I92I. No. II. THE STRANDFLAT AND ISOSTASY. I57 



(probably made from the mapsi just a little higher than 30 metres above 

 sea-level. 



ludg-iiig from the impression which the emerged strandfiat gave, 

 when seen from the sea in various regions of Lofoten and \ esteràlen. 

 and also judging from the many photographs taken, I estimate the height 

 of a great part of it to be about 20 metres or less above sea-level. It is 

 possible that the height of its inner margin, at the foot of the mountains, 

 may be somewhat higher and frequently approach 30 metres above the sea, 

 but its actual height will generally l)e difficult to d.etermine, as it is to a 

 great extent covered l)y the scree. 



In his excellent description of the topography of the Sfjuth-western 

 part of Lofoten Th. \'ogt expresses himself in a very similar manner. 

 He says [1912, p. 15] that at the foot of some hearllanrls of \'æroi. there 

 are low points the inner boundary of which at the foot of the almost 

 vertical cliffs is about 35 to 40 metres above sea-level, but he did not 

 directly measure them. "As a rule the demarkation line between the pre- 

 cipitous cliffs and the strandfiat is much lower both on \'æroi and on the 

 Røst islands, in some places nearly at sea-level, but it is frequcntlv hidden 

 by the heaps of sto?ies and gravel fallen from the cliffs." 



The subiiicrgcd strajidflat of the Lofoten and \'esterâlen Islands has 

 a remarkably small extent, considering the exposed situation of the is- 

 lands. Its surface topography is on the whole most similar to that which 

 we liave found to l)e typical for submerged ])lateaus built up of granite 

 or other resistant rocks. Il has in general fairlv great depths, is sloping- 

 more or less outwards from the islands, and its outer edge is less sharply 

 defined than that of the submerged strandfiat of southern Helgeland. 



The submerged stranriflat of Lofoten is most perfectly developed on 

 the two small submerged plateaus farthest out to sea towards the south- 

 west. On the one are situated the two islands Varai and Mosken and 

 some scattered skerries, and on the other the islands of Rost. These is- 

 lands are built up of gneiss and other crystalline schists. Only the rockv 

 island Mosken near the north-eastern end of the \'æroi Plateau is built up 

 of gabbro and granite. 



Th. \'ogt [1912^ has given a most interesting description, with a 

 sketch-map and illustrations, of the emerged as well as the submerged 

 Strandfiat of these plateaus. Their submerged 'topography mav be studied 

 in much rletail in the charts Nos. 70 and 71 (in the scale i: 50.000) of 

 "Norges geografiske Opmåling". 



Both plateaus are o]:)long with their longitudinal axes in the direction 

 S\V to NE. They are much alike as to shape and size. If w^e take the 

 isobath for 25 metres as boundary the Rost Plateau is about 25 kilometres 

 long, from SW to NE, and about 11 kilometres broad at its broadest. 

 The \'æroi Plateau is about 19 kilometres long (from SW to NE) and 

 about 1 I kilometres broad. 



