Location, Morphology and Orientation of Inland Dunes in Northern Sweden

Abstract

By interpreting aerial photographs periglacial inland dunes in the northernmost parts of Sweden were studied. These dunes are now mostly stable. Aspects studied were their position, morphology, orientation together with recent deflation and the direction of the ancient winds that formed the dunes.The most common type of dune is the parabolic dune. The dunes are situated on and in the vicinity of eskers, glaciofluvial deltas, outwash plains, valley trains and glacial drainage channels. Seven detailed geomorphological maps were made of different areas where the dunes are encountered using information from the aerial photographs.There are both palsa and string bogs in the dune areas.In many of the deflation basins of parabolic dunes there are deflation lakes which have formed as a result of a rise in the level of the ground water after the formation of the dunes.In all dunes were encountered at 94 localities and the direction of the winds forming the dunes was determined. The directions of the winds varied between N 15° W and N 80° W. The direction of the effective winds coincides fairly closely with that of the edge of the melting ice sheet. There was no evidence at all to show that the shape of the dunes might have been influenced by fall winds blowing off the ice sheet.Present-day eolian action is principally of a deflationary nature even though small new parabolic dunes are forming in several areas. One particularly dynamic dune area was noted in the north of the area studied. There the parabolic dunes are still moving.