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(Redirected from Norwegian Trench)

The 'Norwegian trench' (Norwegian: ''Norskerenna'' Danish: ''Norskerenden'') is an oceanic trench off the southern coast of Norway.
It reaches from the Stad peninsula in Sogn og Fjordane in the northwest to the Oslofjord in the southeast. The trench is between 50 and 95 kilometers wide and up to 700 meters deep. Off the Rogaland coast it is 250 - 300 meters deep, and its deepest point is off Arendal where it reaches 700 meters deep – an abyss compared to the average depth of the North Sea, which is about 100 meters.
Weak earthquakes regularly occur along the trench. Such seismic activity is expected as a trench marks the position at which a flexed, subducting slab (here: the North Sea) initially descends beneath another lithospheric slab (here: Scandinavia).
The Norwegian current generally flows northeasterly along the Norwegian trench. The depth of the trench, along with density differences between Norwegian current water and the adjacent Atlantic Water, also result in large scale eddies. The Norwegian trench region in the Skagerrak is a biologically productive zone, as upwelling of North Atlantic water in the Skagerrak provides an input of nutrients.
The trench provides an obstacle for oil and gas pipelines.