“Dragon’s Eye,” a picturesque natural phenomenon in Norway, may have formed around 20,000 years ago, when all of Scandinavia was covered by a massive ice sheet known as the Fennoscandian Ice Sheet.
“Dragon’s Eye” is a natural cavity in the rocks along the northwestern coast of Norway that resembles a dragon’s eye. A rock lying at the bottom of the cavity stands out against the white sand and algae, forming the pupil of the eye.
Dragon’s Eye has a diameter of about 1.5m. (Photo: Ruslan Kalnitsky).
“The Dragon’s Eye is a natural feature likely formed beneath the Fennoscandian Ice Sheet, possibly during the last ice age,” said Francis Chantel Nixon, an associate professor of physical geography and Quaternary geology at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology.
The Fennoscandian Ice Sheet was a massive glacier that covered Scandinavia, as well as parts of Northern Europe and northwestern Russia, during the last glacial maximum, approximately 20,000 years ago. Nixon noted that glaciers can lead to various geological formations, including features known as morphologies, which are the result of the erosion of the bedrock beneath the ice sheet.
Nixon explained that these sediments include rocks of all shapes and sizes, from fine sand to massive boulders. High-pressure meltwater flowing beneath the ice can shape the bedrock into smooth depressions that can be straight, curved, or round, ranging in width and depth from a few centimeters to several meters.
Dragon’s Eye is a type of p-formed feature believed to have formed due to particularly turbulent meltwater concentrating erosion and wearing away in circular patterns. “When the meltwater eventually slows down or disappears, the coarser sediments settle out of suspension and become trapped within the depression,” Nixon added, noting that this could be how the rock rests at the bottom of the Dragon’s Eye.
“The Dragon’s Eye likely emerged from beneath the ice about 16,000 years ago,” Nixon stated. The retreat of the Fennoscandian Ice Sheet revealed the bedrock and depressions, which are composed of gneiss, a type of metamorphic rock featuring colorful mineral bands that contribute to the enchanting appearance of the Dragon’s Eye.
The rock eye, with a diameter of about 1.5 meters, looks different depending on the time of day and the tide. When the tide is high, waves crash against the rock, occasionally depositing and washing away sand from the cavity, leaving the rock exposed on the bare bedrock. The algae within the rock eye also appear different depending on the time of year and the light.
