Holocene slope processes and landforms in the northern Faroe Islands
ABSTRACT The exposed nature of the northern Faroe Islands high relief landscape enabled widespread Holocene slope process activity and deposition of related landforms, which seem largely controlled by extreme meteorological conditions. Three different slope landforms – the large colluvial Glyvurs fa...
| Published in: | Earth and Environmental Science Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh |
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| Main Authors: | , , |
| Format: | Article in Journal/Newspaper |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Cambridge University Press (CUP)
2007
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s1755691007000047 https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S1755691007000047 |
| Summary: | ABSTRACT The exposed nature of the northern Faroe Islands high relief landscape enabled widespread Holocene slope process activity and deposition of related landforms, which seem largely controlled by extreme meteorological conditions. Three different slope landforms – the large colluvial Glyvurs fan, the lower Marknastiggjur mountainside debris-flow deposits in the town of Klaksvik, and the mountain top aeolian sediment cover on Eidiskollur – were investigated by a combination of geomorphological, stratigraphic, sedimentological, chronological and modern process studies. Sporadic Holocene snow-avalanche and debris-flow activity were documented, with sedimentation starting significantly before 8000 cal yr BP in the Glyvurs fan, which still sporadically experiences activity. The largest amounts of Holocene slope sedimentation seem to occur in colluvial fans, such as the Glyvurs fan, which are located below large dyke canyons, called gjogvs. The lower Marknastiggjur mountainside consists of mainly debris-flow deposits, which started before 7800 cal yr BP. A relatively small amount of precipitation, but with high precipitation intensity after a dry summer, triggered modern small-scale debris-flows in the northern islands, also at the Marknastiggjur mountainside, early in Autumn 2000. Extensive continuous mountaintop aeolian sedimentation from cliff weathering started around 6900 cal yr BP on the Eidiskollur peninsula. No direct influence of settlement on slope process activity was found at the different investigated slope landforms in the northern Faroe Islands. |
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