Jökull - 01.12.1999, Page 8

It has two very small inflows at its southern end, and
one of them drains a small lake. The outflow is about
1.5 m wide and leaves the lake towards east over a till
threshold. The lake is bordered to the north by a
raised beach ridge reaching c. 24 m a.s.l., making the
lake shores steep with cobbles. The shores at the
southern end are very flat and peaty. Vegetation
around the lake is dominated by dwarf shrubs, but
plant cover is partly discontinuous and herb-dominat-
ed, particularly in the vicinity of the northern beach
ridge. The southern shores are surrounded by sedge
fens. The core was retrieved from a depth of 1.5 m in
the northwestern part of the basin.
Lake Neðstavatn (13 m a.s.l., 0.21 km2, 66°06’N,
20°08’W)
The lake is situated immediately north of Lake
Kollusátursvatn, seawards of the 24 m raised beach. To
the west of the lake, the same ridge was levelled to 22
m a.s.l. The lake has two inflows, and the largest one
(0.6 m wide) enters at the westem shore. This stream
originates in Lake Hraunsvatn, but before it runs down
the steep slope west of Lake Neðstavatn, it passes
through another lake on the rocky plateau. The lake
shores are moderately steep and covered by cobbles.
The surrounding vegetation is dominated by dwarf
shrubs, but plant cover is not continuous. The beach
ridges in particular are thinly vegetated, and the vege-
tation is also more herb-dominated. The eastem shore
is bordered by a fen. The core was taken in the south-
central part of the basin at a water depth of 1.4 m.
METHODS
Field work
Coring was made from lake ice using Russian sam-
plers (Aaby and Digerfeldt, 1986) of 5 and 10 cm di-
ameter. Lithostratigraphies and visible tephra horizons
Fig. 4. Lake Torfadalsvatn seen from the south, with one of the two inflowing streams and characteristic dwarf-shrub vegeta-
tion with Empetrum nigrum, Betula nana and Salix herbacea. - Torfadalsvatn séð úr suðri þar sem annar af tveim lœkjum
rennur í vatnið. Einkennandi gróður við vatnið er lyng- og kjarrgróður, einkum Empetrum nigrum, Betula nana og Salix
herbacea.
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JÖKULL, No. 47, 1999