Steinslandsvatnet

In winter and spring parts of the road on the west side of Steinslandsvatnet Lake are closed, and traffic has to go through a tunnel. Across the road, on the lower side of the tunnel, lie large snow avalanche fans. When the snow melts, one can see the fan-shaped masses of sand and gravel at the same place. At the surface there are stones, wood and roots. Below the fans there are some peculiar depressions at the water's edge, with a series of large stone blocks on the outside of the depressions (picture). This is the only formation of its type in Hordaland. It is snow avalanches that do the geological work. The avalanches lets go from the hanging wall on the mountain cliff 900 mas. on the west side of Lake Steinslandsvatnet and takes along loose deposits that have been lying on the mountainside, or which have eroded loose since the previous avalanche. The avalanches usually stop right above the water, and when the snow melts, the stones are left exposed. Over time, thick scree fans build up. The biggest snow avalanches have such great speed that when they reached the water, the water pressure hitting the bottom right by the shore digs out 4–5 metre deep depressions and throws up big stones that create a wall above the water surface.