| Term: | Fjord |
| Definition: | A deep-water inlet, usually surrounded by mountains; specifically a submerged U-shaped valley carved out by glacial action. The fjord is characteristic of the coastal regions of Norway, western Scotland and Ireland, Greenland, Labrador, Alaska, British Columbia, southern Chile, the Antarctic peninsula, southwest New Zealand, and other high-latitude oceanic islands (Iceland, Spitzbergen, Kerguelen, etc.). (Sometimes spelled fiord, fiard.) |