Observations of features related to neotectonic activity and recent crustal movements have been reported in Norway as neotectonic ‘claims’ since the 1880s, and have been increasing steadily in number. With the introduction of the concept of plate tectonics in the 1960s, neotectonic research became focused on the interplate processes, and for a time intraplate tectonics attracted less interest. Following reports of neotectonic features in Sweden (Lundqvist & Lagerbäck 1976), intraplate tectonics again attracted the attention of geoscientists in Scandinavia. Kujansuu (1964) had described similar structures in Finland more than a decade earlier, but this account was published in Finnish and not widely known before publication of the Swedish studies.

The number of reports of neotectonic activity during each decade after the first account in 1888 had varied from 0 to 3 (with the exception of 8 during the 1920s) until the number surged in the 1980s with 25 reports followed by 23 in the 1990s (not including the NEONOR and Seabed Reports). The number of neotectonic reports in Norway has now reached a total of 79 (Fig. 1, Appendices A & B). Almost 80% of the registered reports were published after 1980. Our understanding of the claims, however, has not kept pace with the