42 JOANNES RASMUSSEN 



Late Tertiary and the present), during the widest extension of the Pleistocene 

 ice, formed an "ice-shed" for one ice flow running northwards and another 

 southwards. However, at more advanced stages the ice direction was decided 

 by the local topographic forms. 



Moraine deposits occur everywhere in the lowlands, but the cover is rather 

 thin, only exceptionally reaching 4 to 5 m in thickness. Terminal moraines 

 have not been observed, and the poor moraine cover can be explained, on the 

 whole, by the fact that the greater part of the material was carried out to sea 

 by the ice. As shown by previous investigators, no boulders of foreign origin 

 occur in the Faeroic moraines. 



The problem of the thickness of the ice has frequently been touched upon 

 in previous literature, and it has generally been assumed that the ice did not 

 reach above 500 m since striae have not been observed above that height. 

 Otherwise, however, observation of striae is difficult at that height on account 

 of the extensive weathering, and locally the very dense, resistant rocks (as, for 

 example, the sills) are distinctly glaciated up to far greater heights. 



As to the extension of the ice, naturally, nothing can be suggested, but 

 remnants of cirques and valley slopes, particularly on the west and north 

 coasts, show that the ice has extended a good deal farther than the present 

 coast line, and that the postglacial coast erosion on the west and on the 

 north is considerable. 



A glance at the map of the Faeroes shows an obvious NW.-SE. running 

 dominance of the fjord direction. The same orientation prevails in the 

 traversing valleys (e.g. Milium Fjarda, Sandsdalur). 



The origin of the fjord system, including the traversing valleys, has been 

 discussed frequently. Mackenzie (1814) suggested that they resulted from 

 removal by erosion of great dykes. Geikie (1880) showed that the ice followed 

 the Pre-Glacial topography and explained the fjord system as a consequence of 

 river action assisted by Glacial erosion. Grossman and Lomas (1895) pro- 

 posed that the ice did little more than modify pre-existing valleys, Gregory 

 (1913) assumed that the fjord system was preglacial in age, and that its 

 formation thus could not be due to glacial erosion. Peacock (1928) suggested 

 that the fjord system was derived from an earlier goe-system, and that it 

 therefore had its ultimate origin in a system of master joints related to an 

 episode of crustal movement which took place after the volcanic period but 

 before the Ice Age, 



When mentioning the Tuff-Agglomerate zone it was pointed out that the 

 agglomerates most likely covered the eruption fissures which were feeding the 

 Lower Basalt sequence, and that those occur along the fjords following them. 

 In the same manner the numerous vents, which probably were supplying the 

 Lower Basalt zone in the Upper Basalt sequence, occur along the fjords. No 

 vents have been observed outside the fjord system although the opportunities 

 for observation are excellent. Tt might therefore be tempting to assume that the 



