Songdalselva or Søgneelva or Songa is a

river A river is a natural stream of fresh water that flows on land or inside Subterranean river, caves towards another body of water at a lower elevation, such as an ocean, lake, or another river. A river may run dry before reaching the end of ...

Agder Agder is a counties of Norway, county () and districts of Norway, traditional region in the southern part of Norway and is coextensive with the Southern Norway region. The county was established on 1 January 2020, when the old Vest-Agder and Au ...

county,

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard also form part of the Kingdom of ...

. The long river in the hills between Finsland in

Kristiansand Kristiansand is a city and Municipalities of Norway, municipality in Agder county, Norway. The city is the fifth-largest and the municipality is the sixth-largest in Norway, with a population of around 116,000 as of January 2020, following th ...

municipality and Hægeland in Vennesla municipality. The catchment area is located between the

Otra The Otra is the largest river in the Sørlandet region of Norway. It begins in Setesdalsheiene mountains at the lake Breidvatnet in Bykle municipality in Agder county, just south of the border with Vinje municipality in Telemark county. The r ...

river and Mandalselva river watersheds. The river runs through the villages of Hortemo, Nodeland, Volleberg, Tangvall,

Åros Åros is a village in Røyken in Asker (municipality), Asker municipality in Akershus, Akershus county, Norway. The population of Åros (2020) is about 2137. Location Åros is located on the peninsula of Hurumlandet along the western side of th ...

, and

Høllen Høllen is a fishing village in Kristiansand municipality in Agder county, Norway. The village is located at the mouth of the river Søgneelva, between the villages of Eig to the west, Tangvall to the north, and Åros to the east. Høllen is ...

. The highest hills in the catchment area go up to above sea level. The water flows are normally at their lowest in the summer and they're at their highest levels during the autumn and spring. There are only a few small lakes in the river system. The steep slopes down from the moors can create short and intense flood rapids. The river (here called ''Songa'') flows through the Stallemodalen valley in Vennesla, and then falls into the Songdalen valley through a

gorge A canyon (; archaic British English spelling: ''cañon''), gorge or chasm, is a deep cleft between escarpments or cliffs resulting from weathering and the erosion, erosive activity of a river over geologic time scales. Rivers have a natural tend ...

at Underåsen. Once in the

Songdalen Songdalen is a List of former municipalities of Norway, former municipality in the old Vest-Agder county, Norway. The municipality existed from 1964 until 2020 when it was merged with Søgne and Kristiansand municipalities to form a new, much la ...

valley, it is called the ''Songdalselva''. Here it receives more water from the right from the Gumpedalselva

tributary A tributary, or an ''affluent'', is a stream or river that flows into a larger stream (''main stem'' or ''"parent"''), river, or a lake. A tributary does not flow directly into a sea or ocean. Tributaries, and the main stem river into which they ...

. The river drops no more than about over the last to the river mouth, and has on this stretch a very

meander A meander is one of a series of regular sinuous curves in the Channel (geography), channel of a river or other watercourse. It is produced as a watercourse erosion, erodes the sediments of an outer, concave bank (cut bank, cut bank or river cl ...

ing run. There is a short waterfall (Søgne waterfall) near the Søgne Landbruksskole. From that waterfall to the sea, the river is called the ''Søgneelva''. The Songdalselva flows into the sea between the villages of

and

municipality. Both

salmon Salmon (; : salmon) are any of several list of commercially important fish species, commercially important species of euryhaline ray-finned fish from the genera ''Salmo'' and ''Oncorhynchus'' of the family (biology), family Salmonidae, native ...

and

sea trout Sea trout is the common name usually applied to anadromous (sea-run) forms of brown trout (''Salmo trutta''), and is often referred to as ''Salmo trutta'' morpha ''trutta''. Other names for anadromous brown trout are bull trout, sewin (Wales ...

are found in the river, and a

fishing license A fishing license (American English, US), fishing licence (British English, UK), or fishing permit is an administrative or legal mechanism employed by state government, state and local governments to regulate fishing activities within their ad ...

is required for

fishing Fishing is the activity of trying to catch fish. Fish are often caught as wildlife from the natural environment (Freshwater ecosystem, freshwater or Marine ecosystem, marine), but may also be caught from Fish stocking, stocked Body of water, ...

along the river.

Environment

In the post-war years up until the 1980s, the river was thought of as an open sewer. Bathing and fishing were not recommended. Water quality improved by the time the sewer was led through pipes and cleansed before discharged to the sea. Today's (2016) environmental issue is mainly illegal garbage disposal and

plastic waste Plastic pollution is the accumulation of plastic objects and particles (e.g. plastic bottles, bags and microbeads) in the Earth's environment that adversely affects humans, wildlife and their habitat. Plastics that act as pollutants are cate ...

from farming, accumulation along the banks and flowing into the ocean when the river is flooding. In 1993, the watercourse was protected against

hydropower Hydropower (from Ancient Greek -, "water"), also known as water power or water energy, is the use of falling or fast-running water to Electricity generation, produce electricity or to power machines. This is achieved by energy transformation, ...

development pursuant to Norwegian law, by development plans through Conservation Plan IV for waterways.

Media gallery

Høllefjorden.JPG, Søgneelva's mouth in Høllefjorden between Åros and Høllen. Songdalselva2.JPG, Songdalselva at the start of the gorge at Underåsen. Sögneelva IMG 3655 sögne.JPG, Viewof the river in Søgne

References

{{authority control Rivers of Agder Geography of Kristiansand Vennesla Rivers of Norway