Jökull - 01.12.1982, Page 11

Fig. 7. Observations of
glacial striae in the Mýrdal
area.
Mynd 7. Jökulrákir í Mýrdal
onnées, often very well developed and preserved,
are common features on the strandflat plains in
Sudursveit and around Hornaljördur, and in the
valleys inside Lónsíjördur, Alftafjördur, Hamars-
Ijördur, Berufjördur and Breiddalsvík. During a
visit in 1974 to Hvalnes near Austurhorn - where
Kjartansson described glacial striae in his 1962
paper — roches moutonnées were observed 200 m
west of the lighthouse. The surfaces of these roches
moutonnées are characterized by well developed
crescentic fractures and less distinct but indisput-
able glacial striae and grooves, showing ice move-
ment from the north-northwest.
The island of Papey is of special interest because
of its location outside of the outermost of the main-
land promontories. It was visited on August 29,
1969; preliminary results have been presented earl-
ier (Hoppe 1971). The northwestern part of the is-
land, where the soil cover is thinor non-existent, is
characterized by a beautiful roches moutonnées-
landscape with well preserved glacial sculpture.
Even the highest point of the island, 58 m a s 1,
consists of this type of landform (photo in Hoppe
1971, p. 33). Hazy weather made observation of
glacial striae dilhcult. Some indications, however,
were observed, which showed that ice formerly had
flowed from the northwest.
From these observations it is clear that the ice-
sheet in the Berufjördur area must have been rather
thick, at least several hundred meters, in order that
the ice could reach and override Papey.
MÝRDALUR (Fig. 7)
The entomological studies of Lindroth (1931, p.
481, 1963, p. 83) led him to localize a main faunal
Weichsel refugium near Eyjafjallajökull. However,
Kjartansson (1955) in this area found glacial striae up
to heights of400 m, a fact which makes a refugium
next to impossible.
Just to the east of Eyjafjallajökull, in the south-
ernmost part of Iceland, Kjartansson made a few
observation of striae (1955, and Geological map of
Iceland, sheet 6, 1962). Einar H. Einarsson of
Skammadalshóll, one of those admirable Iceland-
ers, who are both farmers and natural scientists, has
made systematic studies of glacial features in an
area between Sólheimajökull and Hjörleifshöfði. He
devoted special attention to the high mountains
close to the coastline, i.e. potential nunataks. His
main conclusion is that the whole area was ice-
covered during the lastglaciation (Einarsson 1970).
Einarsson has kindly given me detailed inform-
ation about his observation localities, and my com-
plementary field studies, mainly in his company,
were carried out in 1977 and 1981.
Einarsson had earlier observed striae in the
southern part of Reynisfjall, a 300 m high promon-
tory far to the south, but we were not able to find
them again; most probably they were destroyed
during the construction of a ligtuhouse. Bedrock
outcrops in the same area, however, seemed to be
glacially scoured. At a number of places, more to
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