaweed, eelgrass and other plants, clams, snails, starfish, sea urchins, crayfish, crabs, small fish and other organisms.

The landforms, above and below the sea surface, have been created over thousands of years by erosion from glaciers and ocean waves and the deposition of loose material from glaciers and rivers. The coastline winds around small and large landforms, fjords and islands, rocky cliffs and beaches with pebbles, sand and clay, deltas with sand and gravel, where rivers and streams flow into the sea.

The shoreline is hard on rocky shores, soft on sandy beaches and on clay bottoms. The mineral composition, microtexture and colour of the surface, current conditions and nutritional conditions determine whether larvae from different organisms recognise each other based on their inherited memory and settle down, or not.

The natural shoreline in the Inner Oslofjord consists of gneiss and granite, Cambro-Silurian nodular limestone, slate and sandstone, clay and sandy bottom, with a myriad of small three-dimensional surface forms and ecological niches. The shoreline has been altered with quays and jetties, breakwaters and outbuildings, marinas and industrial facilities, housing and cultural buildings. The original inhabitants of the shoreline have become homeless.

The new waterfront with harbor promenade in the Inner Harbor Basin should mirror the old natural beach front with its original biodiversity. The beach front of the main island with its small-knotted Cambro-Silurian bedrock surrounded by softer seabed can be mirrored in the new waterfront. We can be inspired by nature's own architecture!

–

Johan Petter Nystuen
February 6, 2020