The Botany of Iceland - 01.12.1914, Qupperneq 14

The Botany of Iceland - 01.12.1914, Qupperneq 14
198 THORODDSEN rivers, so that no vegetation can thrive here. Below the soutliern edge of Vatnajökull the farmsteads are therefore confined to oases separated from one another by gravel-deserts and swollen glacier- rivers. In many places the people have been obliged to move their houses up on the mountain sides in order to avoid inundations caused by the glacier-waters, and here the mountain-sides facing south are covered with a luxuriant plant-growth, while the level country below is devoid of vegetation. The sandy tracts liave different names, such as Breiðamerkursandur, Skeiðarársandur, Brunasandur, Mýrdalssandur, Sólheimasandur, etc. Of these the largest is Skeiðarársandur (about 900 square km.), and taken to- gether they cover an area of about 2700 square km. Between Ló- magnupur and Mýrdalsjökull the lowland becomes broader and is covered by extensive lava-íields, blown sand, gravel and volcanic ashes, as large volcanoes occur in the neighhourhood. The largest area of low land in Iceland lies between Eyjafjallajökull and the peninsula of Beykjanes and is about 4000 square km. in extent; it is hemmed in by tuff-mountains which in many places fall abruptiy towards the plain. The lowest part of the lowland is only slightly raised above sea-level, but it rises gradually towards the interior where it ultimately branches off into different valleys; near Geysir it reaches its greatest height above sea-level, about 150 metres. The low land is not tlat everywhere, some parts of it are hilly, and a few isolated mountains also rise from tlie plain. West of Hekla the lowland, by means of a gentle rise, is in direct connection witli the interior plateau, to the great danger of the inhabited districls, as the blown sand, volcanic ashes and pumice dust which cover large areas of the interior have thereby free access to the lowlands; there- fore, in these regions, during north-westerly storms, large tracts of grass-covered and inhabited land have been overwhelmed in the course of time. The lowlands consist chiefly of grassland, and no- where in Iceland do farmsteads occur so closely together as here, these districts being well-suited to cattle-rearing. Three very well- supplied rivers run through the lowland, viz. Markarfljót with a large delta-land (Landeyjar), Thjórsá and Ölfusá, and besides these there are many smaller ones. The eastern part east of Thjórsá is called Bangárvallasýsla, the western Árnessýsla. At the head of Faxa- flói there is another low area (about 1000 square km.) which on an average has a height of only 20—30 metres. It is bounded bv steep, basalt mountains which are arranged in a semicircle around
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The Botany of Iceland

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