RECENT STUDIES IN THE GEOLOGY OF THE FAEROES 43 



volcanic activity was localized throughout along the old fissures and that the 

 ultimate origin of the fjord system was determined by these fissures. 



Lakes are numerous in the bottom of the traversing valleys as well as in 

 the cirques. Most of them occupy true rock basins excavated under varying 

 conditions. Formerly they were, no doubt, much more abundant, as many of 

 them are now being silted up and replaced by alluvium. 



Alluvial deposits are rather insignificant in the Faeroes. Marine alluvium 

 is quite lacking and freshwater alluvial layers show far less variety and far less 

 thickness than elsewhere. 



Peat occurs everywhere in the lowlands along the slopes of the valleys as well 

 as on their bottoms. The thickness of the peat is generally 1 or 1.5 m, rarely up 

 to 3 m. The greatest thickness of biogene freshwater alluvium has been 

 measured to 5.5 m. 



Our knowledge of the Faeroic bogs is limited to a joint study by Jessen 

 and Rasmussen (1922) on a section of a bog in the Faeroes, and to work by 

 Jessen (1923) alone on the stratigraphy of Faeroic bogs. 



The most important alluvial freshwater layers according to Jessen (1923) 

 are: mud, rarely in thick layers; Equisetum-peaX, not common in thick layers; 

 and low-bog peat, which appears in two forms, Sphagnum-peat and Erioplwrum 

 angustifolium-peat. The latter constitutes the bulk of the peat in the Faeroes. 

 The most important fossils in the Faeroic low-bog peat are Erioplwrum 

 august {folium, Care.x stellulata, and Ranunculus flammula. Moreover, there is 

 a Calluna-peai with twigs and roots of Calluna vulgaris and Juniperus com- 

 munis. Pure Spliagnum-peat is very rare. Clay, sands, and gravel often form a 

 considerable part of the bog sections. 



The Calluna-peat, according to Jessen and Rasmussen (1922), occurs as a 

 horizon dividing the Faeroic bogs, and the authors are of the opinion that it 

 is contemporaneous with Upper Forrestian and the Sub-Boreal period. 



Submarine bogs occur frequently along the eastern shores of the Faeroe 

 Islands, indicating that a depression has taken place in Post-Glacial time 

 According to Jessen and Rasmussen (1922), the land has been submerged at 

 least 3.5 m after the formation of these bogs. 



Therefore, since distinctive features of a Post-Glacial upheaval of the land 

 are visible along the western coasts (Mykines, Vagar, Hestoy) and recent 

 movements can be indicated in the "lamellae zones", it is tempting to con- 

 clude that the Late Tertiary movement is still active along the Mykines-Fugloy 

 axis with an upheaval to the west and a submergence to the east. 



REFERENCES 



Allan, Th. (1814). An account of the mineralogy of the Faroe Islands. Trans. Roy. Soc. 



Edinb. 7, 229-67. 

 FoRCHHAMMER. J. G. (1824). Om Faeroernes geognostiske Beskaffenhed. Kgl. Damke 



Vidensk. Selsk. Skr. 2, 159-206. 

 Geikie, J. (1880). On the geology of the Faeroe Islands. Trans. Roy. Soc. Edinb. 30, 217-69. 



