Jökull - 01.12.1990, Page 55

Figure 2: Glacial directional features in the
Auðkúluheiði area. Legend: 1. Glacial
striae, a. youngest b. oldest, 2. Fluted moraine,
3- End moraines, 4. Eskers, 5. Present
watershed — Skriðstefna jökuls og jaðarmyndanir
a Auðkúluheiði. Skýringar: I. Jökulrákir, a. yngst,
b. elst, 2. Jökulkembur, 3. Jökulgarðar, 4. Malarásar,
Núverandi vatnaskil.
DESCRIPTIONS of individual
areas
NORTHERN AREAS
Auðkúluheiði — is covered by thick layer of drum-
linized till. The drumlins are overlaid with fluted
nioraine. On Fig. 2 only the fluted moraine is shown
as the direction of the drumlins is not as incisive and
do not differ from the direction of the sharp cut flutes.
Along the course of river Blanda, no traces of a
glacier margin can be found from the delta at Blönduós
(on the north coast) to Blöndutjamir (Víkingsson and
Guðjónsson, 1984; Kaldal and Víkingsson, 1982).
Two end moraines can be traced from Blöndu-
tjamir eastwards to the Eyvindarstaðaheiði area. To
the east the moraines turn to SE towards Hofsjökull
but no continuation has been found yet towards west.
In addition to the end moraines, fluted moraine, eskers
and marginal sandurs mark the position of the former
ice margin, indicating a broad ice lobe in the shal-
low valley of river Blanda in the highland. From the
size and position of this ice lobe, it can be concluded
that it was an outlet from an inland ice to the south,
flowing through Kjölur, the pass between the present
Hofsjökull and Langjökull.
When the ice margin had retreated to the area south
of Sandkúlufell, a small proglacial lake was formed
between the margin, Sandkúlufell and the mountains
to the west. To the NW of Hofsjökull the ice movement
was towards NE, transverse to older movement, as
well as to the margin of the present Hofsjökull.
Hofsafrétt—To the north and NE of Hofsjökull the
glacier movement was towards NW (Fig. 3). Several
end moraines transverse to the margin of the present
Hofsjökull have been found in this area (Kaldal, 1976;
1978). As an example, the Miklafell end moraine
can be traced up to Miklafell table mountain in the
NE comer of Hofsjökull, where it continues in a lat-
eral moraine. This ice lobe had its origin in the
Sprengisandur area (between the present Hofsjökull
and Vatnajökull) and not in the Hofsjökull mountains.
The three southernmost moraines will be discussed
later in connection with the Sprengisandur area.
HIGHLANDS OF MID-SOUTHERNICELAND
We will limit our discussion to events taking place
after the formation of the Búði end moraine. This
best known end moraine in Iceland was first described
by Áskelsson (1934) and later mapped by Kjartansson
(1940, 1943, 1958). On the maps (Fig. 4) the Búði
moraine is shown according to a geological map of
South Iceland (Jóhannesson et al., 1982).
Holt — In the Holt area (Fig. 4), glacial striae in-
dicate two main ice lobes, along the Hvítá and Þjórsá
river basins respectively. Striae indicating movement
JÖKULL, No. 40, 1990 53