The landscapes in this geopark range from glacier-covered alpine mountains to archipelagos with thousands of islands situated on the strandflat along the coast. The geological landscape displays textbook examples of glacial erosion that occurred during 40 ice ages. The Hardangerfjord Fault separates a billion years of geological evolution. The geopark showcases how volcanic systems build continents: at the place where two tectonic plates converge, the compressed plate crumples before being uplifted to form a mountain range in a process known as orogeny. Two of the largest orogenic belts on Earth meet in the geopark. On the south side lie rocks related to a continental volcanic arc (1.5 billion years ago) and, on the north side, lies bedrock from the oceanic crust and an island arc system (500–450 million years ago).