(Photo: Hans Arne Nakrem, UiO)

Bjørgunn Dalslåen lets her eyes adjust to the limited light in the narrow crack in the mountainside before she catches sight of the footprints – just a short stroll from the landing site.

“It looks as if a dinosaur has walked on the wall,” she observes. “It’ll be a little more fun to write this into the report afterwards.”

For a geology student, this is actually something to be picked up. She can now say with certainty that this area was also dry land when the dinosaurs ruled.
And the footprints indicate that Norway’s Arctic Svalbard islands lay much further south and closer to the equator millions of years ago, making them warm enough for such creatures.

With more than 80 other students of geosciences and petroleum subjects, Dalslåen is on the 10-day Svalex expedition to study the unique and exciting geology for which Svalbard is famed.

(Photo: Lars Kindingstad, journalist, Statoil)

Hard going

The ground crackles underfoot and stones fall away. Getting a proper foothold is difficult on the steep slope beneath a vertical wall of solid rock.

Wearing protective gear and carrying hammers, Dalslåen and fellow student Therese Jørgensen carefully examine a piece of stone they have pried loose from the rockface.

“Look here,” says Jørgensen. “It appears to be rust. That means it's been exposed before and has oxidised.”

A discussion begins on how that could have happened.

Real life

This excursion allows the pair to see in real life what they have been learning about during their lectures at the university.
 

“You’ve got to get out and see what it looks like in order to understand it, and not just sit at a desk reading and staring at illustrations,” says Dalslåen.
 
This approach has taken them to a number of unique locations during their studies, including the Svalbard archipelago.

The geological formations in these islands are very similar to those found beneath the North, Norwegian and Barents Seas, and are important to study not least when hunting for more oil and gas.