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GUNNAR HOPPH 

 THE POSTULATED REFUGIUM AREAS 



For the following discussion it seems convenient to deal with three different 

 cases: (1) nunataks, (2) foreland refugia in western Norway, and (3) foreland 

 refugia in northern Norway. 



Fig. 3. Probable circulation pattern in atmosphere and sea during the last glaci- 

 ation, ace. to Liljequist (1956). 



1 . Nunatak refugia. It must be admitted that the chance that nunataks rose 

 above the Scandinavian ice sheet is rather great. This conclusion is based on 

 the topography of the Scandes in their western part, where the ice sheet 

 probably was not very thick, and on the occurrence of nunataks near the 

 coasts of Greenland and Antarctica. 



On the other hand we do not have yet, as far as I can see, any means by 

 which we are able to identify former nunataks. So-called "nunatak topo- 

 graphy" can be preserved or even created under an ice-sheet surface (cf. 

 above). Nor does a topography characterized by well-developed glacial 

 cirques guarantee any ice-free areas between them, resp. lack of inland ice 

 glaciation. In Sweden, on the eastern side of the mountain chain, for instance, 

 there are many well developed cirques, as low in altitude as 800 to 1000 m 

 in areas that unquestionably have been covered by the last inland ice sheet. 



Dahl (1955 and 1961) has argued that the occurrence of mountain top 

 detritus ("Felsenmeer") should be a proof of a nunatak. He also gives a map 

 of the northwestern part of southern Norway (Dahl, 1961, p. 89), demon- 



