308 J. Lomas — Glaciated Valleys in the Faroes. 



IV. — Glaciated Valleys in the Faroes. 

 By Joseph Lomas, A.R.C.S., F.G.S. 



THE interesting paper by Mr. Harker in the Geological Magazine 

 of May, 1899, on " Glaciated Valleys in Skye," recalls to my 

 mind many similar observations I made in tlie Faroes in the Summer 

 of 1894. Not only are the valleys excavated out of homogeneous 

 rocks, but the Faroes, like the Cuillins, had a glaciation of their own. 

 It may be advisable, then, to call attention to some points which 

 resemble those referred to by Mr. Harker, as well as others which 

 are not seen in Skye. 



The Faroes consist of a group of islands twenty-six in number. 

 They have a trend approximately N.W.-S.E., and lie, with one or two 

 exceptions, side by side, as if threaded on a line running N.E.-S.W. 

 The islands are separated by long narrow fiords, and are evidently 

 the result of erosion ; no structural peculiarities in the great plateau 

 of basalt suggest any other conclusion. A line drawn from Fuglo 

 on the east to Myggenaes on the west gives the line of water-parting 

 of the pi'esent day, as well as the ice-shed which obtained when the 

 islands were glaciated. Soundings taken along the fiords show that 

 they are shallow when the line crosses, and deepen N.W. and S.E. 

 Into the fiords numerous cirques open on both sides. ^ Some of them 

 are simple U-shaped valleys which have their floors above, at, or 

 even below sea-level. Others descend in great steps towards the 

 fiords, the cui-ves embracing the tiers widening as they approach 

 sea-level. Besides the simple forms, others are seen, which I have 

 called compound or clustered cirques.^ They consist of several 

 U - shaped valleys which open into a common valley. We may 

 compare them with leaves of shamrock, and they have evidently been 

 determined by the courses of the rivers and their tributaries which 

 eroded the plateau in Pre-Glacial times. The common valleys into 

 which the tributary cirques open are not always straight, but trend 

 towards the N.W. north of the line of ice-shed and towards the S.E. 

 south of the line. This feature is particularly noticeable in the fiord 

 which separates the two largest islands, Stromo and Ostero, from 

 each other. 



Extensive erosion has taken place since the Glacial period, for we 

 find in some places a cluster of small islands, whose outlines show 

 that at one time they formed part of one great cirque. Thus the 

 remarkable island of Tindholm, and the Drangas associated with it, 

 are all contained in one great basin-like curve. In many instances 

 along the west and north coasts the cliffs are very lofty and 

 imposing. They average over a thousand feet, and in places, e.g. 

 Myling Head, present a sheer vertical wall over two thousand feet 

 in height. When followed inland, however, the surface is often 

 found to descend very rapidly into a great cirque, in some cases even 



1 See Glacialists' Magazine, June, 1895 ; and J. Geikie, T.R.S.E., vol. xxx, 

 pt. 1, p. 218. 



2 Glacialists' Magazine, June, 1895. 



