Norvegia Bay

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Norvegia Bay is a cove at the north side of Cape Ingrid on the west side of Peter I Island.

Discovery and name

It is named after the Norvegia, the Norwegian research vessel which visited the island in February 1929. The crew engaged in charting the island and in sounding and dredging operations.

Geology

In 1960, an expedition to Peter I Island collected 29 rock samples from the beach at Norvegia Bay. Analysis of these specimens led to greater scientific understanding of the overall geology of the island.

The study determined:

At Norvegia Bay light-colored trachyandesite flows are common and occur interbedded with the more abundant basalts. These rocks contain numerous and conspicuous gabbroid inclusions. Flow banding and deformed vesicles are present in some flow units. In addition to the basalt and trachyandesite flows, the Norvegia Bay sequence also contains several breccia beds of reworked older volcanic material. The largest clast observed is about 8 ft long. These beds are heterogeneous in both composition and texture; some are massive, but some are stratified. One 8-ft bed contains a large angular block of trachyandesite with gabbroid inclusions. Many small basalt dikes cut the strata along Norvegia Bay; they are commonly less than 18 in. wide.

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