Jökull - 01.12.1999, Page 13

The fact that a relatively diverse flora endured these
harsh climatic conditions on northemmost Skagi was
used by Rundgren and Ingólfsson (1999) to indicate
that some plant species may also have survived the en-
tire Weichselian and earlier glacials in Iceland.
The results presented by Rundgren et al. (1997)
suggest that the cold climate after 10,600 BP caused
Icelandic glacier expansions and isostatic subsidence
on Skagi in late Younger Dryas time. The resulting
transgression approached the Lake Torfadalsvatn and
Lake Hraunsvatn basins (Fig. 6), where it caused
brackish events and deposited a beach ridge (B) that
is almost continuous along the coast of northemmost
Skagi (Fig. 2). This transgressional phase was fol-
lowed by a rapid regression, which had already com-
menced before the end of the Younger Dryas cold
event (Fig. 6). A palaeogeographical reconstruction
of the situation at 10,100 BP is presented in Fig. 8.
9900-9600 BP
This episode is represented by RPAZ Skagi-4,
which is recorded in all the investigated lake se-
quences (Rundgren et al., 1997; Fig. 5). Its local cor-
relative in Lake Torfadalsvatn (LPAZ T-6) was dated
to 9900-9400 BP by Rundgren (1995), but additional
radiocarbon dates required redefinition of its upper
boundary to 9600 BP (Rundgren et al., 1997).
The pollen spectra of RPAZ Skagi-4 are character-
Fig- 8. Palaeogeographical map of northernmost Skagi at 10,100 BP with inferred terrestrial vegetation and sea-ice conditions.
T=Torfadalsvatn; H=Hraunsvatn; G=Geitakarlsvötn; K=Kollusátursvatn; N=Neðstavatn; 0=Open section; A=raised beach
ndge at 65 m a.s.l. - Kort afnyrsta hluta Skaga eins og hann hefur litið útfyrir 10.100 BP. Gróðurfar og hafísástand er einnig
sýnt. T=Torfadalsvatn; H=Hraunsvatn; G=Geitakarlsvötn; K=Kollusátursvatn; N=Neðstavatn; 0=Opnur; A= Fornar
strandlínur við 65 m y.s.
JÖKULL, No. 47, 1999
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