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The Mjáuvøtn tephra and other Holocene tephra horizons from the Faroe Islands: a link between the Icelandic source region, the Nordic Seas, and the European continent

Department of Physical Geography and Quaternary Geology, Stockholm University, S-106 91 Stockholm, Sweden

Svante Björck

Department of Quaternary Geology, Lund University, Tornavägen 13, 5-223 63 Lund, Sweden

Marianne Grauert

Department of Geography, University of Copenhagen, øster Voldgade 10, DK-1350, Copenhagen K, Denmark

Gina E. Hannon

Southern Swedish Forest Research Centre, SLU, S-230 53 Alnarp, Sweden

Six different tephra horizons were found in peat and lacustrine sediments on the Faroe Islands in the North Atlantic. Their geochemistry showed that they were of Icelandic origin. Three of these can be correlated with previously described tephra horizons from the Faroe Islands: the Saksunarvatn tephra (c. 9000 BP), the Hekla-4 (c. 3800 BP) and Hekla-Selsund (c. 3600 BP). A previously unrecorded basaltic tephra dated to c. 5700-5300 BP was found in two lacustrine successions. This horizon is named the Mjáuvøtn tephra after Mjáuvøtn Lake on the island of Streymoy. Two further tephras were recorded: the basaltic phase of the ‘Landnám’ tephra (VIIa, c. AD 870s), and the rhyolitic Tjørnuvik tephra. These were found in sediments deposited shortly after the first phase of human settlement at Tjørnuvik, which is AMS dated to AD 675-861 (calibrated age). The Faroe Islands are an important link between the volcanic sources on Iceland, and the established tephrochronological frameworks on the British Isles, Scandinavia and Germany. Their position within a sensitive region of the northeastern branch of the North Atlantic Drift make the Faroe Islands ideal for registering climate changes during the Holocene. The establishment of a modern tephrochronology may provide a tool for more precisely dating and correlating regional climate events in and around the Nordic Seas.

Key Words: tephrochronology • Mjáuvøtn tephra • Landnám tephra • human settlement • Holocene • North Atlantic • Faroe Islands

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