Fróðskaparrit - 01.01.1998, Side 263

MAKROSTEINRENNINGARRANNSÓKNIR AV VATNSÁLØGUM
ÚR SKÁLAFIRÐI í FØROYUM: FYRIBILS ÚRSLIT
269
i 200 m i
Fig. 2. Shallow seismic (boomer) profile along thefjord axis (for location, see Fig. 1) indicating a condensed
postglacial sediment sequence (light coloured upper unit). The arrow shows the approximate location ofcore
SKPC18.
Mynd 2. Grunnur seismiskur (boomer) tvørskurður eftir fjarðarásinum (á mynd 1 sæst, hvar hann er), sum bendir á
tættaða eftirglasiala áløgurøð (ljóslittur yvirpartur). Pílurin vísir, hvar á leið kjarni SKPC18 er.
is usually 5-10 mm thick on the Faroe Is-
lands.
The Saksunarvatn ash was first recog-
nised on the Faroe Islands, and it has been
dated to c. 9,000 radiocarbon years BP
(Birks et al., 1996), which corresponds to c
10,000 calendar years. The ash layer that
originates from central Iceland has now
been widely recognised in the eastern
North Atlantic, as far away from Iceland as
northern Germany (ref. Wastegárd, 1998,
this vol.). The presence of this ash layer al-
lows us to date the lower part of the core to
the early Holocene.
In order to shed light on the local envi-
ronments and biotas, a series of samples
have been analysed with respect to macro-
scopical plant and animal remains. Rede-
position and long distance transport is gen-
erally a smaller problem with macrofossils
than with microfossils, and macrofossil
analyses can be a good supplement to other
analyses.
Setting
The climate of the Faroe Islands is oceanic,
with a mean July temperature around 11 °C.
The present vegetation is strongly influ-
enced by sheep, but the pre-landnám, nat-
ural vegetation on well drained sites on the
islands would be dominated by shrub
heaths with Juniperus, Salix, Empetrum,
Calluna, Poaceae and Cyperaceae (Jóhan-
sen, 1985).
Skálafjørður is a U-shaped through that
was eroded during the Pleistocene glacia-
tions. The valley slopes are steep, and the
mountains around the fjord reach altitudes
of 5-600 meters. The fjord is a 13 km long
threshold fjord situated on Eysturoy (fíg.
1). The fjord is up to about 70 m deep,
whereas the threshold is at c. 25 m depth.