200px, An undulating hilly landscape in Falkenberg_Municipality,_ Falkenberg_Municipality,_Halland.">Halland.html"_;"title="Falkenberg_Municipality,_Halland">Falkenberg_Municipality,_Halland. file:Dagsås_-_KMB_-_16000700002822.jpg.html" ;"title="Halland..html" ;"title="Halland.html" ;"title="Falkenberg Municipality, Falkenberg_Municipality,_Halland.">Halland.html"_;"title="Falkenberg_Municipality,_Halland">Falkenberg_Municipality,_Halland. file:Dagsås_-_KMB_-_16000700002822.jpg">thumb.html" ;"title="Halland">Falkenberg Municipality, Halland.html"_;"title="Falkenberg_Municipality,_Halland">Falkenberg_Municipality,_Halland. file:Dagsås_-_KMB_-_16000700002822.jpg">thumb">200px.html" ;"title="Halland.">Halland.html" ;"title="Falkenberg Municipality, Halland">Falkenberg Municipality, Halland. file:Dagsås_-_KMB_-_16000700002822.jpg">thumb">200px">An undulating hilly landscape in Varberg Municipality, Halland. The Sub-Mesozoic hilly peneplains or Sub-Mesozoic hilly relief is a landscape in Scandinavia made up of undulating hills and joint valleys and occasional kaolinized bedrock in valley bottoms. The landscape formed in the Mesozoic Era and was eventually drowned by the sea during the

Campanian The Campanian is the fifth of six ages of the Late Cretaceous Epoch on the geologic timescale of the International Commission on Stratigraphy (ICS). In chronostratigraphy, it is the fifth of six stages in the Upper Cretaceous Series. Campanian s ...

transgression and covered by a thick cover of

Cretaceous The Cretaceous ( ) is a geological period that lasted from about 145 to 66 million years ago (Mya). It is the third and final period of the Mesozoic Era, as well as the longest. At around 79 million years, it is the longest geological period of th ...

sedimentary rock Sedimentary rocks are types of rock that are formed by the accumulation or deposition of mineral or organic particles at Earth's surface, followed by cementation. Sedimentation is the collective name for processes that cause these particles ...

s. Later erosion of the cover rocks partly re-exposed this landscape. During the Quaternary epoch the re-exposed Mesozoic hilly relief escaped major

glacier erosion Glacial landforms are landforms created by the action of glaciers. Most of today's glacial landforms were created by the movement of large ice sheets during the Quaternary glaciations. Some areas, like Fennoscandia and the southern Andes, hav ...

being only surficially scoured in parts. The Sub-Mesozoic hilly relief formed starting from a

peneplain 390px, Sketch of a hypothetical peneplain formation after an orogeny. In geomorphology and geology, a peneplain is a low-relief plain formed by protracted erosion. This is the definition in the broadest of terms, albeit with frequency the usage ...

formed in the

Permian The Permian ( ) is a geologic period and stratigraphic system which spans 47 million years from the end of the Carboniferous Period million years ago (Mya), to the beginning of the Triassic Period 251.9 Mya. It is the last period of the Paleoz ...

and

Triassic The Triassic ( ) is a geologic period and system which spans 50.6 million years from the end of the Permian Period 251.902 million years ago ( Mya), to the beginning of the Jurassic Period 201.36 Mya. The Triassic is the first and shortest period ...

. Remnants of this peneplain can be traced as a tilted

summit accordance 300px, The highest of hills in this picture show fairly similar heights making up a summit accordance. Aerial photograph from the Altai region of Russia. A summit accordance (sometimes also known by the German loan word gipfelflur) exists when hil ...

in the

Swedish West Coast Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used ...

. This would indicated that Paleozoic strata that covered much of Fennoscandia elsewhere had been locally uplifted and eroded prior to the formation of the Sub-Mesozoic hilly relief. The Sub-Mesozoic hilly peneplains covers a contiguous zone along western and southern rims of the South Swedish Dome. This zone includes most of

Bohuslän Bohuslän (; da, Bohuslen; no, Båhuslen) is a Swedish province in Götaland, on the northernmost part of the country's west coast. It is bordered by Dalsland to the northeast, Västergötland to the southeast, the Skagerrak arm of the North Sea ...

Halland Halland () is one of the traditional provinces of Sweden (''landskap''), on the western coast of Götaland, southern Sweden. It borders Västergötland, Småland, Scania and the sea of Kattegat. Until 1645 and the Second Treaty of Brömsebro ...

and

Blekinge Blekinge (, old da, Bleking) is one of the traditional Swedish provinces (), situated in the southern coast of the geographic region of Götaland, in southern Sweden. It borders Småland, Scania and the Baltic Sea. It is the country's second ...

as well as parts of

Västergötland Västergötland (), also known as West Gothland or the Latinized version Westrogothia in older literature, is one of the 25 traditional non-administrative provinces of Sweden (''landskap'' in Swedish), situated in the southwest of Sweden. Väs ...

and

Scania Scania, also known by its native name of Skåne (, ), is the southernmost of the historical provinces of Sweden, provinces (''landskap'') of Sweden. Located in the south tip of the geographical region of Götaland, the province is roughly conte ...

. In parts this surface and unconformity makes up an undulating hilly relief, while in other locations like Blekinge and northern Halland it is an

joint valley landscape Joint valley landscape or fissure valley terrain ( sv, sprickdalslandskap, sprickdalsterräng) is a type of relief common in Fennoscandia. The landscape originates from the erosion of joints in the bedrock which leaves out small plateaus or ridge ...

. In Bohuslän the Mesozoic

weathering Weathering is the deterioration of rocks, soils and minerals as well as wood and artificial materials through contact with water, atmospheric gases, and biological organisms. Weathering occurs ''in situ'' (on site, with little or no movement), ...

associated with hilly relief is likely also responsible for creating the numerous small rock basins carved into

Bohus granite The Bohus granite ( sv, Bohusgranit) is a type of granite that crops out along the Swedish West Coast in Bohuslän. In Norway the same granites are termed Iddefjord granite ( no, Iddefjordsgranitt), Østfold granite and Halden granite. A large q ...

that characterize the coast.

References

{{Geology of Fennoscandia Landforms of Blekinge County Landforms of Halland County Landforms of Skåne County Landforms of Västra Götaland County Mesozoic Europe Plains of Norway Plains of Sweden Unconformities Weathering landforms