Norwegian Geological Survey - History

History

The 6 February 1858 the Norwegian geological survey was established by Order in Council. A few years earlier, the geology student Theodor Kjerulf had submitted the idea of a Norwegian geological survey to the then Norwegian interior ministry. The survey would serve to map the country´s agricultural areas and mineral deposits, as well as systematically study how the Norwegian landscape had been formed. In the mid-19th century Norway was modernizing quickly by developing industry and knowledge, along with evolving the cultural life. An institution such as a Norwegian geological survey would be “convenient, scientifically necessary and honorable for the nation”. The first years of its existence, mapping the bedrock, superficial deposits and mineral resources was its principal task, but it contributed to a Norwegian sense of ownership to the land, something that was especially important around 1905, after the Union with Sweden was dissolved. The then manager Theodor Kjerulf, and his assistant, Tellef Dahll, shared the mapping of Norway. They purchased equipment, planned the work and trained their field assistants to carry out the surveys.

Manager Kjerulf along with Dahll and several assistands had, after about twenty years of work, completed an impressive three sets of maps. Det sødenfjeldske in 1:400 000, Trondheim stift in 1:800 000 and Det nordlige Norge in 1:1 million. The maps and their descriptions gave new and valuable knowledge about the Norwegian landscape, and showed that it was possible to combine the scientific, echonomical and cultural ambitions Kjerulf had fronted when he set out to create the survey.