Fróðskaparrit - 01.01.1998, Qupperneq 199

Highland Aeolian Deposits
in the Faroe Islands
Hálendisvindborin setløg í Føroyum
205
Hanne H. Christiansen
Institute of Geography, University of Copenhagen, Øster Voldgade 10, DK-1350 København K, Denmark
Phone: +45 35 32 2500, fax: +45 35 32 2501, email: hhc@geogr.ku.dk
Úrtak
Eitt, sum eyðkennir føroyska landslagið, er, at har eru
hálendisvindborin setløg og nærum eingir strandsand-
heyggjar. Fleiri fjallatindar eru lutvíst huldir av hálend-
isvindbomum setløgum. Av tí at tað er vindhart í Føroy-
um, er tað sjálvsagt, at hálendisborin setløg eru har.
Eyðkenni teirra hava kortini ikki verið lýst fyrr, meðan
tað er rakt við tey nærhendis í líknandi hálendisøkjum í
útnyrðingspartinum av Skotlandi. Henda greinin er ein
fyribilslýsing av jarðformfrøðini hjá teimum hálendis-
vindbomu setløgunum í Føroyum, og hon viðger fram-
haldandi nýtslu av hesum setløgum til endurskipanir av
frumumhvørvinum.
Abstract
One of the characteristics of the Faroese landscape is the
existence of highland aeolian deposits and the relative
absence of coastal dunes. Several mountain tops are
partly mantled by sheets of aeolian deposits. As the
modern Faroese climate is dominated by strong winds,
the presence of highland aeolian deposits is obvious.
Their characteristics have, however, not been described
earlier, whereas they are recognised in similar, neigh-
bouring highland areas of NW Scotland. This paper pre-
liminarily describes the geomorphology of the Faroese
highland aeolian deposits, and discusses the further use
of these deposits in palaeoenvironmental reconstruc-
tions.
Introduction
One of the most significant features of the
Faroese highland climate is the strength of
the wind and the extreme exposure. The av-
erage annual wind speed close to sea level
at Akraberg in southern Suðuroy is 7.2 m/s
for the period 1962-1994 (Data from the
Danish Meteorological Institute). The pre-
sent day dominating wind direction is from
W, SW and S (Søgaard, 1996). The strong
winds can cause erosion in exposed areas,
particularly in those without a vegetation
cover, and then lead to deposition in shel-
tered lee slopes.
Highland aeolian deposits are only spar-
ingly described from the European area,
but have particularly been investigated in
neighbouring areas in NW Scotland (Pye
and Paine, 1983; Ballantyne and Harris,
1994; Ballantyne, 1998). In the Faroe Is-
lands the accumulations of highland aeo-
lian deposits were not even mentioned by
Geikie (1883) in his otherwise rather de-
tailed description of the surface sediments.
This might be because he primarily trav-
elled by boat, and seldom reached the
mountain top areas. The existence of aeo-
Fróðskaparrit 46. bók 1998: 205-213