Rit (Vísindafélag Íslendinga) - 01.06.1939, Blaðsíða 9

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1. Gravel.
Gravel is not found in continuous beds to any extent,
but occurs here and there in the lava where the wind has
not reached it to blow it away and the water sinks through
it as quickly as it comes. I have also put the level ground
on the southwest side of Sæfjall under the heading of
gravel, for although this area has been subject to the
action of the wind it is yet very sandy. Similarly I have
classified the area in ”Botninn” under gravel, for there
the soil is reclaimed from the sea and the new land lies
1—2 metres lower than the wind-denuded land lay: the
fragments which still remain show this clearly. This area
is about 1—2 metres above sea level and lies just out of
reach of the sea; it is now in process of being cultivated.
2. Peat formation.
The peat formation covers most of Heimaey, either typ-
ical as in the east and southern parts of the island, or
non-typical as in the lava which covers all the western
part of the island. This lava must have come from Helga-
fell long before the age of settlement, but not after the
settlement as "Landnáma” says; it is more likely to have
been stripped of its vegetation (by drifting sand) after
the settlement, and is now becoming overgrown again. In
proof of this I may mention that the layers of soil around
Helgafell are very thick, up to 2 metres in thickness, as
Helgafell has protected them from the action of the wind.
It is also worth noticing that a moss-tuft vegetation is
nowhere to be found in the lava, though one ought to ex-
pect to find at least the intermediate formation between
this and the non-typical peat formation as is clearly to be
seen in the south of Iceland, e. g. in ”Vestur-Skaftafells-
sýsla”, where the climate is like that of the Westmann
Islands and the lava has become overgrown with vege-
tation without having been disturbed by a period of
drifting sand. The lava is all more or less uneven with
shallow depressions but with no deep holes. The shallow
depressions are overgrown with peat formation vegeta-
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