• Faroe Islands

    From Richard Chambers@21:1/5 to All on Fri Sep 1 00:37:48 2017
    I recently visited the Faroe Islands in the north Atlantic, approximately midway between Iceland and the north of Scotland. A striking feature of the islands is that two of the main islands are separated by a long narrow parallel-sided channel of seawater, approximately 30 km long and perhaps 1
    km wide. I asked what had caused such a channel, and they told me that it
    was glacial action during the Ice Age.

    I do not believe this explanation. A glacier can cut fjords like this, but
    only if the valley at the top end of the glacier rises to a height of
    several hundred, or several thousand, metres. Height is necessary to provide the gravitational energy to propel the glacier along the channel it is
    cutting. So the fjords in Norway are open to the sea at their lower end, but the valley rises up into the mountains at its upper end. The channel between the islands in the Faroes is open to the sea at both ends, so there is no
    force of gravity to propel a glacier along its length and produce a cutting action.

    Furthermore, the channel does not look like a sunken river valley such as
    you find at the extreme west of Galicia (Spain). Or between Wales and
    Anglesey.

    Is there a better explanation for the parallel-sided channel in the Faroes?
    I am an interested layman, not a geologist. Please adjust the level of your explanation accordingly.

    Richard Chambers Leeds UK.



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  • From Paul in Houston TX@21:1/5 to Richard Chambers on Thu Aug 31 20:29:12 2017
    I am not familiar with Faroe geology, however Google maps shows regional faulting
    to be trending NE-SW with a minor subset trending NNW-SSE.
    Remember that sea level changes over time. 12,000 years ago sea level was approx 100m lower than it is now. 3 million years ago it was substantially lower
    than that, perhaps 1 km or so. Ice ages occur often on a geo time scale.
    The Faroe valleys look an awful lot like glacial scouring.

    I wish Google would not color the world with fake coloring.


    Richard Chambers wrote:
    I recently visited the Faroe Islands in the north Atlantic, approximately midway between Iceland and the north of Scotland. A striking feature of the islands is that two of the main islands are separated by a long narrow parallel-sided channel of seawater, approximately 30 km long and perhaps 1
    km wide. I asked what had caused such a channel, and they told me that it
    was glacial action during the Ice Age.

    I do not believe this explanation. A glacier can cut fjords like this, but only if the valley at the top end of the glacier rises to a height of
    several hundred, or several thousand, metres. Height is necessary to provide the gravitational energy to propel the glacier along the channel it is cutting. So the fjords in Norway are open to the sea at their lower end, but the valley rises up into the mountains at its upper end. The channel between the islands in the Faroes is open to the sea at both ends, so there is no force of gravity to propel a glacier along its length and produce a cutting action.

    Furthermore, the channel does not look like a sunken river valley such as
    you find at the extreme west of Galicia (Spain). Or between Wales and Anglesey.

    Is there a better explanation for the parallel-sided channel in the Faroes?
    I am an interested layman, not a geologist. Please adjust the level of your explanation accordingly.

    Richard Chambers Leeds UK.



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  • From Richard Chambers@21:1/5 to Paul in Houston TX on Fri Sep 1 12:01:56 2017
    Thank you for taking the trouble to reply, at this difficult time for
    everybody in Houston.

    Looking at the map again, I think I can see what you mean. Are you saying
    that the channel started as a fault line, became deepened by glacial
    scouring while it was still several hundred metres above the sea, and then became flooded as the sea level rose?

    Come to think of it, I can now provide evidence to support this theory.
    There is a bridge between the islands of Streymoy and Esturoy near a small settlement called Streymnes. This is at ~10 km from the northern, and ~20 km from the southern end of the channel, and is at the point where the channel
    is least wide (~100 metres) and least deep. I do not know exactly what the depth is here, but it is sufficiently shallow that they have been able to
    build a bridge with footings, and have not needed to resort to a suspension bridge. This presumably is the watershed position of the glacier, where some
    of the glacier would have slid downhill towards the south, and some downhill
    to the north.

    The real test of the glacier theory would be the depth of water at the
    northern and southern ends of the channel. Is there sufficient slope to make the glacier slide downhill? Unfortunately, I do not have any data for these depths.

    Thank you again for your interesting reply.

    Richard Chambers Leeds UK.
    ===============================

    "Paul in Houston TX" <Paul@Houston.Texas> wrote in message news:ooactv$v8r$1@dont-email.me...
    I am not familiar with Faroe geology, however Google maps shows regional >faulting
    to be trending NE-SW with a minor subset trending NNW-SSE.
    Remember that sea level changes over time. 12,000 years ago sea level was approx 100m lower than it is now. 3 million years ago it was
    substantially lower
    than that, perhaps 1 km or so. Ice ages occur often on a geo time scale.
    The Faroe valleys look an awful lot like glacial scouring.

    I wish Google would not color the world with fake coloring.


    Richard Chambers wrote:
    I recently visited the Faroe Islands in the north Atlantic, approximately
    midway between Iceland and the north of Scotland. A striking feature of
    the
    islands is that two of the main islands are separated by a long narrow
    parallel-sided channel of seawater, approximately 30 km long and perhaps
    1
    km wide. I asked what had caused such a channel, and they told me that it
    was glacial action during the Ice Age.

    I do not believe this explanation. A glacier can cut fjords like this,
    but
    only if the valley at the top end of the glacier rises to a height of
    several hundred, or several thousand, metres. Height is necessary to
    provide
    the gravitational energy to propel the glacier along the channel it is
    cutting. So the fjords in Norway are open to the sea at their lower end,
    but
    the valley rises up into the mountains at its upper end. The channel
    between
    the islands in the Faroes is open to the sea at both ends, so there is no
    force of gravity to propel a glacier along its length and produce a
    cutting
    action.

    Furthermore, the channel does not look like a sunken river valley such as
    you find at the extreme west of Galicia (Spain). Or between Wales and
    Anglesey.

    Is there a better explanation for the parallel-sided channel in the
    Faroes?
    I am an interested layman, not a geologist. Please adjust the level of
    your
    explanation accordingly.

    Richard Chambers Leeds UK.



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  • From Paul in Houston TX@21:1/5 to Richard Chambers on Fri Sep 1 12:23:37 2017
    Nothing really stands out to answer why the islands trend NW-SE since the faulting and stress directions visible in the google photos do not trend
    in that direction. It could be just wind and wave action over the last
    50 million years. The current visible fractures could be recent and the
    major landform faults now obscured. Would need a detailed bathymetric topo
    map to confirm.
    The glaciers do not have to slope downhill at their terminii since
    ice is plastic. The weight of the glaciers in the highlands will push
    the glaciers over flat terrain and in some cases slightly uphill
    as seen in northern US.


    Richard Chambers wrote:
    Thank you for taking the trouble to reply, at this difficult time for everybody in Houston.

    Looking at the map again, I think I can see what you mean. Are you saying that the channel started as a fault line, became deepened by glacial
    scouring while it was still several hundred metres above the sea, and then became flooded as the sea level rose?

    Come to think of it, I can now provide evidence to support this theory.
    There is a bridge between the islands of Streymoy and Esturoy near a small settlement called Streymnes. This is at ~10 km from the northern, and ~20 km from the southern end of the channel, and is at the point where the channel is least wide (~100 metres) and least deep. I do not know exactly what the depth is here, but it is sufficiently shallow that they have been able to build a bridge with footings, and have not needed to resort to a suspension bridge. This presumably is the watershed position of the glacier, where some of the glacier would have slid downhill towards the south, and some downhill to the north.

    The real test of the glacier theory would be the depth of water at the northern and southern ends of the channel. Is there sufficient slope to make the glacier slide downhill? Unfortunately, I do not have any data for these depths.

    Thank you again for your interesting reply.

    Richard Chambers Leeds UK.
    ===============================

    "Paul in Houston TX" <Paul@Houston.Texas> wrote in message news:ooactv$v8r$1@dont-email.me...
    I am not familiar with Faroe geology, however Google maps shows regional
    faulting
    to be trending NE-SW with a minor subset trending NNW-SSE.
    Remember that sea level changes over time. 12,000 years ago sea level was >> approx 100m lower than it is now. 3 million years ago it was
    substantially lower
    than that, perhaps 1 km or so. Ice ages occur often on a geo time scale.
    The Faroe valleys look an awful lot like glacial scouring.

    I wish Google would not color the world with fake coloring.


    Richard Chambers wrote:
    I recently visited the Faroe Islands in the north Atlantic, approximately >>> midway between Iceland and the north of Scotland. A striking feature of
    the
    islands is that two of the main islands are separated by a long narrow
    parallel-sided channel of seawater, approximately 30 km long and perhaps >>> 1
    km wide. I asked what had caused such a channel, and they told me that it >>> was glacial action during the Ice Age.

    I do not believe this explanation. A glacier can cut fjords like this,
    but
    only if the valley at the top end of the glacier rises to a height of
    several hundred, or several thousand, metres. Height is necessary to
    provide
    the gravitational energy to propel the glacier along the channel it is
    cutting. So the fjords in Norway are open to the sea at their lower end, >>> but
    the valley rises up into the mountains at its upper end. The channel
    between
    the islands in the Faroes is open to the sea at both ends, so there is no >>> force of gravity to propel a glacier along its length and produce a
    cutting
    action.

    Furthermore, the channel does not look like a sunken river valley such as >>> you find at the extreme west of Galicia (Spain). Or between Wales and
    Anglesey.

    Is there a better explanation for the parallel-sided channel in the
    Faroes?
    I am an interested layman, not a geologist. Please adjust the level of
    your
    explanation accordingly.

    Richard Chambers Leeds UK.



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