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What sound change distinguishes West Germanic from North Germanic languages?

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Thematic map of Europe displaying the distribution of Germanic languages, with different colors indicating regions where English, German, Netherlandic (Dutch), Frisian, Swedish, Danish, Norwegian, Icelandic, and Faroese are spoken. Striped areas mark regions where bilingualism is common, and language regions cover countries such as the United Kingdom, Germany, the Netherlands, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Iceland, and parts of surrounding countries. — West Germanic languages Distribution of the Germanic languages in Europe.

Several sound changes and linguistic developments distinguish West Germanic from North Germanic languages. These differences emerged as the Northwest Germanic dialect continuum fragmented between the 3rd and 6th centuries CE.1

Key distinctions include:

Consonant Gemination: In West Germanic, all consonants (except r) preceded by a short vowel and followed by j were geminated (doubled). In contrast, North Germanic only geminated velar consonants (k, g) in this environment.1
Final z: While North Germanic maintained Proto-Germanic final z as r, West Germanic generally lost final z in polysyllabic words.1
The ð to d Shift: West Germanic underwent a change of ð to d in all positions, whereas North Germanic retained ð (e.g., Proto-Germanic blōð- became blōd in West Germanic but remained blōð- in Old Norse).1
Verb Morphology: West Germanic replaced the inherited second-person singular past tense forms of strong verbs, a feature that differs from the forms found in North Germanic.12
Medial Consonants: North Germanic is distinguished by having ggj and ggv for medial jj and ww, respectively, which is not a feature of West Germanic.2