The Botany of Iceland - 01.12.1914, Page 13

PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY
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North of the mountain of Lómagnupur (770 metres), which is a
hreccia-promontory rising steeply from a sandy flat, the glaciers recede
from the coast and the plateau is continued as a low hilly edge as
far as Mýrdalsjökull, the snow-masses of which cover the upper part
of the above-mentioned southern spur of high land and wliich has
an area of about 1000 square km., reaching a height of 1666 metres in
the volcano of Eyjafjallajökull. Another very active and dangerous
volcano, Katla, also hides itself beneath the glaciers of Mýrdals-
jökull. West of this snow-field the plateau retires again from the
coast; the deep valley of Markarfljót separates Mýrdalsjökull from
Tindtjallajökull (1462 metres), and north of the latter lies the oblong,
volcanic Torfajökull (1400 metres) and the famous volcano Hekla
(1447 metres). North-west of Hekla and near Geysir, the plateau
retires to its greatest distance from the coast (about 80 km.), but
bends thence again towards the south west, outwards towards the
peninsula of Reykjanes.
The lowlands of Iceland cover only a small area; in the north
and east thcre is no low land with the exception of the larger valley-
mouths, e. g. at the head of Húnaflói, Skjálfandi and Fljótsdals-
hjerað and the extreme end of the peninsulas of Skagi and Mel-
rakkasljetta. Larger lowland areas occur only in South and West
Iceland; they are however small in extent compared with the
mountainous country and the table-lands. Although the lowlands
only comprise one-fifteenth of the entire area of the country, yet
together with the valleys they are of very great importance because
tolerably favourable climatic conditions and a closer vegetation, per-
mitting fixed habitations and the rearing of cattle. are found almost
exclusively there; the inhabitants of the few dwellings which occur
scattered in the lower parts of the plateau must struggle with severe
conditions and are almost entirely reduced to sheep-rearing alone.
But by no means all the lowlands are grass-covered; large tracts of
lava, glacier-gravel and blown sand are extreinely poor in plant-life.
On the south coast the country nearest to the sea is quite flat, from
Hornafjörður to Reykjanes, hut in many places this level land is
so narrow that it consists only of an insignificant coastal border;
in other places it widens out into larger plains and extends further
into the country. Between Hornafjörður and Mýrdalsjökull, below
Vatnajökull, the coastal country is formed by deposits from the
numerous glacier-rivers and consists exclusively of sand and gravel;
the lowland here is often flooded by branching torrential glacier-