REVIEWS 
Morener i den Islandska Palagonitformation | Moraines in the 
Palagonite Formation in Iceland]. By Herta Pyerrurs- 
son. From Oversigt over det Konglige danske videnska- 
bernes sellskabs forhandlinger, 1901, No. 5. 
THE author has before this* described the occurrence of ground 
moraines in the palagonite of Iceland. The present paper is a brief 
summary of this earlier account and a report on some later observa- 
tions, with a statement of conclusions drawn from the same. 
All former writers on the geology of Iceland have recognized as 
glacial deposits only such morainic accumulations as overlie the pala- 
gonite, and the latter has been regarded as a Tertiary eruptive contain- 
ing local aqueous sediments. The present author finds ground 
moraines in palagonites and breccias lying under doleritic lavas that 
have heretofore been regarded as preglacial. The material is indurated 
and stony, cut by joints and dikes, but has the characteristic texture 
of ground moraines. He thinks that there can be no reasonable doubt 
that this material is of glacial origin, and he presents four good rea- 
sons for his view, viz.: 
1. The structure of the beds. 
2. The nature of the included blocks. These are usually some- 
what rounded. Quite often they exhibit beautiful scorings. One of 
the most perfectly scored bowlders the author had ever seen, he found 
in a “breccia” roo feet thick, which appears as a gray belt on the bare 
rocky wall of Buirfells. 
Be bhe breccias 
striated bed rock. 
4. In some places where “‘breccias”” resembling moraines rest on 
basalt, the upper surface of the latter is broken into fragments, which 
are worked into the base of the “breccia.” One can see that some 
blocks of the basalt lie near where they were broken off, while other 
in some cases may be seen to rest on typically 
blocks have been carried farther away and are mingled with somewhat 
rounded bowlders. 
Gee Scottish Geographical Magazine, May, 1900. 
218 
