Rit (Vísindafélag Íslendinga) - 01.07.1962, Qupperneq 18

18
This probably indicates that the higher rocks of Kerling are
remnants, due to a downthrown position, after a very con-
siderable erosion. Also the neighboured Tröllafjall (1471 m)
lies relatively deep and has retained the rhyolite layer and
a cover 250 m thick of fresh basalts and intercalated sedi-
ments, among them conglomerates.
/0£ónt
Fig. 6. Southwestem face of Kerling at Finnastaðadalur.
These conditions indicate that the topmost group of Kerl-
ing and Tröllafjall may occur in small isolated patches in the
mountains between Eyjafjörður and Skagafjörður. Such a patch
possibly occurs on the southwest side of Stífla in Fljót, but be-
cause of the extremely difficult terrain the discovery of such
remnants will for a long time be left to chance. Only in the
south, around Hólafjall (Fig. 7), do they seem to have a wider
extension. The cover rocks of Kerling are of reverse magne-
tization and thus belong to another magnetic group than the
patches at Bárðardalur, and it is highly questionable whether
the rocks of Kerling should be included with the Young Pla-
teau Basalts.
I have not been able to detect the Young Plateau Basalts
on top of the high mountains on the east side of Skagafjörður.
Only near the head of the Skagafjörður valley they reappear.
From here on they have a wide extension west and south-
wards.
The existence of relatively young basalts in the highland
south of the Skagafjörður and Húnavatnssýsla districts has
heen known for a long time. Þorvaldur Thoroddsen called
the rocks Pre-glacial dolerites and shows them in his geolo-
gical map of 1901 in a considerable area north of Langjökull