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Holocene slope processes and landforms in the northern Faroe Islands

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 March 2007

Hanne H. Christiansen ,
Lars H. Blikra  and
Lis E. Mortensen
Hanne H. Christiansen
Affiliation:
Geology Department, The University Centre in Svalbard, UNIS, P.O.Box 156, 9171 Longyearbyen, Norway. E-mail: hanne.christiansen@unis.no
Lars H. Blikra*
Affiliation:
Geological Survey of Norway/International Centre for Geohazards, 7491 Trondheim, Norway
Lis E. Mortensen
Affiliation:
Faroese Geological Survey, Brekkutun 1, 188 Hoyvik, Faroe Islands
*
Åknes/Tafjord project, Estenstadveien 93, 7049 Trondheim, Norway
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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.

Keywords

climate changecolluvial fandebris-flowshighland aeolian depositsKlaksvikperiglacial geomorphologySaksundalensnow avalanche
Type
Research Article
Information
Earth and Environmental Science Transactions of The Royal Society of Edinburgh , Volume 98 , Issue 1 , March 2007 , pp. 1 - 13
Copyright
Copyright © Royal Society of Edinburgh 2007

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