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ANCIENT INLAND DUNES OF NORTHERN
AND MIDDLE EUROPE
BY IVAR HOGBOM.
Introduction.
1 I prefer to use the term ,ancient, instead of ,fossil,, the latter term should rather be attached only
to dunes of older formations, the existence of which may be observed in some sand-stones.
8 Geografiska Annaler 1923.
114 IVARR HOGBOM
CHAPTER I.
Even regarding the most fundamental characteristics of dunes, their origin and
development, no general theories have as yet been unanimously adopted by the
geologists; authority stands against authority on almost every important point.
This is perhaps mostly due to the fact that dunes have usually been regarded
as formations of no essential interest and thus have often been treated more or
less superficially even by those scientists who have had the best opportunities of
making detailed observations of their various morphology in recent deserts. It
seems thus necessary to commence even a study on ancient dune-fields with a
survey of those problems which should otherwise properly be solved by special
investigations in actual dune-regions.
In several respects I feel bound to object to the theories and explanations
of those geologists who have previously dealt with the problems of the dunes.
Thus, I find it appropriate at this place to begin with a critical review regarding
the literature on the mechanics of dune-formation, adding to this some experiences
and remarks of my own. Naturally, I must confine myself to mentioning only
those authors who have made the most important contributions to the dune-
question in general or to the problems directly or indirectly bearing upon the
interpretation of the history of ancient fields.
wave-movement, when fully developed, changes this labile pressure situation into
a stable one. Certain dimensions of the waves as to velocity, amplitude, etc.
correspond to a certain relative movement of the two media and to their phy-
sical properties. Through the studies of Helmholtz the wave-movement is thus
proved to be the necessary approaching to a stable situation from an unstable
one, and formerly proposed explanations of waves as originated by supposed
irregular wind-pushes etc. are needed no longer.
Helmholtz himself makes no application of his theories to dune-formation, but
some authors on dunes have later referred to them, usually without taking into
consideration the fact that Helmholtz confined himself to treating only real wave-
formation, that is such as takes place in plastic media, gaseous or fluid.
A scientist, who in my opinion, has given one of the most impressive sugges-
tions as to the principles of dune-formation is Baschin (1899 p. 419), who in the
dunes as well as in the ripple-marks sees >Die Tendenz zur Bildung einer Helm-
holtz'schen Wellenfliche>). By this formulation and by the reasoning upon which
it is based he makes it clear that he recognizes the restricted applicability of the
theories of Helmholtz to the dune-problem. However, there are other objections
to be raised against the opinion thus expressed in what regards its applicability
to dunes; and I shall later have an opportunity to return to the Baschin paper
and to the questions here touched upon.
In his work on the properties of the snow-cover in Lapland, Hamberg (1907,
p. 7), reviewing the studies of Helmholtz and Baschin, agrees with the latter in
regarding the ripple-marks and the dunes as originated by pressure-conditions on
the surface, similar to those which cause water-waves. However, he lays particular
stress upon the differences due to the different kinds of material between air-
waves and water-waves on the one hand and sand-dunes on the other.
As is shown by Hamberg's studies, the formation of snow-dunes is far more
complicated than that of sand-dunes on account of the varying physical proper-
ties of snow under the influence of temperature and packing etc. Regular sy-
stems of snow-dunes are therefore very seldom to be observed.
Certain authors, however, have given no consideration at all to the fundamental
difference between waves and dunes. Solger (19io, p. 26), for instance, who has
specially treated the problem of the ancient inland dunes in Germany, tries in
every respect to adapt the consequences of the wave-theory to dunes. He
neglects 1he difference between the intermittent leaping movement of the sand-
particles, which are seized by the wind on the wind-side and then embedded
within the dune on the lee-side, and on the other hand the continuous
movements of the particles of a fluid, following the circular or elliptical orbits
which characterize the real wave-movement. Another theoretically important
difference between wave-movement and the movement of the sand in dunes is
ANCIENT INLAND DUNES OF EUROPE 117
constituted by the circumstance that in the latter case there is a real removal
of material in one direction which is quite incompatible with wave-movement as
physically defined. This simple fact that the sand moves only on the surface
but not beneath it, that sand is no plastic medium, however, has been over-
looked by a number of authors, and Solger expressly starts from the premise that
))Der leicht bewegliche Sand verhalt sich ahnlich wie eine Fliissigkeit>).
The above may suffice for the statement that dunes may be sand-waves in
a more or less poetical sense of the word, but that the movement of the sand in a
dune-field is of quite different character from the wave-movement of the particles
in a fluid. How far, on the other hand, the wave-like sand-forms can be re-
garded as caused by air-waves will be elucidated by the reasoning in the sequel.
The evident difference between real wave-movement and the dune-movement
has, however, brought even some of the scientists who accept the wave-theory
to feel that something is wrong, and to seek for further special reasons for the
dune-formation which certainly they would not try to apply to water-waves.
There are two theories on the origin of dunes, both based on false premises
or misunderstandings, but often adopted without criticism and objection even in
recent and otherwise valuable works.
wave-lengths on condition that the height of the waves is very small compared
with the length:
2;z
g (p,1--p2)
a22o2+-al121-g
In this formula ? represents the wave-length, P2 the density of the upper layer,
or that of the lower layer, a2 the velocity of the upper, and and a, the velocity
of the lower layer relatively to the velocity of the waves, and g the acceleration.
In the case of sub-aerial >sand-waves>>here in question, the terms a, p1 and
may be neglected. The equation thus gives the following value for
2/ 2.
With a specific gravity for the sand of 2, and for air of 0.oo0012, this gives a
wave-length corresponding to winds of 5, Io, and 15 m/sec. of respectively:
Exner (1920), on the other hand, has lately published a new hypothesis on
the wave-movement between two media and its consequences in regard to dunes.
According to the equation set forth by Exner, the amplitude and the length of
the waves (or dunes) are continually increasing during their wandering from the
starting-point, thus passing from the stage of ripple-marks to that of dunes. The
dimensions of a wave would thus be a function, not only of the physical pro-
perties of the two media and their relative velocity, but also of the distance
passed from the starting-point.
Exner bases this opinion on laboratory experiments, and his equation is not
the result of a dynamic theory, but constructed in order to suit the experi-
mental result. Any incompleteness or misinterpretation of the experimental
arrangements are thus of decisive ,consequences for the whole theory. In fact,
there are objections in that respect to be made which Exner himself admits,
when describing the apparatus and the results obtained. Through a box-like
tube he has blown air with a certain constant velocity over the sand-covered
bottom, and has ascertained that the dimensions of the ripple-marks increase
from the entrance up to a certain dimension. The cessation at this point he
ascribes to the small dimensions of the experimental apparatus, and therefore
he reckons only with the increasing dimensions at the beginning. As, however,
the maximum dimensions obtained in the experimental box seem to correspond
to those usually attained by ripple-marks in nature, the experiment does not
contradict the observations made by Cholnoky, myself, and others, that there are
no transitional stages between ripple-marks and dunes.
As far as I can see, Exner's hypothesis cannot, as Exner himself supposes,
be applied to dunes, but the experimental results may be of some importance
for the interpretation of the ripple-marks.
I have already pointed out the principal difference between ripple-marks and
dunes, and besides, there can be found no evidence, e. g. in the great deserts,
that the dimensions of the dunes are continually increasing in the manner shown
by Exner's equation and experiments on a small scale. If it is often possible
to observe that dunes grow bigger while wandering, this is quite another pheno-
menon, due to a purely accumulative process.
According to the other theory on the formation of dunes, these originate from
minute aggregations of sand, caused by a stone, a plant, or another prominence
ANCIENT INLAND DUNES OF EUROPE 121
presenting a relative resting-place for the wind-driven sand. Once begun, such
an accidental heap is supposed to deviate the wind further, thus offering an
ever-increasing shelter for the accumulation even after the formed dune has begun
its wandering and has long ago left its original rooting place. For the sake of
brevity, this theory may be termed >the theory of the small obstacles>>.
This theory on the origin of dunes has been adopted by many writers of hand-
books; Penck (1894, I.), Ramsay (1912), Pirsson and Schuchert (4915), Neumayr-
Suess (1920), and others, whilst e. g. Kayser (1918) already finds it antiquated.
Sokol6w (1894, p. 63, 74) gives a long description of the building up of dunes
according to this theory. He regards especially some xerophilous plants as the
ordinary cause of dune-accumulation and describes the transitional stages between
the primary heaps and the fully developed barchans. Particularly he emphasizes
the essential difference between the obstacles presented by plants, which are per-
meable to the wind, and those offered by stones etc., and points out the ensuing
dissimilarity in sand-accumulation. Yet more important seems to me the conti-
nued cooperation of the xerophilous plants during the process of sand-accumulation,
the plants being forced to grow up higher, in order to reach the air, and new
shoots taking possession of the fresh sand. Thus the plants may be a means of
continually keeping and binding the arriving sand. In fact most examples of
the influence of small hindrances as originating dunes observed in nature refer
to this consequence of the action of plants. Also another quality of the sand-
heaps accumulated because of the fixing power of vegetation should be laid
more stress upon than is usually done. By an extraordinary strong wind the
vegetation may be swept away, and in this case the transitional stage between
the primary heap and the wandering dune is easily understood. This transition,
on the other hand, presents some difficulties for an explanation of the origin
of dunes, which would have arisen out of sand-accumulation behind solid ob-
stacles.
Although it seems undeniable that in some cases >)the small obstacles>, and
specially the xerophilous plants under conditions mentioned above, may give rise
to dune-formation, there is no doubt that in general other factors are to be
reckoned with. Some authors have also recognized the untenability of the theory
as a general explanation of the origin of dunes. So e. g. Hedin (1905, II, p.
4o10),
with a good sense of proportions, denies the possibility of seeking the
origin of the numberless great dunes of the Asian deserts in small futile ob-
stacles, and thinks that, independently of these, some more general laws must
regulate the dune-building. >For my own part, I believes>, Hedin says, >that, if
the masses of sand now in the desert Tschertschen were to be spread out per-
fectly evenly over the desert in a layer some 3o m thick, the sand would after
a certain lapse of time be rearranged by the wind in dune-accumulations pre-
122 IVAR HO0GB0OM
cisely similar to those that now exist.>) It seems also too great an absurdity
to think that the now quite barren great dunes in big deserts should owe their
origin to occasional tufts or other obstacles of similar dimensions dating from
past centuries.
Walther (1912, p. 261) seems to believe in the theory of >the small obstacles>,
but mentions also the possibility of wave-movements in the air as originating
dunes: >Der Beginn der Diinenbildung ist ein flacher Sandhaufen von beliebiger
Gestalt. Die Entstehung desselben kann veranlasst werden durch unbedeutende
Rauhigkeiten des Bodens, kleine Steinchen oder Grashalme, vielleicht sogar durch
die wellenf6rmige Bewegung der Luftst6sse. Jedenfalls ist seine Gestalt sehr
wechselnd und regellos.>
does not regard any obstacles in the form of plants etc.
Jentzsch (19o00, p. 50)
as necessary conditions for dune-formation. In a reasoning, not quite easy to
follow, he tries to show that the dunes primarily are caused by irregularities in
the direction of the sand-driving wind. These, he supposes, cause a disturbance
of the aeolic equilibrium, which otherwise ought to be the result of a constant
wind, and which would characterized by an even regional assorting of the
the be. the finest in
material, from coarsest to the direction of the wind. Jentzsch
treats dunes and ripple-marks differently although he speaks of beginning dunes
hardly one centimeter high; the essential difference is somehow made out to be
that dunes are produced by eddies with a vertical axis, and ripple-marks by
eddies with a horizontal axis. As far as I have seen, Jentzsch has found no
support for these distinctions amongst other scientists.
At some places, and very beautifully at Skagen in Denmark, I have myself
had an opportunity of observing dunes in statu nascenti, where on level gravel
ground sand-sheets of elongated or sometimes barchan-like forms were deposited
absolutely independently of any such obstacles. I was there when the westerly
wind had changed to a more southwesterly one blowing out clouds of sand from
the irregular dunes on to the bare, some hundred meters broad, plane
(>klitter,)
sea-shore. The sand-sheets thus formed, which are only one or two decimeters thick,
bear no similarity to the small, rather prominent sand-heaps behind tufts or
plants; there are no transitional stages between the two, but undoubtedly the
former ones represent the regular beginning of dune-accumulation. That in this
case the beginning dunes mostly were of a somewhat longitudinal shape is to
be ascribed to the winds radiating from the narrow openings between the
>,klit-
ters>). A broader development of the sand-depositions at some distance from
these gaps was also to be noticed.
The above-mentioned instance seems to me to give a good illustration, on a
small scale, of the usual cause of dune-formation according to the opinion, which
I am advocating on following pages in this treatise, namely, that there are irre-
ANCIENT INLAND DUNES OF EUROPE 123
gularities, quite distinct from the >small obstacles>, which are always present in
nature and which locally lessen or strengthen the transporting power of the wind
and thus ultimately are the initial causes of dune-formation. It is, however,
exceptional that they should be of the marked character shown at the >klitters>
of Skagen.
From what is related above it is evident that neither the theory of the >small
obstacles> nor the observation of the behaviour and the development of ripple-
marks gives the clue to the general cause of dune-formation.
The instance just mentioned from Skagen and similar observations seem, how-
ever, to illustrate quite clearly the origin of dunes. The fact that the first
deposits of sand are spread out like a shield contradicts both the theories
mentioned. The influence of smaller obstacles, locally checking the wind, upon
the deposition of the wind-driven sand, gives quite different results, as all stu-
dents of aeolian sand-accumulations have had the opportunity to observe. The
depositions caused by stones or tufts etc. are always of an in the wind-direction
elongated, comparatively high tongue-form, in no way similar to the thin sheets,
which have actually been observed developing to real dune-forms with the cha-
racteristic wind- and lee-side slopes. As the accumulation continues, the primary
sand-shield gradually is transformed into a barchan. If the primary sand-sheet
is laterally extended or if several sand-shields join each other, transversal dunes
develop. The slield-form of the primary accumulation is also mentioned by some
authors, e. g. by Davis and Braun (1911, p. 244). Walther also (1912, p. 262),
speaks of the shield-form of the primary dune (>>schildf6rmigeUrdiine>>)without
recognizing its incompatibility with his apprehension of the small obstacles as
initiating the accumulations. The causes of the spreading out of these sand-
shields are not the small obstacles in the meaning of that term usually adopted
and should be further inquired into.
If a wind is blowing over an absolutely even sand-plain, the only result ought
to be ripple-marks, according to the tendency to produce a wave-surface already
mentioned. Such ideal conditions, however, are not met with in nature. When
entering the sand-plain, the wind has generally a vertical component, either because it
comes from a higher or a lower foreland or from the lower surface of a river, a lake,
or a sea. Also this circumstance gives to wind the power of deranging the sup-
posed even distribution. Further any primary undulation of the sand-surface in-
fluences the wind in the same manner, and local wind-pushes also cause local
deflation or inflation of the sand, thus producing irregularities on the sand-plain,
if such caused by other agencies were not to be found. The transporting power
124 IVAR HOGBOM
of the wind is thus in nature never quite constant, and the result is an outspread
accumulation over smaller or greater areas, where the power of the wind is smaller
than on the surrounding field.
At first sight, however, this explanation of the initial heaping up of sand seems
to contradict the regularity with which dunes usually are arranged within the
fields. There are two possibilities to put a satisfactory interpretation upon this
phenomenon, each of which may be applied to a special type of dune-system.
One of them is shown by the wandering away e. g. of a shore-dune, which leaves
its original place and the possibilities thus offered for the formation of a
following dune. The development of such dune-systems is often described from
shore-regions, and needs no further comments at this place. It is, however, evi-
dent that in many cases this cannot account for the regular arrangement of dunes,
especially within the great deserts. Obviously the dunes cannot have wan-
dered for hundreds of kilometers keeping almost exactly the same height and
the same interspace, at least if no automatically correcting factor is supposed to
regulate the wandering and to balance accumulation and deflation.
As far as I have been able to find in studies dealing with dune-formation or
in hand-books of mechanics, no investigation has been made regarding the run-
ning of the stream-lines of the air, when the wind, blowing over a plane surface,
passes a vertically erected obstacle. Usually it is assumed, without further ent-
ering upon the subject, that the stream-lines on the lee-side of the hindrance
asymptotically approach the surface, respectively its parallels. There are, how-
ever, many reasons which indicate that the process is far more complicated. Even
the fact that the air, after having passed the obstacle, has a component down-
wards against the plain, must cause a rebounding, that is an elevation once more
of the stream-lines, involving a weakening of the transporting power of.the wind
at the surface of the ground at a certain distance from the lee-side of the ob-
stacle. Thus an intensifying of the power of transportation of the wind must
exist at a certain distance from the first hindrance or dune, followed by a place
where the power is lessened, creating new possibilities for deposition of sand.
A further reasoning on this line shows that a vertical obstacle for a wind blow-
ing over a -plain makes the stream-lines run sinuously, although naturally with
quickly decreasing amplitudes. The process reminds one in many respects of
the depositions and excavations which take place in a meandering river. This
analogy is also pointed out by Exner (1921, p. 328). It is further very pos-
sible that more complicated eddying processes develop, comparable to those stu-
died in water streaming about a body.' Such processes too may cause a varia-
1 Also these studies have not yet been advanced so far that they allow any strict
comparisons, as
they deal principally with the stream-lines enclosing a solid body moving in relation to the fluid, but
not with the case.of a fluid streaming above a plain on which an obstacle is placed. The dynamic
problem of the more complicated eddies is as yet not solved.
ANCIENT INLAND DUNES OF EUROPE 125
tion at certain points of the transporting power of the wind and thus be a means
of explaining the regular arrangement of the dunes within the deserts. A ge-
neral equalization regarding the heights of the dunes must further result from the
greater power of the wind at the highest dunes.
Although the above lines in no way pretend to give a full explanation of the
very complicated problems of the development of dune-systems, they may suffice
to indicate that wave-like movements in the air may be the result of a hindrance
once passed, and that further observations in nature or experiments and theore-
tical investigations, carried out on this line, may probably give the clue to a fuller
understanding of these hitherto unsolved problems.
The Dune-profile.
a b
described above or at least immediately after. In this case the section is ap-
proximately triangular (cfr e. g. the exact cross-section measured by Hedin, 1904,
P1. 43).
These different types of dune-profiles are surely due to different conditions of
accumulation or deflation not yet thoroughly investigated or explained.
The explanation of the difference in steepness between the wind- and the lee-
sides of the dunes does not involve any great difficulties. Contrary to what
126 IVAR HOGBOM
can be said about almost every other question regarding dune-formation, there
seems on this point to be a general agreement even about the principles. The
development may in short be said to be as follows. Because of the deviation
of the stream-lines over a sand-heap, deflation is taking place on the side facing
the wind; on the back-side, on the other hand, the lines are diverging from the
surface, and the moving sand falls down as soon as there is no supporting plane
for it to move on. There are, however, also in this case some complications which
should be mentioned, although they are of less importance for the development of
the dune-profile. Especially when it is blowing hard, the sand-grains must have a
considerable velocity when passing the edge, and do not fall quietly over it, but may
be transported further through the air, not touching the ground before they reach
a place where the wind is strong enough to drive them further. The result is
that, when a strong wind is blowing, there is a continual transportation of sand fol-
lowing more or less the sinuous current of the wind, without being embedded in
the lee-sides of the dunes. This is in fact often observed in deserts; the sand
flies from the tops or the edges of the dunes (cfr e. g. Walther, 1912, p.
271). It explains also why dunes have often been practically stationary although
sand-storms are not infrequent in the region in question; thus there are instances
known where for several years no change has been observed in the waterplaces
of the caravans at the foot of a certain dune. The observation of Hedin (1904,
I, p. 261) that loosely packed sand covers not only the lee-sides of the dunes
but also often the nearest zone of the valleys, gives another evidence for the
way of sand-flight mentioned.
As Walther (1912, p. 271) points out, the most formidable sand-storms are due
to irregular winds, interfering with the dune-system by attacking the loose and
steep lee-sides of the dunes.
Although of less immediate importance for the discussion of the ancient dunes,
some further remarks on the mechanics of dune-drift may be allowed in this con-
nection, in order to give a truer conception of the processes in question.
In the first place we might examine the most simple process, namely that
of a wandering dune with a constant profile, that is without accumulation of
more sand or deflation on thile lee-side. Furthermore, in order to simplify the
discussion, the section may be regarded as triangular.
When the dune wanders a certain distance A, this means that a mass of sand,
in the diagram Fig. 2 represented by the strip AH, is detached from the wind-
side and replaced on the lee-side as the broader strip BH. All the displaced
sand has to pass the edge, whilst e. g. only half of it passes a point half-way
up the wind-side. Thus the amount of sand which during a certain lapse of time
passes a certain point on the wind-side of the dune, is directly proportional to
ANCIENT INLAND DUNES OF EUROPE 127
the altitude of the point in question. Again, from the foot of the dune up to
the top, the intensity of the wind must increase in some degree (naturally not
directly proportionally) to move the respective quantities of sand, if the profile
is supposed not to alter during the wandering of the dune. These observanda
seem to be of some importance as well for the understanding of the wanderings
of the dunes as for the study of the ripple-marks on them. The track of a
AH
sand-grain, in relation to the body of the dune, is thus a triangular one, the base
of which varies in length from that of the base of the dune down to zero.
As all deposition was supposed to take place along the slope of the lee-side,
the stratification in the dunes in this case shows a run parallel to the steep lee-
side slope.
The dunes met with in nature have not an exactly triangular section which
implies some modifications in the above reasoning. These would, however,
be too complicated to be followed up in this place. One consequence
only, regarding the way of accumulation within a dune with a profile of the
barchan type, may be illustrated. In this case accumulation takes place even on
the space between the highest point of the dune and the edge. If any strati-
fication could be observed, this in the part of the dune, lying above the altitude
of the edge, would be gently declining in the direction of the wind.
The conditions prevailing, when the wind is driving sand from another dune
or from the frontal plain against the wind-side of the dune in question, are more
complicated, as the accumulation may take place either on the wind-side, the lee-
side, or on both of them, chiefly depending upon the intensity of the wind. In
the case of accumulation on the wind-side, the stratification shows the gentle slope
against the wind characteristic of wind-sides.
From the above it is evident that, if from the stratification in the cutting of a
dune any conclusion is to be drawn as to the direction of the winds which have
caused it, one has first to make out whether it is a case of wind- or lee-side
stratification. The difference in inclination between wind- and lee-side, however, is
128 IVAR HOGBOM
always so great that this meets with no difficulty. As a rule, it may be as-
sumed that an inclination of less than say 150 corresponds to the wind-side, and
over I5' to the lee-side. If, therefore, in a cutting there is found both a steeper
stratification declining to one side and one of gentle slope towards the other side,
this may only mean that the dune-driving wind, coming from the latter direction,
has been of varying intensity.
The stratification of the sand in dunes is often described as diagonal, though,
so far as I know, there has been little consideration given to its origin. As a
matter of fact, this diagonal stratification seems to be only the traces of over-
blown ripple-marks. That it does not, as a rule, directly reflect the intersections
of the ripple-marks is of course due to the continual overblowing, which does
not allow a fixation of a definite stage during the wandering of the ripple-marks.
The process is, naturally, very complicated and difficult to follow in detail, espe-
cially as in nature we have to count with variable winds and, as a consequence,
different conditions of accumulation. A similar diagonal stratification is also met
with in some aqueous formations, where it is certainly to be considered as the
traces of sub-aqueous ripple-marks; it is characteristic that the distances between
the successive banks in this case are other than inaeolic depositions (Haug, 1907,
p. 403). In the places where I have made observations, the distances between
the supposed ripple-marks have also - as far as the indistinct diagonal strati-
fication permits observation at all - corresponded to the dimensions typical of
actual ripple-marks.
In this connection a question of great importance for the understanding of the
wanderings of dunes should be mentioned, namely regarding the possibility of
deflation from the lee-side. If the lee-side has the slope of sand at angle of
rest, this must theoretically mean that an absolute calm is reigning on the lee-
side. This is evidently not the case in nature. Either there is a backward eddy
to be reckoned with, or the stream-lines of the wind follow the slope downwards,
although diverging from each other. In the first case the wind operating against
gravity would theoretically tend to produce a steeper lee-side; in the second case
the wind, cooperating with gravity, would produce a more gentle slope, and the
sand might even be transported further on the level ground. If there arose a
combination of accumulation on the wind-side and deflation on the lee-side, the
dune-form would move backwards, although naturally the sand would be trans-
ported with the wind. In fact this combination seems to be very probable when
moderate winds are blowing, both because of the relatively greater influence
of gravity in this case and also because eddies do not develop until a certain
intensity of wind is attained. In a later chapter I shall also have an opportunity
to mention actual observations in nature of dunes, showing the characteristic strati-
fication of wind-side accumulation with the comparatively gentle wind-side slopes.
ANCIENT INLAND DUNES OF EUROPE 129
In good accordance with the brief description given above are the interesting
calculations of Exner (1920) regarding the wanderings of dunes. They show,
however, that even with the help of great approximation the problem involves
too many factors, as yet unknown as to their relative importance, to allow a de-
finitive mathematical treatment. Besides those pointed out by Exner himself,
the influence of the eddies, earlier touched upon, might be mentioned, the general
mechanics of which are as yet dynamically unsolved. One of Exner's most impor-
tant contributions to the furtherance of the understanding of dune-mechanics is
the full consideration he gives to the importance of the gravity of the sand, a
factor which is almost universally overlooked by all other writers on dunes.
One consequence of the gravity of the sand and its r6le in an existing dune-
system may be mentioned in this place. The section shown by a dune is really
the result of a counteraction between the influences of wind and gravity. On a
plain, leaning towards the wind, this must be stronger, if a sand-particle is to
be moved, than if the plain is horizontal and no component of the gravity is
directed against the wind. The wind blowing over a series of dunes has its
greatest power on the wind-sides, but here it has also to drive the sand upwards.
In the valleys or on the level places between the dunes the wind has less power, but
also less resistance to overcome when transporting the sand. Regarding the more
complicated conditions on the lee-side slopes some remarks have been made
above.
From this it is clear that, at least under certain conditions, a dune.field offers
greater resistance to the transportation of the sand than would be the case
if the sand were spread out evenly. When e. g. a dune-system is developed by
a strong wind, another wind coming from the same direction but with less inten-
sity may be unable to move as well the sand on the wind-sides of the dunes
because of the gravity, as the sand between the dunes because of the reduced
power of the wind when passing over the dune-valleys; the same wind may never-
theless be able to move the sand evenly spread out over a plain. The sand
in a dune-system thus can be said to be arranged in a way offering resistance
to transportation by the ruling winds, whilst, as already mentioned, it is easily
moved by winds from the opposite direction.
On the lee-side of a moving dune the sand is so loose and slipping that a
walker sinks down almost to the knee, whilst on the wind-side it is so hardly
packed that the foot-prints go down only one or two centimeters. As far as I
have found, the sand seems to be palpably looser on the crest of the dunes than
on the lower parts of the wind-side. This difference in the packing of the sand
is due to the previously exercised pressure of the overlying masses within the
dune, which compress the sand.
9 Geografiska Annaler 1923.
130 IVAR HO6GBOM
That the lee-sides of the ancient dunes are less steep than those of living ones
may partly be due to a subsiding of the looser sand under the influences of
changes in temperature etc. and partly to erosion.
On the preceding pages the development of the dune-profile has been discus-
sed; regarding this problem no great differences of opinion have appeared. Of
more interest for this treatise, however, is the question of the development of
the basal forms of the dunes. Regarding this, seemingly contradictory observa-
Fig. 3. Sketch showing schematically the deviation of the stream-lines of the wind when passing a
curved dune-ridge.
tions have been made in nature, which have led to different opinions as to the
mechanics of dune-wandering and, furthermore, to different interpretations of the
history of the ancient dunes of Central Europe.
It is of great importance for the judgment of this question to establish the
changes in form which a primarily transversal dune undergoes when wandering
further. Usually the opinion is advocated, that the wings of the dune move
faster than the central part, because the former are lower and thus contain a
lesser quantity of sand to be transported. As regards a single relatively short
dune with the highest point in the centre, this may really be the case, and then
the dune gets the shape of a barchan. In nature, however, things are mostly
not so model-like, and the initial transversal dunes show irregularities such as an
uneven accumulation of the sand-masses in different parts of the dune and a more
or less sinuous basal form. On shores the latter deformation is due to the
irregular run of the shore-line, and as dunes often develop in open bays the bend
often turns its concave side against the wind from the beginning. It is easy to
show, that the sinuosities are accentuated when the dune is wandering forward
that is to say, the straight transversal form of a dune cannot remain, but tends
to become bow-formed, turning the opening against the wind.
The sinuosities of the dunes have a twofold influence upon the transporting
ANCIENT INLAND DUNES OF EUROPE 131
power of the wind. As the wind strikes the dune at different angles in the
middle of the curve and on its flanks, it is deviated not only vertically, but also
horizontally; the curve-flanks of the dune serve, so to speak, as funnels for the
wind, strengthening its power in the central parts of the curves and lessening it
in the parts protruding against the wind (cfr Fig. 3). Furthermore, in the cen-
tre of the curves the wind passes the dune-ridge perpendicularly, so that the sand
has there a shorter distance to pass from the wind-side to its resting-place on the
lee-side. In extreme cases, when the horse-shoe form of the dune is fully deve-
loped, the sand is transported along the flanks, feeding the centre with new
material, while the flanks get the character of longitudinal dune-ridges. These
forms are often met with in the German fields, where the elongated dune-flanks
often show only insignificant differences in the inclination of the slopes on both
sides of the ridge.
From the interior of great deserts, where the initial conditions play a sub-
ordinate r6le, there are instances of systems of straight and very long transversal
dunes. Such are e. g. described by Hedin from Asia. It seems as if in these
cases, through lateral interference, a great wave-like movement of the air is de-
veloped, giving rise to a purer system of transversal dunes. As such are not
characteristic of the fields here to be dealt with, it is not necessary to enter
further upon their development. Amongst the dune-fields mentioned in the sequel
only that of Nyirseg in Hungary in some places shows almost straight dune-ridges.
Where sand is deposited in patches which may be due to limited, local supply
or to conditions offering a more local initial resting-place for sand which otherwise
would have been blown further, the typical barchan develops. The formation of
this kind of dunes has been fully described and analyzed by Cholnoky (1902),
who, however, regards the barchans as the final forms into which also transversal
dunes normally divide. According to the above, this development, if occurring
at all on free dunes, is at least limited to the cases when the sand-mass is not
great enough to permit a continual wandering of the whole dune undivided. In
regions which are half-fixed by vegetation and where wind-furrows cut through
the dune-ridges, the remaining parts may, on the other hand, get barchan-
like forms as well as longitudinal forms, depending upon the character of the
vegetation and the type of the sand-field. Unlike Cholnoky, I should thus
believe that transversal dunes are as good forms as barchans, and that the for-
mer are characteristic of regions where the sand-supply is great, the latter of
regions where the sand-supply is insufficient to build up continuous ridges, or,
under special conditions, of regions where vegetation plays a r6le, in the way
it does in some of the Hungarian fields.
132 IVAR H O GBOM
If thus, in my opinion, the amount of the detached sand in the first place
determines the form of the dunes, it is obvious that the wind too plays a r6Ie.
If strong wind is blowing, the sand may be transported so quickly that a relatively
small quantity of sand falls within a unit of the dune-bearing area, and thus
barchans develop where a weaker wind would have produced transversal dunes.
It is also very possible that winds of different intensity produce differences in the
shape of the barchans or the transversal dunes, but no
investigations in this respect have yet been carried out.
In order to show the difference in the basal form
A of barchans and bow-formed transversal dunes, I repro-
duce in Fig. 4 two barchans from actual deserts. Illustra-
tions of different forms of transversal dunes; almost
straight ones, bow-formed, U- and V-formed ones, will
be found in the sequel in the description of the diffe-
rent fields. The absolutely fundamental difference in
shape between the barchans and all sorts of dunes
which have developed out of transversal ones needs no
further comment than this reference to the illustrations.
It is astonishing, however, that Tutkowski, Solger, and
other authors have nevertheless without reservation
Fig. 4. A, basal form of a small regarded the typical barchans and the bow-formed
barchan (Walther 1912, p. 262). transversal
dunes as being essentially the same forms,
B, basal form of a great barchar.
and thus concluded that also the winds driving the
(Cholnoky 1902, p. io6).
latter have come from the convex side. The incom-
patibility of the basal form indicating winds coming from one direction and the
profile indicating winds coming from the opposite direction - which, in fact,
must result from a confounding of transversal dunes and barchans - has led
Solger to suppose that the German inland dunes have primarily been driven by
east-winds, but that later west-winds have reversed wind-sides and lee-sides.
Secondary Dune-forms.
The difference in shape between dunes which have developed freely and dunes
which have resulted from the counteracting powers of sand-driving wind and
sand-fixing vegetation merits special attention, as it is often of theoretical import-
ance to find out whether secondary dune-drift has been active as a destructive force
within the ancient fields.
Beyond the general speculations already mentioned about the supposed im-
portance of vegetation as a necessary condition for the formation of dunes, the
aeolian action in half-fixed regions and the resulting topographical features had
been almost entirely neglected, until Cholnoky (I9o02) took up the problem and
advanced a systematic distinction between different dune-forms.
When for some cause or other the wind does not attack a sand-heap or a dune
uniformly, but only in certain spots, it operates in a peculiar way, cutting out
a wind-furrow running in the direction of the wind. Often such a wind-furrow
is terminated by a special sort of a dune, a garmada. These two forms, the
wind-furrows and the garmadas, have first been described and subjected to de-
tailed study by Cholnoky, who has also introduced the corresponding terms into
the literature (I902, p. 123). The usual cause of the development of wind-furrows
is that the vegetative covering is incomplete or that it has been locally destroyed
in some way or other. The trampling of cattle, for instance, may have that
effect.
The wind-furrows have sometimes a considerable length. In Nyirseg I have
followed a wind-furrow for more than 6oo m. The section is cupular because
the surface-layers offer harder resistance to the wind than the lower layers, which
are not interwoven with root-fibres or chemically cemented.
The garmadas develop at the ends of the wind-furrows, if the wind has not
the power to transport the material further. Thus garmadas usually are found
on the lee-sides of the heaps cut through by the wind-furrows or in places where
the ground inclines in the direction of the wind. When an edge is developed
on the garmada, it runs in bow-form with the concave side against the wind.
Sometimes several garmadas develop in one and the same wind-furrow; in this
case part of the sand is obviously transported over the garmada, killing the ve-
getation leewards and thus enabling the deflation to continue.
According to Cholnoky, wind-furrows and garmadas may also develop in dune-
regions where vegetation is entirely wanting. As a particular instance he men-
tions that the groove between two barchans lying close to each other may deve-
lop into a wind-furrow and a garmada. This process might thus, although pro-
ceeding on a narrower scale, be regarded as similar to that above (p. 130) described
as causing the horse-shoe forms. Not having myself had the opportunity to
ANCIENT INLAND DUNES OF EUROPE 135
observe any barchans in such a position, I am not able to form any certain
opinion of my own about the probability of this development. I feel, however,
rather inclined to regard wind-furrows as characteristic only of half-fixed regions.
It is evident that the explanation I have given of the formation of the horse-
shoe dunes cannot be applied if the primary bends are too narrow; in this case,
on the contrary, a smoothing out of irregularities takes place. It seems to me
more probable that this is the case if two barchans join each other laterally.
Maps showing barchans grown together in present-day deserts also support this
opinion (e. g. Walther, I912, fig. 138, p. 262).
For the development of the typical long wind-furrows two conditions are ob-
viously necessary. The wind must be regular, and the sand-heaps which are to
be cut through must be of sufficient extension in the direction of the wind. If
this is not the case, breaches will occur in quite the same manner, but without
the forming of long furrows; and when the wind is variable in direction no gar-
madas, or only incomplete ones will develop. The most conspicuous features in
a partly overgrown dune-region, which has been exposed to such irregular de-
structive influences of the wind, are the remaining witnesses of the old dunes,
in German named )>Kupsten>). These are characterized by the cup-shaped exca-
vations which the wind is always working out where the vegetation causes a par-
ticular resistance in the superficial sand-layer. Cup-shaped excavations often
appear also on the crests of the dunes, if the vegetation has been strong enough
to check a complete breaking through.
The finest examples of this kind of dune-topography are to be found in some
coast-regions inside the outermost shore-dune, for instance on the North Sea coasts
of Denmark, Germany, and Holland.
Contrary to the opinion which I have set forth (p. 130) regarding the develop-
ment of bow-formed dunes from straighter transversal ones, some authors (e. g.
Braun, 1911, Jessen, 1918, p. 235) regard the first-mentioned forms as the result
of sand-drift in half-fixed regions. According to their views, the lower flanks of
the dune-ridges will in the first place be more or less fixed by vegetation, on
account of which the moving will there be slackened, and thus by the wandering-
further of the central parts the dune-ridge will become bow-formed. Besides
the very typical way, described above, in which the wind works in half-fixed
regions and there causes quite other alterations on the existing dune-ridges, this
hypothesis as a general explanation is also contradicted by the model-like sym-
metry and regularity of consecutive trains of bow-formed dunes met with in many
places. The first fixation of dunes by vegetation and, consequently, the further
drifting of the sand in the unfixed parts must be rather capricious and cannot
give rise to such regular development on broad fronts, the causes of which,
136 IVAR HO0GBOM
therefore, must be sought for in some physical processes, as I have done above. When
describing the German fields, I shall have an opportunity to return to this question
and to illustrate it by some typical maps.
In this connection some few words should also be dedicated to the dunes in-
vading vegetation-covered ground. Instances of that kind are met with almost
everywhere in the dune-bearing coast-regions. Evidently the existing vegetation
has very small influence; only if the dune is invading a forest the trees may be
a means of weakening the winds and checking the dune-drift, but in other cases
the dune goes on wandering until the wind-side becomes overgrown.
The Dune-sand.
Sweden:
The Mora Field, Dalarna 2.6 0
87.7 o 9.7 %
.................... ...............
Tulusjirvi, Lapland .......................... ...
.
......... 3,4 - 84.4 12.2
Merasjarvi, Lapland ....................... o.o 74.4 25.6
.............
Tiirendo, Lapland .................................... ............ 3.3 82.o 14.8
Germany:
M elchow, 2.5 66.1 31.3
Prussia..........................................
Rietschen, Prussia.................................. ................ 10.7 87.5 1.8
Seckenheim, Baden............................................. 6.4 89.0 4.6
Hungary:
Mairia Pocs, Nyirseg, Kdm. Szabolcs ..................... o.o 90.0 1i0.0
Pilis, Nyirseg, Kom. Szabolcs ............................ o.o 88. x11.9
Pusztaszentimre, Kom. Pest .............. ............ 4.6 87.4 8.0
Because of the bedding within the dunes, the taking of samples must be done
very carefully, if good averages are to be got of the percentage of grains of
different dimensions. In fact, small samples from the same dune may give widely
differing results if they are not taken across a suite of beds. Mostly cuttings
allowing such a procedure are not available; and so the samples are of less value
from this point of view. In the above table I have thus preferred to give the
results of some representative samples, instead of averages of a greater number
of less reliable ones.
1The sieves constructed by Atterberg, which I have used for the determination of the coarse-
ness of the sand-grains, consist of four cylindrical steel-vessels which can be attached one above the
other. The bottoms of the three upper ones are perforated with circular holes, the diameters of which
are 2 mm, o.6 mm, and 0.2 mm respectively. A great disadvantage of this apparatus lies in the time
it takes to sift the finest particles through the 0.2 mm sieve. For the moving of the sieve I therefore
used an electrically moved cradle by which the sieve was pulled 6 cm horizontally to and fro 150 (?- 5)
times per minute. In order to get an idea of the time necessary to move the sieve for determining
the percentage of the finest grains, I carried out some series of sievings, noting the amount of sand
which passed the o.2 mm sieve during each five or ten minutes from the starting. It proved most
advantageous to use small samples, only weighing some ten grams, as the sieving was then practically
completed in half an hour. If the sample contains very fine dust, this often shuts up the holes and
makes a repeated cleansing necessary.
The 0.2 mm sieve used by me had only some 1.4oo holes, whilst the diameter of the sieve-bottom
was 95 mm. Evidently it could be greatly improved by a denser perforation.
ANCIENT INLAND DUNES OF EUROPE 139
Sokol6w (1894, pp. 2, 288) has tried to find out the maximum size of the sand-
grains which can be moved by winds of different velocity. The results of his
investigations in that respect are given in the following table (the wind measured
at four inches above the ground):
Force of wind, m/sec. Max. size of grains, mm.
4.5- 6.7 0.25
6.7- 8.4 0.5
9.8-11.4 I.o
S11.4-13.o 1.5
These empirically found values agree very well with the theory, according to
which a diameter of the greatest objects (of the same shape and gravity), that
can be moved by a fluid, increases proportionally
1.5 mm+.
to the square of the speed of the fluid. This
accordance is in fact astonishing, if regard is
paid to the irregular shape of the sand-grains.
Fig. 5 shows how well the figures of Sokol6w 05
agree with the theoretical curve.
Sokol6w has found the figures mentioned by
observing sand consisting of grains of different 0
z • 8 10
1Z,/5ek.
size moved under the influence of winds of diffe- Fig. 5. Diagram showing the relation
rent intensity. The result would have been between the speed of wind and the maxi-
mum size of sand-grains transported. The
slightly modified, showing lower figures for the
to the values found by
maximum sizes, if the wind had been blowing points correspond
Sokol6w.
over sheets of equal-sized sand, for in sands of
mixed dimensions the finest grains are blown away leaving the coarser ones fully
exposed to the wind, but in the case of assorted sand of the maximum size,
which otherwise would be moved by the wind, the grains shield each other and
are thus less exposed to the wind. This must in still higher degree be the case
if even coarser grains are present. In fact, the residual covering of coarser sand
on deflation surfaces affords these conditions, which thus have to be taken into
consideration as a means of checking further deflation.
ing to the stronger winds are to be found. This may. naturally be the case
even with proximal dunes, if the primary sand-deposit is exclusively made out
of finer material. On the other hand, if the dune has the usual lee-side strati-
fication, the deflation surface of the wind-side, cutting this stratification discord-
antly, generally presents sand of all dimensions found within the dune, until,
if only feebler winds are blowing, a lag film of coarser residual grains has covered
the surface, thereby possibly checking further drifting. If a dune contains a
relatively great amount of coarse sand, this is no sign that strong winds have
been blowing regularly, but only that the dune has been more resistant against
feebler winds and has moved only when attacked by harder winds. From the
above it is evident that the speed of the moving dunes depends not only upon
the intensity of the wind, but also upon the size of the sand-grains.
CHAPTER II.
Ancient Dunes of Fennoscandia and Denmark.
The dunes within the more central parts of the once ice covered region of
Europe are insignificant in number and extension compared to those of the south-
ern, more peripheric parts. Thus there is in the whole of Fennoscandia only
one more regular and collected dune-field, that near Mora in Dalarna (Dalecarlia);
even this, however, is of small dimensions in comparison with the greater ones
in Germany and Poland. But in some ways the Swedish dunes present greater
advantages for a scientific treatment than the southern ones because of the pos-
sibilities of determining their age by studying their relation to the postglacial
changes of the sea-level. Thus it seems proper to begin with the Scandinavian
dunes and to allow comparatively ample space to the description of them, even
in a study which aims at a treatment of the whole problem of the ancient inland
dunes of Northern and Central Europe.
There are two different kinds of ancient dune-bearing regions in Sweden which
present the essential subject of this chapter. The greatest and best developed
dunes are all of them situated on the glaci-fluvial marginal deltas, immediately
below the highest shore-lines of the finiglacial sea. The other ones, which usually
lie scattered and are of smaller dimensions, are to be found at some places
amongst the different glacial accumulations above this niveau. A third group of
ancient dunes in Sweden will also be mentioned in the sequel, namely some
in the province of Vdsterg6tland which prove to have been formed during a later
epoch than those connected with the glaci-fluvial deltas.
Finally, there are at places in Southern Sweden dunes, which were formed as
shore-dunes, corresponding to the levels of the sea at different epochs. The
ANCIENT INLAND DUNES OF EUROPE 141
EXPLANATION
A *B finiglacialat Tingie7
Ice-Border
of Beginning
Last Ice-Sheds
1a•'V Highest Finil/acial Shore
Dune-Occurrences
on marginal Deltas
Dune -Occurrences
on higher Levels
SCALE 1:8 000 000
89
atoo 16)
d
Fig. 6. Map showing the situation of the Fennoscandian dune-occurrences in relation to highest fini-
glacial coast-lines and last land-ice remnants. - i. Romerike; 2. Geijersdal; 3. HIllefors; 4-6. Siljan-
region; 7. FRrila; 8. Kubbean; 9. Studsviken; io. Aspsele; Kusfors; 12. T!irend6; 13. SaitajAirvi;
ti.
14. Merasjirvi; 15. Vittangi; I6. Vastakielinen; i7. Tulusjirvi; A8. Kemijoki; 1g. Raudunjoki; 20. Lutto-
joki. (I-V mainly after Holmsen, A. G. H6gbom, G. Fr6din, and Gavelin).
142 IVAR HOGBOM
suggested falling winds coming from remnants of the land-ice sheet, at that epoch
yet remaining, as the climatological reason of the sand-drift.
The situation of the Mora field, as well as that of the other dune occurrences
in the Siljan region, is shown by the sketch-map Fig. 7, in which also the run of
the highest finiglacial
shore-line is drawn.
The marginal terrace
of Osterdalilven, the grea-
test part of which falls
within the map Fig. 8,
extends its distal front
from Vamhus atthe north-
western corner of Orsa-
sjon along the west-side
of the same lake and the
northernmost part of Sil-
jan down to a point about
8 km south of Mora. The
area of the whole delta
is about ioo km', out of
which some 20 km2 are
dune-bearing. P-7
According to determi-
0u n
nations by Hedstr6m
(1893, p. 159), the highest
-1
finiglacial sea-level lies in 3 ,
Nlii
.... iiiii am.
(191i), Lid6n (1913, p. 30), and Enquist (1918, p. 102). I have, however, chosen to follow the ter-
minology first proposed as a final agreement about a new one is not yet attained.
4
Hedstr6m found the highest marine limit at Lattniiset east of Orsasjbn at 219 m,
supposing
the level of Siljan to be at 165 m. According to later nivellements, the altitude of
Siljan is stated to
be 16I m on the maps of the General Staff, and consequently the highest
finiglacial sea-level may be
215 m above the present sea-level.
144 IVAR HO0GBOM
200 m and slightly below. The lowest parts of the marginal terrace slope down
to about i8o meters altitude. The gentle descent, which extends outside the ter-
race along the shore of the Orsasjon with a breadth of a half to one kilometers,
has been abraded during the further sinking of the sea-level and thus represents
a younger land-form. The same is the case with the extensive lower postglacial
delta-deposits situated outside the mouth of the meanders of the Osterdalalven,
the greatest part of which represents a redeposition of the material cut out from
the marginal terraces (cfr Fig. 8.)
The finiglacial age of the main delta can be concluded not only from its situa-
tion immediately below the highest sea limit but also from its character of a
pitted-plain with typical kettle-holes (Germ. >)Solle# or >Pfuhle>) of different sizes,
the biggest ones forming the small lakes visible on the map.
As these small lakes are without superficial outlet, the changes in their level
must be a consequence of changes in the ground-water level. It is also evident
that the latter is very sensitive to the changing precipitation and evaporation
during different years. Thus the changes in the level of the little lake Lintjarn
comes out very markedly in its north-eastern corner, from where during more
humid years a branch is temporarily sent out over forest-covered ground.
When I visited the field in 1913 there, for instance, were to be seen not only
the trunks of drowned young firs but also a new forest generation 8-io years old,
showing that during one or more seasons some io years previously the level of
the lake was about one meter higher than at the time of this observation. On the
west-side of the Osterdalilven I have had an opportunity to ascertain corresponding
and yet greater variations in the ground-water level (cfr Fig. io d). That the
amplitude of the variation is much greater here is due to the swifter running
away of the water because of the proximity to the river-side, as well as to the
temporary existence of superficial affluents to the pools in question.
The existence of water-springs at the foot-line east of the dune-bearing plateau
shows that the present ground-water level almost reaches there. The higher sea-
level during the last phases of dune-drift has thus only slightly influenced the
level of the ground-water at that time, compared with the present ground-water
level.
The recent changes in the ground-water level, however, are worthy of notice
as they have been caused by the comparatively small climatic variations during
different years in our time. Thus they indicate that the level of the ground-
water has been subject to relatively important variations due to the different
climatic conditions succeeding each other during postglacial time. If the altitude
of the ground-water plays any r6le at all for the vegetation, its variations must
have accentuated the direct influence of the climatic changes during different
epochs.
ANCIENT INLAND DUNES OF EUROPE 145
168 Loso
it161,f2 -
CC Ve3Nmz
LA
77t
"r M
Fig. 8. Topographical map of the Mora field. Scale I 75,00ooo. (From the sheet Mora of the maps of
the General Staff).
10 Geografiska Annaler 1923.
146 IVAR HOGBOM
The finiglacial delta, as well as the dunes lying on it, is covered with pine-
forest. For further information regarding the vegetation I refer to the paper
of G. Samuelsson (191io).
The situation of the dunes on the delta plateau is clearly shown on that part
of the map of the General Staff reproduced on Fig. 8. Broadly speaking, the
dunes occupy a zone which extends with a breadth of up to three kilometers
along the distal margin of the part of the delta bordering the Orsasjdn. On the
south-western side of the Osterdaldlven the dunes recur at the railway station
Eldris. Besides, there is a dune-bearing spot some three kilometers west of the
village Morastrand. The distal parts Of the delta, on the other hand, are quite
free from dunes on this side of the river. This is probably so because the
conditions regulating the running off of the water have been so unfavourable
that the ground has been kept humid enough to prevent sand-drift even while
dune-formation has been going on in other parts of the delta. The extensive
bogs now existing seem to confirm this explanation.
Single dunes occur also here and there within the more proximal parts of the
delta, e. g. west of Gr6ningen, as well as amongst the oses above the delta proper,
east of the Gopshusberg and elsewhere.
Already the topographical map shows the regular development of the dunes,
these having their length-direction orientated in NE-SW. They are mostly of well
developed bow- or garland-form, turning the open concave sides towards the
north-west. Everywhere a marked difference between wind- and lee-sides is found,
the former usually sloping 8-1 i, the latter 20-250, and rarely somewhat steeper.
The dunes are thus typical transversal dunes driven by nortk-westerly winds.
Although the edges naturally have been somewhat rounded, and it is thus impos-
sible to point out their exact position, the profile of the dunes seems not to be of
the type with the edge lying leewards from the crest, but of the more triangular
type, where edge and crest coincide.
Several dunes can be followed for a length of one kilometer or more. The
western dunes are more scattered with level ground between, whilst the eastern
ones are thronged together, the lee-side of one dune lying immediately unto
or on the wind-side of the following one and the ridges forming a ramifying net
of garlands. In fact, near the margin of the dune-bearing delta the aeolian accumula-
tion has surely laid down far more material than what is visible as dune-ridges
on the map. The western parts of the plateau, on the other hand, have been
subject to deflation, as not only the development of the detached dunes wandering
over a distinct plain makes probable, but also a study of the coarseness of the
sand gives evidences of. Whilst the sand-grains within the dune-bodies as well
as in the eastern dune-valleys only rarely reach the dimensions of m
mm, a
ANCIENT INLAND DUNES OF EUROPE 147
residual enrichment has taken place on the plain in the west, where dimensions
of up to 3 mm are very common on the surface.
The usual height of the dune-ridges is about 8 meters in the central parts,
12
12 I
It I
-- V
f6!
# I/ , ..
/',/
Fig. 9. The south-eastern corner of the great dune-field north of Mora. 4 m. aequidistance
between the full line isohypses. The o-isohyps following the foot-line of the dune-bearing
plateau corresponds to the finiglacial sea-level at the end of dune-drift time and lies at about
i8o m above present sea-level.
but there are some, e. g. in the south-eastern part of the field, which reach
I2-1I4 m.
The map. Fig. 9 gives a more detailed illustration of the dune-morphologyin
the south-western corner of the great dune-field. The more north-southlength-
148 IVAR HOGBOM
direction, generally shown by the dunes in the immediate neighbourhood of the mar-
gin of the delta-plateau, is most probably due to the general tendency of dunes with
a marginal situation to arrange themselves parallel to the border of the field (p. 137).
In this peculiar case the sloping of the plateau may also have played a r6le in
retarding the movement of the northern dune-wings. As the profile Fig. Ioa shows,
the plain descends considerably, wherefore the north-eastern wings of the dunes
have been less exposed to the driving winds than the south-western ones, which
thus may have advanced with greater speed. It is also possible that the proximity
to the shore has contributed to the deviation of the length-direction of the dunes
because of the delaying influence of the humidity of the ground on the lower
situated north-eastern dune-wings or because of counteraction of irregular winds
blowing from the sea.
A fairly exact determination of the time when the dune-drift ceased, is possible,
owing to the development of the brink of the dune-bearing plateau. At the
northern and middle parts the field is relatively high. There the conditions do
not allow an exact determination of the end of the dune-drift time, as the sea
may have gone on sinking and abrading even after the sand-drift had ended, until
the foot-line of the plateau was reached, although under such circumstances the
sharp development of the latter is not easily explained. This line lies in the
north at 185 m and in the south at 179 m, a difference in altitude which may
partly be caused by the gradient of the postglacial land-rising, which has
been greater in the northern than in the southern part of the area. That no dune-
drift has taken place since the sinking of the water to this line is evident, as no
dunes exsist beneath it, although fine sand is everywhere at hand. That, on the
other hand, dune-drift has continued until this line was attained, is proved by
the development of the profile in the southernmost part of the field. There
the surface of the plateau slopes down till it almost reaches the foot-line, the
brink being there only a couple of meters high. Here too, the plateau bears
dunes; in fact some of the highest ones lie on the border of this south-eastern
corner of the field, as is shown by the map Fig. 9 and the profile fig. Io a.
The dune-drift on the Mforafield has thus continued until the sea had sunk about
35 m below its highest level
Investigations regarding the rate of the ice-recession in these regions have
not been carried out, so an exact determination of the situation of the ice-border
at the end of the dune-drift time is yet impossible. In the valleys there run
big oses, but usually no conspicuous summer-accumulations can be traced indicating
the annual regression of the ice. At one place (2 km north from Ladein, on the
Alfdal railway), however, I found some consecutive ose-hills, lying about 50 m
from each other, which certainly represent annual depositions. These interspaces
ANCIENT INLAND DUNES OF EUROPE 149
are probably exceptionally short, but the general convergence of. the aequirecesses'
to the west proves that the melting away of the land-ice must have been relatively
slow in these parts of the country compared with Middle Norrland, where Lid6n
(1913) found 360--400 m per year in the coastal region, and Carlzon
(g1913)
100- 150 m near the ice-shed. In Varmland Aronson (191 1) found the distances
between the annual ose-hills averaging about 70-85 m. A rough estimation of
a ESE
b SE
SE
NW
Fig. Io. a. Schematic section from Lintj irn to Orsasj6n. Dunes dotted. Dotted lines indicate
present ground-water level and the level of the Finiglacial Sea at the end of the dune-drift epoch.
- b. typical cross-section of a dune. - c. the brink of the plateau at two different places. -
d. changes in level in a small pool at Eldris. (I. H6gbom, 1913).
the annual recessiorf of 0oo m a year in the Mora region seems in fact to be in
fairly good accordance with the statements of Lid6n, Carlzon, and Aronson,
when regard is taken to the general convergence of the aequirecesses westwards.
In Angermanland the upheaval of the land after the retreat of the ice has been
determined by Lid6n to I I1-14 m per century. With due regard taken to the somewhat
lower sea limit in Dalarne, the sinking of the shore-line can there be supposed
to have been about 10o m per century. As the dune-drift ceased when the sea-
level was about 35 m below its maximum, it may be concluded that the sand-
driving foehn-wind reached only some few tens of kilometers from the ice-border.
1 The term
,aequirecess, is introduced by G. De Geer as signifying the position of the ice-border
at a certain time during the recession of the land-ice. (Geol. F6ren. F6rhand. Bd 27, p. 220, Stock-
holm 1905).
150 IVAR HOGBOM
The dunes have thus developed in a periglacial situation in the strictest sense
of the term, and accordingly it lies nearest at hand to explain them as having been
caused by foehn-like winds coming from the land-ice. The form of the dunes
however, prove that the driving winds have been blowing from the north-west
whilst more northerly winds or even north-east winds would have been prevalent
if an anticyclone, above the cold centre presented by the ice, had been the
only factor determining the distribution of the air-pressure. This deviation of
the wind accords in fact very well with the opinion about the general distribution
of the air-pressure and the wind-conditions based upon a study of the Middle
European dune-fields, which will be presented in the sequel. I shall also have
an opportunity to return to this matter in the final chapter, when reviewing the
climatological conclusions which can be drawn from the study of the dunes.
At some of the small kettle-hole lakes there are dunes which run parallel
to the shore and close to it, independently of the usual length-direction
of the dunes. Probably these dunes have been driven during a later time when
the other dunes had already been fixed by vegetation, and the favourable condi-
tions offered by shore-lines were necessary, if sand-drift was to take place. Even
these dunes however, are under present climatic conditions quite fixed. Similar
instances of later sand-drift at the shores of small lakes are to be found also on
a pitted-plain near Gustafs mentioned below.
With the exception of the northernmost part of the field, where the forest has
been wasted by a fire, and some smaller spots at the eastern margin of the field,
where the vegetation has certainly been destroyed by the action of man, the present
vegetation is entirely fixing the dune-sand. To the north, on the other hand,
the heath-vegetation leaves many spots bare, especially on the dune-ridges, from
which sand blows during hard winds. In fact, at a visit in 1913, I had the
opportunity to witness a real sand-storm on a minute scale; and according to
statements in a newspaper the road beneath the sand-plateau were covered by
sand in one place last summer. One should have believed that, during drier
climatic epochs than the present, forest-fires have been far more destructive than
now. In another connection, however, I have (1916) had the opportunity of poin-
ting out the peculiarity of the Mora-field which has kept all primary characters in
spite, not only of the climatic changes passed, but even in spite of the fires which
must have passed over it.
It is in fact astonishing that no secondary action whatever can be found on
the dunes within the Mora-field. Neither >Kupsten> nor more regular wind-furrow-
or garmada-forms disturb the transversal dune-system. The dunes must then have
been very quickly fixed by vegetation, or a relative calm must have reigned during
the time of the immigration of the vegetation, or - most probably - botth these
factors have been cooperating. There can hardly be found any other cause for
ANCIENT INLAND DUNES OF EUROPE 151
such a rapid change in the climatic conditions than the recession of the border of
the remaining land-ice. The non-appearance of secondary dune-forms would thus
seem to confirm the hypothesis of the falling winds from the ice-rest as causing
the dune-drift. It is true that the dunes in Germany and Poland also which,
as will be seen further on, have not been driven by similar falling winds, are
surprisingly well conserved, but secondary forms are nevertheless not quite lacking
amongst them.
The stratification within the Mora-dunes is usually very indistinct, because of
the even-grained material out of which they are built. The cuttings where I have
been able to observe any stratification at all are very few, and they do not permit
a certain determination of the distribution of wind- and lee-side accumulation.
The rules regulating where accumulation or deflation take place within different
parts of a transversal dune are not fully established and it is not to be expected
that they can be revealed through observations of the conditions within the
dead dunes. Amongst the Mora-dunes, I have, however, noticed both wind- and
lee-side stratification. The only deeper cutting where the layers could be observed
was in the flank of a dune showing wind-side accumulation, which observation is
in accordance with the general remarks I have made when discussing the development
of the basal form. The stratification is clearly visible only when the sand has
a certain humidity, and mostly it is possible to get cuttings which are steep
enough only for one or two decimeters below the surface, where the fibres of
the roots as well as the chemical cementation and the humidity usually make
the sand somewhat coherent.
The material which the sand-driving wind has blown together into dunes is
certainly for the most part derived from the marginal delta itself, but a minor
part may also come from the oses and moraines to the north-west of the plain.
The existence of wind-worn pebbles and single dunes amongst the oses higher
up, on the western side of the river, proves also that a sand-drift from the oses,
important enough to give rise to dunes of relatively great dimensions, has really
taken place.
The development of the level underlying surface on which the western dunes
of the field have wandered can be interpreted as the result of one or other of
two different processes. Either the humidity at a certain horizon has been sufficient
to check the sand-drift, or the enrichment of coarser grains, which is always taking
place on deflation surfaces, brought about the same effect. Most probably the
latter has been the actual case on the Mora-field. The covering vegetation renders
it impossible, however, to establish the coarseness of the grains of the very sur-
face film, the state of which is decisive in this respect. Irrespective of the hindrance
to observations set up by the vegetation, the plants have naturally themselves
occasioned a disarrangement amongst the uppermost sand-grains and shattered
152 IVAR HOGBOM
the possibly once existing film of coarser grains. On other fields, where the wind
still blows over spots of bare sand, I have had the opportunity to observe
how the deflation continues until a film of coarser sand is enriched, which then
shelters the underlying finer material from being attacked by the wind (cfr the
description of the Tirend6-field further on). That also on the Mora-field an
enrichment has really taken place on the plain over which the dunes have wan-
dered is, however, evident. Grains of dimensions of 3 mm are common in the
uppermost centimeters of the sand, but are only seldom met with at a depth of
i dm. Because of the inhomogeneity of the material of the different delta-layers
it is, however, hardly possible to get any quantitative idea of how far this enrich-
ment has gone.
The dune-sand itself is more even-grained than the delta-sand, the former
showing neither dimensions above i mm nor in any considerable amount finer
particles than say 0.05. Where a stratification is visible, the broader layers contain
sand, the medium dimensions of which are about 0.25 mm, whilst the thinner
layers contain sand-grains of up to 0.75-1 mm. The finer sand consists mainly
of somewhat rounded quartz-grains, the coarser sand mostly of more or less
angular felspar-grains.
As I have already stated in the previous chapter, the systematic study of
dunes has not as yet been carried so far that from an investigation of their
forms it is possible to draw conclusions on the intensity of the driving wind (p.
132), and thus only limited conclusions in this respect can be based upon a study
of the coarseness of the sand-grains. As mentioned the sand in the Mora-field
consists of grains reaching a maximum coarseness of about i mm; coarser sand
is anyhow so uncommon that it is not to be reckoned with in this connection.
According to the determinations of Sokol6w (cited on p. I39), a velocity of the
wind of i I meter pro second, measured 4 inches (12 cm) above the ground, is
necessary to move grains of this size. As there are grains of greater dimensions
on the plain between the dunes, which thus seem to have resisted the transport-
ing power of the wind, one may judge that the velocity mentioned corresponds
to the strongest winds which normally have been blowing over the dunes at the
time of their wandering. Because in the measurements of Sokol6w the anemo-
meter was placed immediately above the ground, the winds mentioned should
in reality correspond to hard storms, when measured at the usual altitude above
the ground. Unfortunately, exact investigations of the decrease in velocity of the
wind near the surface have not yet been carried out. The data given by Sokol6w in-
dicate, however, that the velocity of the wind under similar conditions is about
twice as great at an altitude of a couple of meters as at an altitude of I2 cm,
where his measurements of the transporting capacity of the wind have been made.
For the movement of the thicker layers within the Mora-dunes which contain
ANCIENT INLAND DUNES OF EUROPE 153
sand of an inferior coarseness a velocity of the wind of about 5-6 m/sec, mea-
sured at an altitude of i 2 cm above the surface, would have been sufficient, but
even this corresponds to a rather strong wind at the altitude of a couple of
meters.
The sketch-map Fig. 7 shows the situation also of the other dune-fields or,
properly speaking, the other dunes in the Siljan region. In fact, there is no other
dune-bearing area which in regard to regularity and development of the dunes
can be compared with the Mora-field. The occurrences at the other places are
better characterized as small groups of dunes or as scattered dunes than as dune-
fields, which term should be reserved for greater and more regular complexes.
NE of the Orsasjdn, between the Oredzlv and its affluent the Unnin, there are
some marginal delta-deposits lying at an altitude of about 215 m above sea-level,
that is to say, just below the highest sea limit, which here may be supposed to
reach some few meters higher than on the Mora-field. The dunes are few and
do not show the regularity which characterizes those of the Mora-field. The last-
mentioned fact seems rather to be ascribed to the humidity of the soil during
the time of the dune-drift than to later destruction of the forms, for the dunes
are here situated within a pronounced marsh-region, the drainage of which
must have been yet more incomplete during the time of the dune-drift than at
present, when the streams have cut down their beds in the sediments. East of
the there is also a dune, the north-south direction of which indicates
that Unn.n
it has wandered away from the river-side and originated as a river-dune. I
have found no secondary forms as ~> Kupsten> or wind-furrows. Such forms are,
besides, hardly to be expected here, as they are not met with on the far drier
Mora-field. The wind- and lee-sides are on the whole orientated in the same way
as on the Mora-field. Although the development of the dunes is less pronounced
and does not allow an exact determination, the direction of the driving wind thus
seems to have been about the same at both places.
154 IVAR HOGBOOM
Some scattered dunes occur NW of the Oresjon near the shore and at an alti-
tude of some few meters above the surface of the lake. As this is situated at
200 m above present sea-level, no marked marginal terrace as that west of the
Orsasjbn here rises above the lake. The greatest dune is quite similar in shape
to those on the Mora-field.
Judging from the topographical map, some dunes are also to be met with in
the ose- and delta-region above Riittvik at the eastern corner of Siljan.
Further down in the Dalilv-valley dunes occur near the junction of Oster- and
Vaster-Dalilven at Gagnef They are situated within an irregular ose- and delta-
land, at an altitude of about 18o m above sea-level. Attaining only small di-
mensions, these dunes do not offer any features of special interest.
Yet further down in the same valley relatively well developed dunes are met
with at Gustafs. They are, however, few in number, only three of them being
of dimensions comparable to those of the Mora-field. They have a more north-
south length-direction and show distinct wind-sides to the west and lee-sides to
the east. Thus, they would seem to indicate that more westerly winds have been
ruling in this region during the time of the dune-drift than at Mora. However,
the dunes at Gustafs are few, and, besides, the topographic conditions are such
that they may have caused some local deviations in the winds and an irregular
development of the dunes.
These dunes have formerly been interpreted as oses (Nelson, 1910, p. I70). A
comparison between their morphology and the morphology of indubitable dunes,
e. g. those at Mora, however, leaves no doubt as to their true character.
The highest of the dunes reaches with its crest above the highest sea-level, which
in these regions lies at about 195 m above present sea-level.
The dunes between Siter and Gustafs are the most distal ones along the Dal-
alven or at least the most distal ones of such dimensions that their existence is
revealed by the topographical map of the General Staff.
In this region also later sand-drift has taken place at different places. Com-
pared with the finiglacial dunes, the later ones are, however, very insignificant in
size. They seem to be caused by different local conditions and are of a more
occasional character. At some places they have been driven because a forest
fire has destroyed the vegetation, as is the case at Solvarbo, where a dune has
wandered out over burned ground. Near the small lakes south of this place the
changes in the level of the water have also been a means of providing sand for
dune-drift. In all these cases the dunes do not reach over 2 m in height, and
usually they are yet smaller. Some of them have already been fixed by young
ANCIENT INLAND DUNES OF EUROPE 155
vegetation, which does not disguise their accidental character. It is, besides,
very probable that such dunes would not be recognized at all, if they lay on uneven
ground covered with a grown-up forest. No conclusions as to particularly favour-
able conditions for sand-drift during present times are thus to be drawn from
the existence of new dunes of this kind.
Dunes of the same kind as those described above from Dalarna are also met
with at some other places in Middle Sweden and situated in the same relation
to the highest finiglacial sea-limit on the glaci-fluvial marginal deltas.
The only ones which have hitherto been mentioned as dunes in the literature
are those described by Sundius (1922, p. 50) from Hiillefors and other places
within the Grythytte region in the westernmost part of Vistmanland.
Sundius describes the greatest dunes as beeing of an ose-like shape, not showing
any difference in the steepness of wind- and lee-side. This statement is remark-
able, beacause no large dunes elsewhere in Scandinavia exhibit so symmetrical
a development of the dune-profile, although some of the Lapland dunes are cha-
racterized by abnormally steep wind-sides (cfr below). Regarding the Hillefors
dune it seems probable that the wind-side has got its steepness because of se-
condary erosion, if the high-water level of the lake St. Sangen can be supposed
to have reached the foot of the dune. This cannot be decided by a study of
the map, and I have not myself visited the place. The statement of Sundius
that the normal lee-side stratification (250) changes in the highest parts of the
dunes to a more gentle one, seems also to indicate a secondary overblowing of
sand, perhaps in connection with erosion at the basis of the wind-side. In spite
of the symmetry of the dune-profile there is no doubt about the ridges being
real dunes, which is clear as well because of the basal forms as because of the
coarseness of the material. The basal form of the Hillefors dune is of typical
horse-shoe shape with the concave side turned towards the north-west. With the
exception of one or two of the smaller dunes, where grains with dimensions up
to 2 mm have been found, the coarseness of the sand varies from 0.25-1 mm
whilst finer material has been blown away. The normal material of the Halle-
fors dunes is thus of the same dimensions as that of the Mora dunes.
The dunes are undoubtedly originated by north-west winds, which is shown both
by the stratification in the interior parts of the dunes and by the basal form
opening towards the NW. Sundius, on the other hand - just as Solger does
regarding the German dunes - interprets the convexity as indicating south-east
winds.
pitted plain with no less than 25 small lakes and ponds of the same character
as those on the Mora-field mentioned above. The glaci-fluvial deposits in Rome-
rike are described by Bjorlykke (1912), who also calls attention to the dunes.
According to his description there are to be found )several bow-formed sand-
walls of about io m height 100-200 m breadth at the base>. He notes further
that the dunes turn their concave side towards the north. The dunes lie at an
altitude of 200 m above sea-level and the highest finiglacial sea-level is in this
region at about 225 m.
Because of the informations of Bjorlykke cited above, in my paper on the dunes.
in Dalarna, I judged that the Norwegian dunes were of the same late finiglacial
age. This opinion has been confirmed by Bjorlykke in a later study (1918),
which he devotes to the question if loess exists in Norway. Bjorlykke regards
a fine dusty earth (>Romeriksmjele>), which is found in positions indicating aeolian
and aquatic deposition, as being most probably the finest-grained equivalent to
the dunes and spread out by the same winds, over the fjords and adjacent land.
It is interesting to note that the dunes in Romerike are driven by more north-
erly winds than those of Central Sweden. This difference in wind-direction is
in good accordance with the theory of foehn-winds, as the ice-shed, and yet more,
the ice-front in this part of Norway runs almost from west to east instead of
south-west to north-east in Central Sweden. That the winds have blown almost
perpendicularly from the ice-front instead of sho wing the deviation to the right,
which would be expected if the isobares had run parallel to the ice-front, is due
to the general distribution of the air-pressure at the period in question, as will
be treated in a later chapter.
For an exact determination of the direction of the driving wind further ob-
servations are, however, needed; the topographical maps of the Norwegian General
Staff are not detailed enough to show the orientation of the dunes.
In HlIsingland a marginal delta extends for some I15 km along the Ljusne
River, north-west of Farila, and there some few dunes occur. The highest fini-
glacial sea level in these regions lies at about 240 m above present sea-level.
(Hedstr6m, I893, and others), while the surface of the main part of the delta lies
at an altitude of about 200-2Io0 m. Judging from the topographical map, some
few dunes are to be found within the proximal half of the delta, whilst none are
marked within the central and distal parts. This indicates that the wind has not
been dry or strong enough to produce dunes after the emergence of the lower
parts of the delta from the sea, that is since the land had risen some 40 m after
the regression of the ice-border. From the map one can hardly draw any precise
conclusions as to the direction of the dune-driving winds.
ANCIENT INLAND DUNES OF EUROPE 159
manland fjords. - The, dune-forming winds were thus able to assert themselves
even since the ice-border had reached the region not far from the ice-shed.>
not as yet been examined in sufficient detail. In some places the dunes may,
however, be seen even from the railway. This is for instance the case near the
station of Kusfors on the Skelleftediilven. Dunes occur here on both sides of the
river, but perhaps most fully developed on the northern river-bank about 6 km
above Kusfors at an altitude of about 15 m above the river-bed and some 210o m
above sea-level.
The dunes in this place are both numerous and of considerable dimensions.
A couple of open horse-shoe dunes which I haVe traced out, turn their opening
westwards. As, however, their northern wings have wandered up a slope, the
basal-form of the dunes may possibly have been influenced hereby, and so it
is not to be positively concluded that right westerly winds have reigned. Very
likely a closer examination will show that these dunes too have been driven by
north-westerly winds.
ANCIENT INLAND DUNES OF EUROPE 161
south of the church of Tirendd; the report may be supposed to refer to this
neighbourhood.
The north-easternmost one of the two large dune-segments visible on the map,
has, measured along the ridge, 1.8 km in length. The northernmost part, measur-
ing 300 m, takes, however, an abnormal course compared with the rest of the dune-
segment, probably because it has got the character of a later shore-dune which
has not yet wandered far enough to lose its parallelism to the shore.
Outside the dune-bows there are mostly peat-bogs. Within the north-eastern
dune-bow forest-covered sand-heaths prevail; within the south-western one, peat-bogs.
The plain on which the dunes are situated rises only some few meters above
the level of the river. The dune-sand has been supplied not only by the
erosion of the river, but a great part of it must have been blown off the surface
of the plain itself; this is clear from the easily appreciable enrichment by coarser
sand and gravel to be noticed in the gaps of the dunes, where the surface of
the ground is not covered with bog or has been blown over with sand. On the
sand-surface, where it is bare of vegetation, as is the case in spots here and
there, coarser sand- and gravel-grains, up to a size of i cm are found on the
superficial layer, while they are of rare occurrence one or two decimeters down.
The sand of the dunes has the dimensions typical of dune-sand, and consists
chiefly of rounded quartzgrains.
One sample from the very surface of a bare spot and another taken 2 dm
below it show the following dimensions of the grains:
Size of grains in mm: > 2 2-0.6 0.6-0.2 <•0.2
It is true that no systematic search for dunes has been performed in Norrland
and that new occurrences are certain to be observed, since attention has once
ANCIENT INLAND DUNES OF EUROPE 163
been directed to the dunes as a special and evidently not very rare formation.
It is improbable, however, that future observations will bring anything essentially
new regarding the regional distribution of the dunes, and thus regarding the lower
limit of their occurrence. In several places, especially in the coast-land of Vister-
botten, there are large sand-heaths, which would have furnished abundant material
for dune-formation, if the conditions as to wind and humidity had allowed such
during any period after their emergence out of the sea. It is very improbable
that such formations should have escaped observation altogether, especially as
they, as is the case on the finiglacial deltas, would be topographically much more
prominent than dune-fields occurring above the highest sea-limit. Besides, the
regions below the highest sea-limit have been rather more closely examined
in regard to the quaternary geology than those above it, and the system of roads
is much more developed, which should also have facilitated the discovering of
dunes.
Even if the lower limit of dune-formation in some places should be moved down-
wards, therefore, this cannot be expected to take place to any considerable extent,
and there is no likelihood that evidences will be found for an essentially different
apprehension of the extent of the dune-forming epoch.
The correspondence between the occurrences of dunes on the marginal deltas
in Norrland and in the better known Middle Sweden are also striking, and the
observations from Middle Sweden must be considered as supporting the inter-
pretation based on the occurrences of the less investigated Norrland.
The dunes situated above the highest finiglacial sea-level in Lapland, which I
am going to describe on the following pages, are in some respects of another
character than those which have developed on the marginal deltas. As no de-
termination of their age can be made by studying their position in regard to a
former sea-level, no direct conclusions in that respect can be drawn. On the
other hand, there is evidently every probability, that even these dunes have de-
veloped in a periglacial situation. That they often emerge out of peat-grown
marsh-ground indicates that other hydrographical or climatic conditions than
nowadays must have been ruling at the time of their formation. The present
sand-drift in these regions is, besides, far too insignificant to account for the
formation of these dunes.
The north-westerly winds, which the orientation of these dunes generally in-
dicates, pass in these regions the border of the ice-rest more obliquely than was
the case farther to the south, as the ice-remnant at the time in question termi-
nated to the north in these regions.
It should be reminded of the somewhat later age of these dunes compared with
164 IVAR HIOGBOM
those earlier described which were formed already before the regions here in
question had been freed from the land-ice. The conclusions as to the winds
from the different dune-regions cannot thus be unreservedly connected in order
to reconstruct the climatic conditions of a certain stage of the melting away of
the land-ice.
As the existence of dunes above the highest sea-level has hitherto, as mentioned,
been quite overlooked, I have thought it appropriate to illustrate the appearance
of these occurrences in somewhat greater detail than their relatively insignificant
dimensions, compared to other dune-fields, would otherwise have required.
The highest situated dunes I have visited are at Tulusjirvi near the Lainio
river, north of Ovre Soppero at about 400 m altitude. Following the highroad
down from this place for some 150 km to Tarendb at the highest Baltic sea level,
which reaches here about 175 m altitude, I have met with dunes at several places.
It is true, that this road passes some broad valleys, where the conditions seem
particularly favourable for the development of dunes, but as the following descrip-
tion will show, dunes at these altitudes are as often fed by sand from oses or
moraines as from delta-deposits. As the oses in these regions run almost inde-
pendently of the valleys and mostly across them, the possibilities for deflation
of the oses and deposition of dunes beneath them seem to be at hand almost
everywhere. As the cuttings of the roads through the dunes best show their
true character, it is quite natural that dunes have not yet been reported from
the interior of this region as long as they have escaped attention along the roads.
Besides, a detailed investigation and mapping is mostly necessary to distinguish
dunes from other formations, as the forest does not permit a direct recognition
of their basal form.
south-eastern side. On the south, beyond the region mapped, the ose borders to
the SE on marsh-land and is not, with one small exception, further accompanied
by dunes.
The dunes reach a height of 5-6 m measured on the lee-side, and even more
farthest to the NE, where, however, the topographic conditions are not quite
normal, and where erosion may
possibly have played a part. Nei- A B
ther their basal form, as shown on
the map, nor their cross-section, o
ooo
o
be found on the map furthest to the NW. The southernmost part of the dune
here marked out is, in fact, at present drifting and quite unfettered by vegetation.
In the dunes at the village of Vittangi there is also some sand-drifting on a
small scale going on, but it is wholly destructive. In the cuttings caused hereby,
both wind- and lee-side stratification is to be observed. The curved dune-complex
in the north-eastern corner of the map may probably be considered to have
originated from the ose-plateau to the NW. The spur to the SE has in part
the character of a shore-beach.
The position of the dunes described above shows that they have been formed
somewhat later than the dunes situated on the marginal deltas. There seems,
however, to be no essential difference in the conditions for their formation. The
direction of the sand-driving winds agree here better with hypothetical isobars
enclosing the land-ice, but this might partly be ascribed to the valleys running
in the expected direction of the winds.
western side seem, contrary to the opinion of Tanner, to indicate that the dunes
were driven by north-westerly winds.
The dunes on the Luuto river in the parish of Enare (Tanner's Plate XI) are
of a different type. They are situated on the northern side of the river, which
here runs mainly in a W-E direction, and have wandered upwards from it as
shore-dunes; they may also correspond to an earlier river-shore, and this is made
probable by their situation on one and the same isohyps.
Just as is the case in regard to the Swedish Lapmark, one gets from Tanner's
collection of data concerning Finland the impression that in several places dunes
have probably been met with by geologists without having been recognized as
such. Regarding one or two of these localities, Tanner himself makes the sug-
gestion that we may have to deal with aeolic accumulations. From the informa-
tions gathered by Tanner out of the diaries of other geologists it is, however,
impossible to draw any definite inferences as to the presence of real dune-forma-
tions. The manifested presence of dunes in some places makes it nearly certain,
however, that there may occur dunes in several other places, as all the geological
conditions necessary are very common and the meteorological factors cannot have
been locally so different that dune-formation has taken place only in one or two
cases.
From the Kemijoki in Karelia Rosberg (1892, p. 85) has noted the existence
of some small fields where nowadays dune-drift is going on, although on a small
scale. He ascribes, however, this actual sand-drift to the burning of the forests
here usual in order to gain arable land for cultivation, whilst the primary accu-
mulation of the sand would have been called forth by winds from the inland-ice
at the time when this deposited the Salpausselkii moraines, outside the northern
extension of which the fields are situated. Ancient dune-forms are not mentioned
by Rosberg. On the other hand, amongst other recent forms the same author
gives also the description of a shallow wind-furrow, some two hundred meters wide.
the sand-containing Yoldia clay. The dunes attain, heights of 6-7 m, seldom
more.
These ancient dunes have been the subject of an interesting study by Lund-
quist (1920), who has tried to find out their age by an pollen-analysis of the peat
in the small bogs situated within the dune-fields, in order to ascertain in which
horizon aeolic sand appears.
Lundquist gives also important informations regarding the orientation of the
dunes, and shows that they have been blown by southerly winds. He states
that the dunes NW of Skara with a general length-direction in WNW-ESE
(N 70 W-S 7o0 E) show wind-side slopes of Ioo-15' towards the SSW, and
leeside slopes of about 200 towards the NNE. The dunes examined by him have
a height of about four meters.
Quite similar are the dunes of the other field investigated by Lundquist, that
at Svensbro, some 12 km south of the town of Skofde, only that they indicate
winds coming from between S and SSE, the length-direction of the dunes being
about WSW-NNE. (S 70-750 W-N 70-750 E). The run of the dune-ridges,
however, is at places rather irregular (bow-formed?). The southerly wind-sides vary
in steepness between xIx and 170, but even such of 200 have been observed. The
northerly lee-sides show inclinations of 25'-300.
Through pollen-analytical investigations Lundquist has found that the aeolic
sand intermixed in the peat disappears in the layers corresponding to the begin-
ning of sub-boreal time, and thus concludes that at the end of atlantic time or
the beginning of sub-boreal time southerly winds were ruling in these regions.
The most frequent winds nowadays during the summer-months are from W and SW.
It is somewhat unexpected that these dunes, although younger than those of
the marginal deltas, where exceptional climatic conditions called forth the sand-
drift, prove to have been in an active state at the end of atlantic time and fixed
at the very postglacial change from cold-wet to warm-dry climate.
Further south dunes are also met with at some places. According to Munthe
those at Hvalstad, being some 3-4 m high, indicate SW-winds. Thus they
would seem to be of more recent origin, which Munthe confirms by mentioning
that they have been fixed by plantation. Munthe also notes the occurrence of
wind-worn pebbles from this place as well as from Dimbo, where a marginal ose
running E-W has been overblown by sand (cfr description appended to the geo-
logical sheet Tidaholm).
Dunes in Denmark.
Dunes are far more widespread on the west-coast of Denmark than in the re-
gions hitherto mentioned; especially they are the distinguishing feature in the
morphology of the northernmost land-tongue of Jutland. They are essentially a
ANCIENT INLAND DUNES OF EUROPE 173
formation bound to the present coast-line, thus forming the northernmost end of
the chain of coast-dunes, which, with some breaks, border the coast-line of the
continent along the North Sea. A description of these dunes thus falls outside
the scope of this treatise.
There are, however, also some aeolic deposits in the interior of the country which
are not connected even with older coast-lines, but which have a similar geological
situation to the Swedish ancient dunes, being built up from late glacial sand-de-
posits. Thus A. Jessen (1918, p. 234) says: >)It is probable that the sand-
drift in Vendsyssel is as old as the land itself; especially at the end of the Ice
Age, before the new-formed land had been covered by vegetation and mould,
there seem to have been conditions favourable to the formation of dunes.>> The
primary traces of the ancient dunes, however, are obliterated, at least no inland-
dunes have been described, which have been fixed by vegetation without the in-
tervention of man. The aeolic sands of the interior are either still active or fixed
by plantation.
It is very possible that the study of the later sand-drift in Denmark will reveal
interesting data regarding changes in climatic conditions which have taken place
during the last three or four thousand years. By the examination of the Danish
peat-mosses it has been proved, that the recent sand-drift along the shores has
set in with all its intensity only some few centuries ago, and it is known from
historical documents, that the sand-drift meant no great menaces to the cultiva-
tion before the beginning of the I6th century (cfr Jessen 1918, p. 239). As the
last-mentioned change in the intensity of the sand-drift must have been called
forth by changes in wind or humidity, it seems to contradict the experience
hitherto won regarding the stability of the climate in historical time.'
For the sake of comparison with the figures given at other places in this treatise,
the following averages from a series of 30 samples of dune-sand from Denmark,
published by Warming (1907, p. 9), may be of interest:
Size of grains in mm: 2-I 1-0.5 o0.5-0o.25 <0o.25
ditions and in which regions sand-drift is at present taking place within Fenno-
scandia, besides the instances already mentioned in connection with the ancient dunes.
With few exceptions all recent sand-drift is bound to the shores, where sufficient
quantities of sand are supplied by the action of the waves. It is already stated
in the chapter on dune-formation that under such circumstances even great hu-
midity does not seem to prevent the formation of dunes. The sand successively
made free at the shore-line always wanders a certain distance inwards before the
vegetation is able definitely to fix it. The inland winds do not drive any dunes
because they have no starting line which supplies sand, and besides the inland
winds only exceptionally reach an intensity great enough to balance the action
of the sea-winds.
The ancient inland-dunes of Fennoscandia, on the other hand, have mostly been
driven independently of shore-lines, even if they lie near them; in most cases they
have wandered towards the shore under the influence of land-winds. It is espe-
cially to be remembered that the geographical distribution of the dunes on the
marginal deltas is due only to the widespread sandy accumulations and to the
climatic conditions during the time in question, but not to any influence of the
late-glacial shore-line; genetically these dunes are strictly inland dunes as having
been driven by inland winds, although formed at the emergence of the sandy
deposits from the sea.
The conditions at the present dune-belts along the shores are thus not com-
parable to those which once occasioned the ancient dunes; and therefore a close
description of the shore-dunes would be of little interest for this study. I refer to
the papers of Nilsson (1905), Leiviski (1905) regarding the Swedish and the Fin-
landish coast-dunes respectively, and to the papers of Steenstrup (1894), Jessen
(1918), and Warming (1907-1909) regarding the Danish ones, and also to the
descriptions to the geological maps of the dune-bearing coast-regions published by
the Geological Surveys of these countries.
There are, however, instances of recent sand-drift although, on a minute scale,
even at some places in the interior, which should be mentioned.
Recent dunes, all of them of an inferior size compared to the ancient ones, are
occasionally met with within the mountain region of Northern Sweden.
The signs of wind-erosion to be noticed on the surfaces of stones in the high-
mountains are due to grinding by finer dust-particles and do not bear evidence
of true sand-drift (cfr A. G. Hbgbom, 1906, p. Ib69).
In the interior of Norrland there is known no ordinary sand-drift at all,
except at some places where sand is locally made free by eroding rivers or by
the tapping of lakes or other action of man. One instance of the latter kind is
to be found in the very northernmost corner of Sweden, where in the year i905
the inhabitants made the little lake Arpojaure cut through the glacifluvial barrier
ANCIENT INLAND DUNES OF EUROPE 175
which formerly dammed it up. Ahlmann (1914, p. 512) describes the aeolian ac-
tion on the dried-up bottom of the lake as follows: ~> The wind-erosion on the
dried areas of the Arpojaure basin is rather great and has already formed con-
siderable dunes, though the sand-drift can only have any effects from June to
September, as during the rest of the year the area is frozen and covered with
snow. All the dunes are situated on the south and south-east shore>. The same
locality is later on described and mapped by Caldenius (1922), to the work of
whom I also refer regarding geological data.
By a similar artificial cutting through of the damming barrier the former Ra-
gunda lake I796 was catastrophically drained, and the new conditions called forth
sand-drift, which, however, in this case was due to the river-erosion on the former
lake-bottom. The aeolian action has resulted in a dune-string running parallel to
the river on its north-east side. The principal dune has an altitude of 5-7 meters.
On its lee-side a minute accumulation of loess takes place (A. G. H6gbom, I899.
p. 93).
The instances of recent dune-drift called forth by deforestation are few.
One is from Ovre Soppero, not far from the ancient dunes at Tulusjiirvi described
above, where between the scattered houses of the village some two or three wide
aprons of sand indicate the beginning of dune-drift
At Hand6l in Jiimtland on the delta of the Handol river some small dunes are
to be found, and occasionally strong westerly winds seem to cause sand-drift on
parts of the delta which are destitute of vegetation.
In Middle Sweden the few occurrences of recent dunes are yet more insigni-
ficant. Besides those already mentioned in the neighbourhood of Siter, there are
some small ones at Avesta fed from the brink of the Dalilven.
Besides the dunes mentioned south of Billingen (p. 172), which at least partly
have been in an active state in later times, there are also other occurrences of recent
sand-drift on a small scale in the interior of South Sweden. They deserve to
be mentioned on account of their situation within a tract of Sweden where the
rainfall is particularly great, thus showing that other factors than humidity, as
sand-supply and winds may be decisive for the sand-drift.
In Sm'iand some three km north of Lake Bolmen there is a little sand-drift field,
Slatt6o Sand, with an area of about 200ooacres, parts of which, however, have been
forested during the last decades. The sand-drift is of comparatively recent date,
as old documents show that the breaking through of the vegetation commenced in
the beginning of the 18th century, and that in the beginning of the 19th century
it caused the greatest trouble to the peasants (Wibeck, 19o6, Palm, i9I9). Also
this sand-field seems to have been called forth by deforestation.
From the west-side of the Scandinavian ice-shed no ancient dunes are known.
On the other hand recent sand-drift takes place near to the
Roros. According
176 IVAR HOGBOM
notices of Bjorlykke (1913), oses and glacial sand supply the material for the drift.
Where the material is finer, its capacity of keeping the humidity prevents its blowing
away, so that tabular deflation witnesses remain. The area from which the ling-
covering is torn away is about one square kilometer (Thekla Resvoll, 1906. Cfr
also Holmsen, 1915, P1. X.) It is to be supposed that this sand-drift, in some
way or other, is caused by the action of man, probably by deforestation in con-
nection with the works at the neighbouring Roros Mines. Tradition also says
that the area formerly was covered by dense pine-forest. (Holmsen, 1915, p. 172).
In the description of Tanner of the quaternary deposits of northern Fenno-
scandia, no notices of recent sand-drift of any importance are to be found. In
some cases, however, he notes deflation on the ose-ridges, and this may also be
seen on some of the photographs which he reproduces (1914, 418).
pp. 257,
Regarding the conditions in the Salpausselkt moraine-belt Leiviska says (1920,
p. 250): Flugsandstrecken, wie wir ihnen auch tiberall an den heutigen
,Kleinere
Kiusten begegnen, wo sandige Aslandschaften an das Meer vorstossen, erscheinen
an den sandigen Lokalitaten des Salpausselka ganz allgemein, obwohl sie infolge
der Wald- und sonstigen Vegetation sich leicht der Beobachtung entziehen. Da
und dort hat sich der Sand an den Strassen und an anderen Einschnitten von
neuem in Bewegung gesetzt.>
Finally, as mentioned, Rosberg has stated that dune-drift on a small scale is
going on at places in Karelia, where probably the sand was accumulated as
dunes already outside the border of the land-ice, when it was leaving the Sal-
pausselki stage.
CHAPTER III.
As early as I832 K16den (cfr Solger, I9Io, p. 157) described the dunes at
Baruth in Mark Brandenburg and recognized them as such. Kl6den, however,
thought that they were formed on an ancient shore, and that a longitudinal,
particularly prominent dune-branch had the character of a Nehrung.
Since that time the dunes and the dune-sand have been mentioned a great many
times, for instance in the descriptions appended to the geological map-sheets, but
no generally applicable theories of their origin - at least none of such import-
ance that a review in this place would be justified - have been formed in that
connection. Some details given in the map-descriptions, however, are worthy of
notice and will be mentioned in the subsequent description of different fields.
Later on, however, a lively discussion on the problems of the ancient German
dunes was brought about by Solger, who I905 advanced his hypothesis on the
genesis of the dunes, according to which they have originated in a periglacial
situation by easterly winds, called forth by a pressure maximum over the land-
ice in the North. The interpretation of the basal forms of the dunes on which
Solger bases his hypothesis has been unfavourably criticized by later writers on
dunes as Lehmann (1907), Jentzsch (1908), Keilhack (1917), and, as regards the
Polish dunes, by Lencewicz (1922); especially the two lastmentioned authors have
set forth a very strong and decisive criticism.
On the other hand, there are writers who are essentially of the same opinion
as Solger.
Walther (1912, p. 320), for instance, gives an account of the conditions causing
dune-formation outside ice-covered regions and seems to agree with the concep-
tion of the Middle European dunes as periglacial. In his >Lehrbuch der Geo-
logie Deutschlands> (1920, p. 333) likewise he speaks of the dunes as well as
of other desert-phenomena as follows: >Die jetzt bewachsenen Diinen der Dres-
dener Haide und die tausenden von erratischen Bl6cken, welche, zu wunderbaren
Dreikantern geschliffen, bis zur Siidgrenze der nordischen Vereisung umherliegen,
erinnern uns an die furchtbaren StUtrme, die wihrend der interglazialen Steppen-
zeit das vegetationslose Gebiet von Mitteldeutschland bearbeiteten>.
Besides Solger, Tutkowsky (1912) has made the the most important contribu-
tion on this side. Like Walther, however, he wiews the dune-problem chiefly
from a climatological standpoint and only briefly touches upon the question
how far this interpretation agrees with the morphological evidence offered by the
dunes about the prevailing direction of wind at the time of their formation; that
he also regarding the basal forms of the dunes holds an opinion similar to that
of Solger is evident as he uses the expression >postglaciale Barchane> (1912, p.
365). Solger, on the other hand, endeavours to find evidence in the shape of
the dunes for his hypothesis of their periglacial character and their formation
by easterly winds. In the subsequent pages I shall have an opportunity of re-
12 Geografiska Annaler 1923.
178 I V A R H O GGBO M
verting to this hypothesis and advancing the facts which seem to me decisively
to prove its erroneousness.
Keilhack (1917) arrives at the conclusion that the dunes were formed
during
the Ancylus- or Litorina-age and that their shape proves that they were formed
-,
so
drr
2
0-200km
Fig. I17. Dunes south of the Baltic, Western part. Marginal drainage channels shaded. Dune-fields
black: i Veluwe; 2 Frankfurt; 3 Wittemberge etc.; 4 North of Berlin; 5 Luckenwalde-Baruth; 6 North-
west of Rothenburg. According to Keilhack (1917) and, for Holland, van Baren.
Maloof
rsaw
-Al
a
..
Fig. 18. Dunes south of the Baltic, Eastern part. Marginal drainage channels shaded. Dune-fields
black: 7 Warthe-Netze; 8 Thorn; 9 Puszcza Kampinoska; io Upper-Bug; II South of Pripet.
According to Keilhack (1917) and Lencewicz
(I922,),
The latest investigations of Middle European dunes have been made by Lence-
wicz, who has treated the Polish dunes. Like Keilhack, this author regards it
as quite obvious that the dunes have got their shape owing to the action of
west-winds and exposes the misconception which has originated the false conclu-
sions of Solger in this regard. How many different interpretations the Middle
180 IVAR HO GBOM
European dunes have given rise to, however, is illustrated by the fact that
Lencewicz does not regard them as representing vfossilv forms and the climate
of times past, but thinks that they have been wholly or in part formed and still
are being formed under the climatic conditions now reigning.
Dunes in Germany.
Regional distribution. The map accompanying Keilhack's paper (1917) for the
first time gives a full idea of the extensive regional distribution of the dune-fields
in Germany. Both in the paper itself and on the map Keilhack points out the
close connection between the glacial border drainage channels, the >Urstromtalers,
and most of the dune-fields. He gives the following survey of the geographical
distribution of the dunes:
>Die Ubersichtskarte zeigt als erstes wichtiges Ergebnis, dass die grossen
Diinengebiete Norddeutschlands im wesentlichen an die breiten diluvialen TalzUige
gekniipft sind, sowie an die mit ihnen in engem genetischem Zusammenhange
stehenden, ihnen eingeschalteten Staubecken, und an die ebenso eng mit ihnen
verkntipften ausgedehnten Sanderflichen. Da letztere ebenfalls mit den Talsand-
flachen vielfach so eng verbunden sind und in ihren Oberfliachenformen ihnen so
ausserordentlich gleichen, dass eine Abtrennung vielfach mit grossen Schwierig-
keiten verkntipft oder ganz unsicher ist, so habe ich einen Teil solcher talartigen
Sandergebiete in der gleichen Weise dargestellt wie den Boden der Urstromtaler
selbst. Auch sie sind mehrfach Trager ausgedehnterer DiInengebiete. Da, wo
wir Diinen auf den eigentlichen Hochflichen sehen, wie vielfach in der Umgebung
von Berlin, machen wir fast immer die Beobachtung, dass sie sich selten weit von
solchen diinenreichen Tilern, Becken und Sanderfl•achen entfernen. Die wenigen
Ausnahmen k6nnen nur als Bestatigung der Regel dienen. Ungeheure Gebiete
sehen wir frei von grossen Diinengebieten, nimlich alle grossen Hochflachen im
Norden und Sliden des Netzes unserer Urstromtiler sowie die grossen Hoch-
fliacheninseln innerhalb dieses Netzes. Die in der Karte Weiss gelassen und damit
als frei von Diinen bezeichneten Flichen sind dies natiirlich nur in dem Sinne,
dass grosse zusammenhingende Flugsandgebiete darin fehlen. Die untere Grenze
fir die Darstellung der einzelnen Diunengebiete habe ich bei Massen von einer
halben bis einer deutschen Meile angenommen; da aber, wo kleinere Diinengebiete
in sehr grosser Zahl auf engem Raum auftreten, sind sie zusammengefasst und
in der Karte als einheitliche Fliche eingetragen worden. Hitte ich alle kleinen
Einzeldiinengebiete mit aufnehmen wollen, so ware das Bild von einer erdriickenden
Fiille von Duinen besetzt erschienen, und jede Ubersichtlichkeit wire verloren
gegangen.>
Keilhack calculates that the dune-bearing regions form some 5 % of the area
ANCIENT INLAND DUNES OF EUROPE 181
of North Germany, if those fields are also reckoned which are too small to be
shown on his map.
Only one large dune-bearing district in the interior of Germany is not con-
nected with the >Urstromtiler> namely that south of Frankfurt am Main, the
dunes there being built up from the fluviatile deposits of the Rhine valley.
The regional distribution of the German and Polish dune-fields has greatly
influenced the discussion of their age and formation. The fact that they are
most abundant in a region with periglacial position during the time when the
last land-ice melted away from Germany and the Baltic lands, might naturally
be interpreted as due not only to the existence of large sand-deposits within that
zone, but also to special climatic conditions near the ice-border. In fact this
supposition has led to the theory of a periglacial formation of the dunes put
forth by Tutkowsky (1912) and others. Certainly even for Solger (1905, I9 io)
the situation of the dunes at the former ice-borders has been ultimately decisive,
although in the shape of the dunes he sees evidence of periglacial east-winds;
and starting from this supposition he formally founds his conclusions as to the
age of the dunes on his interpretation of their morphology.
Because of the explicit description of the geographical distribution and geo-
logical position of the German dune-fields, given by Keilhack, I refer to his paper
for further details which do not appear on the map or from the above quotation.
Only regarding some circumstances which may influence the climatological discus-
sion in the final chapter of this treatise, I will later on call attention to some
further facts of importance.
On the other hand, Keilhack only very summarily touches upon the morpho-
logical problems of the dunes. In order to maintain the uniformity of my treatise,
however, I have found it necessarry to give special descriptions of some of the
German fields. Besides, a study of some traits in the morphology seems to me
also to elucidate even other climatological questions than that of the direction of
the dune-driving winds.
There can hardly be any doubt that all the large dune-fields connected witl/
the border drainage channels are formed during the same epoch. Even their
geographical situation makes this probable, but above all it is proved by the
extraordinary similarity in their morphological development. In some cases,
however, more or less isolated dunes are to be found, the orientation of which
may possibly indicate other formative conditions. If due regard is paid to these
exceptions, a detailed examination of a great number of fields would thus hardly
yield any new results beyond those obtained by the examination of a few charac-
teristic ones. In the sequel I therefore intend to limit the descriptions accordingly.
The general difference which lies in the greater size and finer development of the
182 IVAR HO0GBOM
dune-fields, the further east one goes in Germany, I shall have an opportunity to
touch upon when discussing the climatic conditions of dune-formation. As the
dunes are far better developed in the eastern than in the western regions, though
there is no essential difference as to their morphology, I shall chiefly dwell upon
the former, as earlier writers have done. Even round Berlin and south of it well-
developed and instructive dune-fields are to be found, so it is really west of that
district that the dune-formations can be said to be palpably less instructive.1
In the following description of the German dune-fields, I am first giving a
survey of some of the most characteristic ones in the central and eastern parts
of the >Urstrom>-region in order to form a conception of the main morphological
features; afterwards I shall also dwell upon some of the fields which are more
exceptional as to the situation or to the development of the dunes. As widely
diverging opinions have been put forth regarding the age of the German dunes
I shall finally dedicate some pages to a review of these questions before extending
the description eastwards to the dunes of Poland and the eastern Baltic States.
One of the few German dune-fields which lie within geologically detail-mapped
regions, is that falling mainly within the geological sheet Gr. Schcnebeck. This
dune-field has a greatest width of 7 km and a length of 20 kin, and extends
lengthwise about WSW--ENE. The dune-formation covers the whole width of
the broad sand-girdle immediately outside the range of the end-moraines, which
bends here locally in a more northerly direction. West of the dune-bearing field
follow, a little lower situated, marginal drainage channels and alluvial formations.
The dune-bearing sand-plateau rises slowly to the east, the most westerly dunes
lying at about 55 m, and the most easterly ones at 65 m above the sea.
The dunes and dune-complexes are chiefly U-shaped and open towards the
west; the wings, however, are often very elongated, so that in parts of the field
the longitudinal forms are most prominent (cfr Fig. 19). Here as elsewhere in
Germany, however, these have not the character of garmadas, but are to be
considered as relict wings, remaining after the central parts have wandered further.
Nor are there any fully developed wind-furrows, and >)Kupsten>>forms are also
missing. The dunes here met with can in fact be regarded as an extreme type of
the different kinds of bow-formed and horseshoe-formed dunes in Germany. They
"p
>
600
=200
Fig. 19. Dunes in the Gr. Sch6nebeck Forest. According to the geological sheet >Gr. Schbnebeck'.
are in many respects suggestive of dunes from present half-fixed regions, but
there are important dissimilarities, in the first hand manifested by the fact that
the longitudinal forms extend wind-wards and not lee-wards from the transversal
ones, wherefore it seems that it is hardly possible to ascribe the nature of these
disjointed horse-shoe dunes to the influence of vegetation. Characteristic of
secondary sand-drift in all imperfectly bound dune-fields seems, on the contrary,
to be the occurrence of rather capricious breaches, causing either irregular
or a breaking through of the dunes with ensuing garmadas
>>Kupsten,>-formations
on the lee-sides. There are also some other fields (cfr Fig. 24) which are
distinguished by too geometrical a development to be ascribed to secondary
deflation of dunes in a half-bound condition. Another explanation seems then
to lie nearer at hand, namely changes in the sand-supply, which, as already
184 IVAR H 0 G BOM
mentioned, affects the development of the dune-forms. Such changes are indeed
to be expected, since the vegetation must first take possession of the lower,
plains, from which the sand is blown to the dunes, while the dunes themselves,
and particularly their highest parts, are the last to be fixed by vegetation. Hence
it is deflation, not as previously accumulation, that has become decisive for the
development of the dunes. The equilibrium which formerly prevailed, and which
has given rise to transversal dunes, has been disturbed, because the sand-supply
has given out or been reduced; thus the shape of the dunes does not answer to
the new conditions and thus is subjected to re-arrangement.
Fig. 20. Section of a series of dune-bows at Eberswalde. Length of the section I km. Heights
twice exaggerated.
ckeawalde
*~ Mk-
.~1
--.Brt A
-?~yo
---- " ... _. .. • - _-
....
besides, several scattered dunes, among which one or two longitudinal branches
are particularly prominent owing to their length and size. The distribution of
the dunes appears in more detail in Fig. 21 reprinted after Solger (g1910, p. 159).
There is a considerable difference between the two dune-complexes mentioned.
Schlage-Berge, which complex has a length of 6 km and a breadth of up to
1,2 km, shows a series of about 15 successive U-shaped dunes, the wings of
K#--?:-
,41 41 !011" 4,?'4 N:?4
7i'_-'!%p JV It IL
17
WA I I-A.
tA
Ir
It
Fig. 22. Dune-complex NW of Baruth (cfr >)Schlage-Berge>>,Fig. 21) Contour lines with 5 m
aequidistance accentuated. Scale I :5o.ooo. From Messtischbl. Paplitz.
which follow each other on a line forming a sharp limit towards the not dune-
bearing regions to the south and north. A certain asymmetrical development of
the dune-segments, giving their central parts an oblique length-direction, appears
in this field as well as in some others. The dunes reach a height of as much
as 18 m and show a marked difference between the windward-side, gently declining
186 IVAR H0)GBOM
towards the west, and the lee-side, falling steeply towards the east. As generally
is the case with horse-shoe dunes, a difference in the inclination of the sides is
perceivable even where the wings show a bend approximately parallel to the
general direction of the sand-driving wind.
A cutting of a dune at the high-road north of Neuhof shows an earlier over-
blown dune-side, Fig. 23. This is very uncommon within the dune-regions in
Central Germany. If, on the other hand, recent sand-drift had been of any im-
portance for the forma-
tion of the dunes, such
-lit
intersections would of
course be found very
often, as well as tree-
trunks etc. embedded in
the dunes. Fig. 23 is
therefore chiefly inten-
ded to illustrate a rare
exception, which would
in fact have been of ge-
neral occurrence if the
theory advocated by
Lencewicz in regard to
the Polish dunes had
been applicable to the
Fig. 23. Cutting of a southerly dune-flank N of Neuhof. Photo towards
German ones. Although
the west. (Cfr Fig. 22.) the stratification within
this cutting is not very
marked, it seems, however, to indicate wind-side accumulation from the north
within the inner parts of the dune. On the other hand, the steepness of the
overblown surface corresponds to that of a lee-side. This instance would thus
illustrate also the reversal of the wind-side and lee-side, which, as mentioned,
often can be noticed on the southern flanks of the horseshoe-dunes or on the
southern rand-dunes in some complexes.
The dune-complex south-east of Baruth is typically V-shaped. The more com-
plete deflation within the northern part of the dune-complex is sufficiently
accounted for by the circumstance that the wind. has had freer play here than in
the southern part which is sheltered by the higher ground windwards. It is
proved by these two fields, lying so near each other in the same marginal
drainage channel, that small differences in the topographical conditions directly,
or perhaps indirectly by varying the possibilities for an interference by vegeta-
tion, may bring about considerable dissimilarities in the morphology of the dunes.
ANCIENT INLAND DUNES OF EUROPE 187
In this case the supposition lies nearest at hand that a more limited supply of
sand has conditioned the V-shaped development of the dunes south-east of Ba-
ruth.
The Luibben complex, however, has its greatest interest in the indication it
gives of two different phases of dune-drift, a first one during which a straight or
only gently curved, dune-segment was formed, and a later one during which this
dune-segment has been blown asunder and a V-shaped dune or rather a V-
shaped dune-complex has been formed.
Here a still more beautiful phenomenon appears of the same kind as that
already mentioned from Gr. Schbnebeck. The symmetrical development of the
complex is particularly striking; this indicates, still more strongly than was the
case with the fields already described, that the later phase of the dune-drift has
not been caused by attacks of the wind upon the irregularly distributed gaps
left unshielded by an imcomplete covering of vegetation.
If, nevertheless, this morphology may be imagined to have been caused under
the conditions offered by an incomplete vegetation, two alternative explanations
present themselves. Either the transformation of the earlier bow-formed dune
into the V-shaped complex denotes the last stage in the dune-drift when vegeta-
tion has already got a hold, or it denotes a new period of sand-drift which has
commenced since the dunes from the first period have become fixed by vegeta-
tion. I shall have an opportunity of touching upon this question later on.
It should be added that in a preliminary report on the field work for the
Liibben and Luiibbenau sheets Kaunhowen (1916 p. 526) gives the following inter-
pretation of the genesis of the dunes:
>Recht weite Verbreitung haben von den alluvialen Bildungen noch die Diinen.
In den weiten Talsandflachen zu beiden Seiten des Flusses, besonders auf seinem
rechten Ufer, treten sie in grosser Zahl, bald als scharfe, sich oft einige Kilometer
hinziehende Walle, bald als hohe Riucken, bald als ausgedehnte wild kuppige
Partien auf. Die langgestreckten, schmalen Diinenwialle sind namentlich auf dem
rechten Ufer des Flusses in der Bbrnicher Forst verbreitet. Die Spiel- und
Pfaffenberge westlich bezw. nordlich von Liubben, erheben sich je 15 m (65,6 m+
NN), die Schusterberge bei der Oberfdrsterei Bbrnichen (alles reine Flugsand-
bildungen) (63,5 m) rund I13 m tiber dem Talsandboden. Die Schiittrichtung ist
verschieden: Die meisten Diinen, namentlich die schmalen, langgestreckten Wiille
6stlich des Flusses, verdanken siidlichen Winden ihren Aufbau; zuweilen ist auch
die Wirkung westlicher Winde erkennbar. Auch die Schusterberge sind im all-
gemeinen durch siudliche Winde aufgeschiittet; nur ihr h6chster Kamm zeigt n6rd-
liche Windwirkung. Auf dem linken Flussufer herrscht gleichfalls die Wirkung
siudlicher Winde vor; doch tritt daneben auch hiufiger die n6rdliche Windrichtung
hervor?.
From this quotation it appears that Kaunhowen gives an explanation of the
morphology of the dune-complex in the B6rnicher Forst which altogether differs
from the one that I have given above. Kaunhowen has probably based his
ANCIENT INLAND DUNES OF EUROPE 189
Fiog. 25. ?
Cu
CD.
ground.
It is also possible, however,
ANCIENT INLAND DUNES OF EUROPE 191
that the asymmetrical reversal of the lee-sides and windward-sides of the wings
to the north during the last stage of dune-drift has in certain places been of im-
portance for this development.
One of the greatest and most instructive dune-fields within the >Urstromtilera
is that situated between the rivers Warthe and Netze on both sides of the pre-
sent (1923) German-Polish frontier.' Lehmann (1907) has given a description of
this field, and due attention to its importance has been paid also by later writers
on the German dunes, specially by Solger (19i10).
Because of present political conditions I have had to refrain from visiting this
field as well as those lying farther to the east. The following description is thus
based upon studies of the topographical maps, in the first place of the excellent
German >Messtischblitter> on the scale of I : 25,000 , besides, I have made use
of some of the notices given by Lehmann (1907), to whom also refer further parti-
culars regarding this field.
The map Fig. 26 represents the main dune-field; in its prolongation both
to the west and to the east, however, there exist smaller dune-fields or scattered
dunes. The dunes of Czarnikau, which will be mentioned later on, are situated
north of the eastern part of the map, on the northern side of the river Netze. The
total length of this dune-region, which begins at the Oder and continues almost
to the place where the Warthe, coming from the south, bends to the west, is
about 150 km.
The Warthe and the Netze, running parallel to each other and on each side
of the dune-bearing plateau, both follow the northernmost >)Urstromtal>to the
WSW. The Warthe runs close to the dune-field, whilst the Netze is separated
from it by a dune-free zone some io km wide.
On the map I have schematically separated, by a dotted line, the low and flat
drainage valleys of the rivers from the older glaci-fluvial plain. The western part
of the latter is practically free from dunes and has the character of a deflation
area. The topographical maps in fact indicate a very insignificant, although
characteristic undulation of the surface, with the forms extending west and east.
There is a slight rise from these western parts of the field and to the easternmost
dunes; the altitude of the former is about 40 m whilst the latter lie at about 62
m. The level of the river Warthe lies in the east at about 35 m and in the
west at about 20 m above sea level.
1 For the sake of convenience I prefer to examine here as well the parts of the dune-region in question
which are situated within present Poland.
2 The main dune-area is enclosed within the sheets I :25,ooo): Gottschim
(Messtischbliitter (1707),
Altsorge (1708), Schneidemtihlchen (1709), Neubrtick (I7Io), Schwerin (I778), Waitze (1779), Birnbaum
(1780), and Zirke (1781).
192 IVAR HOGBOM
The central zone of the main dune-field (Fig. 26) is some 8 kms wide and
is characterized by a horseshoe-formed strike of the dune-ridges, which are
forming a dense net-work. In the middle of the zone the dunes are only slightly
bow-formed, turning the concave side towards the west, whilst near the borders
of the zone the deviation of the ridges towards the west is almost complete, the
dune-flanks, especially at the southern border, joining each other in the same
manner as already described from the Luckenwalde-Baruth field. At the latter
place, however, most of the dunes run from one border to the other presenting
uninterrupted horseshoe-forms, whilst at the Warthe there is a swarm of transversal
ridges arranged according to the general horse-shoe striking across the field, the
individual dune-ridges attaining a length of only one or two kilometers. The
dunes in the middle of the field, therefore, have a true transversal character.
Naturally, a case of strictly parallel dunes is not in question, in fact they show
everywhere ramifications and garlands, but always with a general common trend.
The dunes show well developed wind-sides to the west and lee-sides to the east,
the slopes of the former according to Lehmann (1907, p. 358) averaging 30-8'
and of the latter 250-3o'. The usual height of the dunes is about 20 m, but
much higher ones are often met with; in the western part of the field there is
in fact one dune which reaches 43 m above the plain. Also amongst the eastern-
most dunes there are some ones which attain heights of 30 m and even some-
what more. Counting with 20 m as an average for the heights of the dunes,
Lehmann calculates that the total mass of sand within the dunes amounts to 6oo
to 8oo millions m3. A section along the middle of the zone would show about
60 ridges at average intervals of about one kilometer.
A comparison between the Luckenwalde and the Warthe fields indicates that
the horse-shoe form and its dimensions are dependent on the breadth of the dune-
field. Where the field is wide enough, horse-shoe dunes do not develop, as a
rule, but garlands of gentler bow-forms and deviated flank-dunes are to be
found only near the borders of the field. This is also well illustrated by the
morphology of the Mora-field in Sweden, described in the previous chapter.
Within the central zone of the Warthe field, however, there are some exceptional
horse-shoe dunes, but they seem to be found only at places where the ridges lie
less close to each other and thus a more individual development has been possible.
Outside the main dune-zone, and particularly on its southern side, on the some
three kilometers broad strip alongside the Warthe, on the other hand, there are
horse-shoe dunes and longitudinal ridges of quite another type than the transversal
dunes of the interior of the main-zone. Some few of them are of the type de-
scribed from Luiibben, showing remnants of a primary, straighter bow between the
flank-ends. The best developed one is to be found on the Neubriick sheet. It
is noteworthy that these forms are situated at the borders of the field and not in
ANCIENT INLAND DUNES OF EUROPE 193
the center of it. If they had been due to sand-drift when the field was partly
fixed by vegetation, one would have expected that the higher situated and drier
inner parts of the field in the first place would have been exposed to the attacks
of the wind. Also this example, therefore, seems to indicate that the dune-type
in question is due to other conditions than those which are presented by an in-
complete covering of vegetation making a partial reopening of the dune-drift
possible.
Also on the north-side of the main dune-zone there are similar longitudinal or
horseshoe-formed dunes, although less numerous.
It is interesting to note, that Lehmann does not regard any change in climate
as necessarily evidenced by the existence of this mighty dune-field. Now it would
seem that the further east the fields are situated which have been studied by the
several scientists, the more these have felt inclined to give a quite actualistic ex-
planation of the formation of the dunes. So it is with Lencevicz regarding the
Polish dunes and Cholnoky regarding the Hungarian ones. On the other hand,
those scientists who mainly have had their attention fixed upon the Middle Ger-
man dunes make usually no mention of such an eventuality that the present cli-
matic conditions would make a dune-drift possible on the scale evidenced by the
ancient fields. In accordance with this is the fact that from the western fields
hardly any notices are given regarding possible recent sand-drift. Of the WVarthe-
Netze field, however, Lehmann says (1907, p. 375): )iNahmen wir die Forstbe-
amten aus dem Zwischenstromlande weg, giben wir Streunutzung und Herden-
trieb frei, dann wilrde Misswirtschaft, unterstiitzt von einigen Waldbrinden, uns
in Balde Bilder friuherer Ode wieder vor Augen stellen und ruhende Diinenkdmme
zu neuer Wanderlust erwecken>.
Lehmann also, however, recognizes that there has been epochs of intenser sand-
flight, as he finds verified by the different types of dunes met with on the field,
but he does not venture upon any opinion about the age to which they correspond.
Not having any personal knowledge of the field, for my own part I feel incli-
ned to judge that the Warthe-Netze field and also those farther to the east have
got their main features not during present climatic conditions but during the same
epoch when the dunes on the western fields were built up. However, it seems
undeniable that accidental reopenings of the sand-flight in historical time on some
places in these fields have not been uncommon. This is in fact also made pro-
bable by the topography of the dunes as shown by the detailed topographical maps
(1:25.000) on which the dune-ridges at places appear far less regular than on
the fields farther to the west.
Lehmann gives the result of mechanical analyses of 12 samples from the field,
from which it appears that the sand is unusually fine-grained. The averages of
his figures are as follows:
13 Geograishka Annaler 1923.
194 IVAR HOGBOM
Size of the grains in mm.: 2-1 1-0.5 0.5-0.2 > 0.2
12 samples from the Warthe field ...... 0.2 4.8 37.9 57.-
Furthermore, Lehmann states that within some of the dune-complexes the sand
is finer in the eastern dunes which have wandered a greater distance than in
the western ones. He seems, however, not to have found any regular increasing
in the size of the sand eastwards within the whole field. If this is not due only
to the samples being too few, it would indicate that the easternmost dunes have
not wandered further than the other ones, but that the dunes have originated
more or less evenly over the whole field.
The Warthe-field shows many interesting hydrographic features, some of which
may be mentioned in this connection.
Within the central parts of the main dune-zone there are some small pools
without outlet, showing that the ground-
water level lies near the surface of the
dune-plateau. Outside the main dune-
v 1) zone there are several small lakes, most
of them long and narrow and extending
at right angles to the direction of the
4A'- field and the rivers. The lakes situated
It south of the dune-zone have outlets
to the Warthe, whilst the outlets of
1A A -A4AA14 the northern ones run to the Netze.
Their most remarkable feature is perhaps
that the basins seem to be of younger
. "t "IAli date than the dunes, as at some places
AA~
Ala
the more or less longitudinal dune-ridges
continue on both sides of the lake. A
--3--- - closer examination of the work of some
44 /7fv
backward eroding brooks seems to in-
dicate the origin of these basins. These
brooks have eroded broad and very
shallow channels with a flat bottom.
Fig. 27. Brook eroding backwards in the dune-
I : 25.00ooo. From Messtischblatt
This shape of the channels is most
plateau, Scale
Zirke. probably due to lateral backward erosion
caused by the oozing out of ground-
water above an impermeable layer of clay of which Lehmann speaks, perhaps
combined with a solifluction.
The basins of the long and narrow lakes - which according to Lehmann have
a maximum depth of 4-5 m - seem to me to be such channels, which have
ANCIENT INLAND DUNES OF EUROPE 195
been separated from the river by the growing up of marsh-vegetation. The latter
is probably a consequence of the elevation of the river level because of sedimentation,
which has also caused a general elevation of the ground-water level and the filling
up of the basins. That really a considerable sedimentation has taken place ap-
pears from the profiles from the Netze valley mentioned below.
Lehmann, on the other hand, regards the basins of these lakes as channels of
the melting-water from the land-ice; this, however, to me seems incompatible
with the statements made above.
The fields which have been treated on the preceding pages belong, both on
account of size and regular development of the dunes, to the most instructive
ones. Within some less extensive dune-occurences in North Germany there
are, however, dunes the development of which indicates that they have possibly
been driven by other winds than the due westerly ones which have built up all
the large fields.
This is the case, for instance, in the neighbourhood of Wittemberge in the Elbe
valley. Thus, in the description appended to the geological Rainbow-sheet it is
stated that the dune-banks run mainly in a west-east direction, which is taken
as a sign of their having been driven by either north-winds or south-winds.
From the topographical denotation in the sheet, however, nothing is to be gathered
regarding the shape of these dunes.
In the next sheet to the south, Schnackenburg, there is stronger reason to
suppose that during some epoch north-winds have been driving, since a couple
of dunes seem to have been driven out from the large sand-field to the north on
to the >Schlickv, which takes up the central and southern parts of the sheet.
This circumstance is also noticed in the description appended to the map.
It should be mentioned, however, that this development of the dunes is not
general for the region, on the contrary also on the lower Elbe the best developed
dunes show the influence of westerly winds. This comes forth by Sabban's
(1897) description of the dunes on the north side of the river in the neighbour-
hood of Ludwigslust. This author finds in fact that the orientation of the dunes
corresponds to the nowadays prevailing south-west winds. To me it seems,
ANCIENT INLAND DUNES OF EUROPE 197
however, most probable that these dunes also will prove to have originally been
built up by the same west-winds of which the other great dune-fields in Germany
bear evidence, and that the west-east orientation, which Sabban mentions as
exceptional, rather is the original normal one, whilst the SW-NE orientation
either is due to topographical conditions or to the influence of the winds in the
very last phase of the dune-drift in the same way as has been described above
from other fields.
Within the sheets Cremmen, Marwitz, and Rokrbeck west of Berlin there are
likewise dune-ridges extending mainly west-east. In the Marwitz sheet the topo-
graphical denotation indicates, besides, at least in one case, a wind-side declining
more or less gently towards the north and a lee-side falling rather steeply to the
south.
In all these cases the dunes are comparatively insignificant in size and also
of irregular shape. To a certain extent this impression may be strengthened by
the somewhat old and defective topographical basis of the maps, but there is in
any case no doubt that the dunes are not nearly so regularly developed as the
generally occurring west-wind-driven dunes. On the other hand, at least part of
them may hardly be considered as the remaining, disfigured wings of these,
because, as already mentioned, their situation in relation to the sand-deposits in
places is not compatible with such an explanation.
In some of the map-descriptions it is stated, with regard to these less well-
developed dunes that humous deposits occur in the dune-sand (sheet Schilde a. o.)
This might thus indicate that secondary dune-drift has been at work and that the
present topography of the dunes perhaps is not original.
The dune-field south of Frankfurt a/M is the largest one situated outside the
Urstromtdler; and consequently a somewhat detailed description may be allotted
to it.
The dunes are here to be found scattered or together in chains on the diluvial
plains extending from Frankfurt southwards on the east side of the Rhine. Be-
sides the dunes, there are quite extensive areas which are covered by undoubtedly
aeolian sands to a thickness of '/2--1 m, but which are not built up to dunes.
As I have myself made only a short visit to this field, the following description
and discussion are principally based on the study of the geological maps and
the descriptions appended to these.
The material comes undoubtedly from the Rhine excavations in the beds which
the river itself and its affluents have deposited during a previous stage. Already
the fact that the dunes are all situated on the east side of the river clearly indicates
that they are mainly driven by westerly winds. This is also shown by their profile
198 IVAR H O GBOM
grading slowly to the west and more steeply to the east. The dunes are not
very well developed, however, this seemingly being due to irregular winds
during the time of their deposition, and not to later transformations in a half-bound
stage, as they show no signs of destructive forms, such as >Kupsten> or wind-
furrows.
In respect of morphology this field does not present much of special interest.
The arrangement at some places of the dunes in parallel chains (e. g. Vierheim-sheet),
lying farther from each other than what corresponds to the usual distance between
dunes, is to be interpreted as due to two different periods of action, perhaps with
only a very short interval. This distribution thus would seem to be a parallel
on a very small scale to the distribution of the dunes between the Danube and
the Tisza described below. The bow form is not very well developed, the wings
usually having the forms of delayed spurs from the main range. The altitude
of the dunes is generally only about 6-8 meters, but among the highest ranges
some of I3 m in height are met with.
Although not so conspicuous, two dune-ranges also are to be seen on the
Mannheim-Ladenburg sheet, where the easternmost one is a somewhat broader
complex of several dunes and thus might be characterized as a little dune-field
extending in north-south direction.
The relation between the dunes and the different stages of erosion of some of
the Rhine affluents, especially the Neckar, is of importance, as a determination of
the relative age between the dunes and the old meanders is possible. On Fig. 28
I reproduce a sketch-map of the Neckar excavations in the dune-bearing plateau,
based on geological and topographical data from the Ladenburg sheet.
The dunes occupy here a zone 2 to 3 km broad, the western border of which
has an altitude of 102 m, that is to say about io m above the Rhine level.
Eastwards the plain slowly rises a couple of meters, the base of the easternmost
dunes lying on i05 m altitude.
The plain on which the dunes are situated represents a relic part of the sur-
face of the old Neckar delta; most other parts of it within the area of the map
being cut away by the old meanders of the rivers. In most cases, however, these
meanders are topographically very insignificant, as shown by the figures on the sketch-
map indicating the heights above sea-level.
Examining the geological map, one finds that aeolian sand of a thickness less
than I m also covers even other parts of the land than the above mentioned
zone. All deposits which can be termed as dunes, however, lie either on the
old delta-plain or eastwards from the main dune-bearing zone above Io05 m altitude.
Even regarding these latter occurrences it is probable that they rest on remnants
of the old delta, although it does not with certainty appear from the geological
ANCIENT INLAND DUNES OF EUROPE 199
map if they have not in some cases wandered out over meanders of the oldest
generation.
As regards the very minute layers of aeolian sand, which the map shows also
on the bottom of some meanders of the oldest generation, it is very possible that
143
1012
Friudechhfem
DI]=
Fig. 28. Sketch-map showing the position of the dune-ranges in relation to the
old meanders of the Neckar and the Rhine. According to the geological sheet
Ladenburg.
they have been blown out over the water and thus do not prove the existence
of later sand-drift.
Anyhow, it is striking, that, with the possible exception of some of the oldest
beds of the Neckar, the dunes are confined to the parts of the delta above the
very shallow meanders. Although later aeolian transport of the dune-sand thus
200 IVAR HO GBOM
may have taken place on a small scale, it is evident that there has been a previous
sand-drift period with climatic conditions other than those which have since prevailed.
It seems most natural to regard the Rhine-dunes as belonging mainly to the
same epoch as the dunes of the Urstromtiler. This interpretation is favoured
both by the fact that they were driven by westwinds and by their antiquity, as
proved by their relation to the old beds of the rivers.
There are, however, also differences to be noted between the Rhine dunes and
the northern dunes. The former ones do not show the same regular shape,
especially as regards the development of the windward- and the lee-sides. That
more irregular winds have been active on these dunes is also shown by the
irregular beddings to be seen in some cuttings within them, which where mentioned
already by Thuirach in his description appended to the geological Ladenburg
sheet. I have myself had an opportunity to make the same observations at the
same place from where he drew a profile for his description and even at other
places, but during the time of my visit no such great cutting was open. The
profile shows beds mainly corresponding to lee-side deposits blown from east and
west, the latter ones being the more important.
The theory of Solger, already alluded to in another connection, has got very
little support amongst those geologists in Germany who have themselves studied
the dune problems. In some cases, on the other hand, his views have been
adopted unreservedly by authors of hand-books on geology and studies in
ANCIENT INLAND DUNES OF EUROPE 201
The dune-fields situated within those parts of present-day Poland which for-
merly belonged to Germany, are known from the descriptions of German scien-
tists, while until lately only scanty and incomplete notices had been published
from the formerly Russian parts of that country.1 This deficiency has in great
part been supplied by the investigations of Wunderlich (1916) and Lencewicz
(1922). The fact that the Polish geologists formerly only more cursorily have
touched upon the dune-problem is due, according to Lencewicz, to the inaccessi-
bility to the scientists of the topographical maps during Russian r6gime.2
Lencewicz publishes in his treatise a sketch-map of the distribution of the
dunes within Poland, which map has served me as a basis for my map Fig. i8
in what regards what was formerly Russian Poland. How far the map of Lence-
wicz can be compared with that of Keilhack in exactitude I have not been able
to controle. Thus it is possible that on the map compiled by me the Polish
part is not quite commensurable with the German one.
It is clearly to be seen, however, on the map that the dune-formation extends
over wide areas in Poland, and further that dunes are not so exclusively con-
' Unfortunately language difficulties have prevented me from making use of works on dunes written
in Russian or Polish.
' A similar drawback has made it impossible for me to enter upon the morphological details regard-
ing the dunes east of the frontier of the German Empire, as the only maps which have been accessible
to me are the maps in I : I36,ooo of the Russian General Staff and in I : 200,oo000 of the K. K. Militlir-
geographisches Inst. in Wien.
204 IVAR H10 GGBOM
Wunderlich, as well as Lencewicz, recognizes that the dunes have been driven
by west-winds. The former bases his conclusions in that respect chiefly on the
jk
S#r6c
(p
wswaL Ajo
-.PAY* A
uwyuw6r
al Ark- RMZWIN ;
4t:
-Aso
20 km
kf"6w
r.
AL6
Fig. 29. Dunes in the neighbourhood of Warsaw. After Lencewicz (1922, p. 23).
geographical distribution on the dunes. He has found that where the rivers run
in a south-north direction the western shores are practically free from dunes,
whilst these abound on the east-sides. This he states to be the fact especially
regarding the Vistula, the Prosna, and the Warta (Warthe). The same rule he
finds verified on the rivers Narew and Bug, the former running NE-SW, the
latter ENE-WSW. Lencewicz, on the other hand, contests this statement, re-
ferring to his map showing the distribution of the dunes. Even this map,
however, seems rather to support the opinion of Wunderlich, at least concerning
the north and west of Poland.
Lencewicz also opposes, however, the hypothesis of Solger on the barchan-
nature of the horseshoe-dunes as on the whole the theory of the periglacial ge-
nesis of the inland-dunes maintained by the lastmentioned author, Tutkowsky,
and others, but he bases his conclusions upon the morphological evidences of the
ANCIENT INLAND DUNES OF EUROPE 205
dunes themselves. In fact he presents a very clear and decisive criticism of the
fundamental errors regarding dune-morphology, which have led Solger and others
to confuse transversal dunes and barchans.
The morphology and the position of the dunes in the border drainage chan-
nels of Western Poland is much the same as that which characterizes the German
Oe e e
*e
e e
e e e a el
*0Iwe .e4,
e;
O
e
to /e /
e to
to
to 0 Ae#1e.oil t
Fig. 30. Part of the dune-field of Puszcza Kampinoska NW of Warsaw. Scale I :40.000.
From the topogr. map of the Russian General Staff after Lencewicz (1922, p. 25).
dunes and which has been described above. Especially there is in all essential
respects a very great similarity between the Warthe-Netze field and the dune-fields
on the left side of the Vistula south of the towns of Thorn and Bromberg. Here
also very beautiful instances of deflation areas to the west of the main dune-fields
occur, often partly enclosed within the outmost marginal dunes or dune-complexes.
A nearer description of these fields would, therefore, mainly be a recapitulation
of the descriptions already given.
Also the dune-field of the Puszcza Kampinoska to the north-west of Warsaw is
of the type mentioned (cfr Fig. 29). I reproduce in Fig. 3o after Lencewicz a
part of the map of the Russian Gen. Staff from this field, which on account of
its accentuated drawing gives an unusually good idea of the topography within
such a network of dunes.
206 IVAR HO0GBOM
As regards the morphology of the dunes on the east-sides of rivers running
in a south-north direction, the observations of Wunderlich are very instructive.
He points out that the youngest dunes nearest to the river-sides constitute ridges
practically parallel to the river, whilst those situated farther east are characterized
by a parabolic form which is more pronounced the farther the dune has wandered.
He recognizes that the direction of the former is influenced by the direction of
the river, while the latter better indicate the direction of the dune-driving winds,
which he finds have been between W and NW. The figures given by him for
the length of the parabola-axis, up to 2,5 km and more, are fairly accordant
with those of some German fields. Wunderlich also states that a profile observed
by him in a fresh cutting in a dune east of the Warta shows typical west-wind
stratification. All the facts taken together contradict the east-wind hypothesis of
Solger.
Lencewicz states that some of the Polish dunes are always in a wandering state,
and therefore he concludes that no special hypotheses as to earlier dry periods
are necessary to explain their development. He seems also inclined to bring
these observations to bear upon the interpretation not only of the Polish dunes,
but also of the German ones, and it seems as if he would ascribe the different
views of Solger and others to their overlooking a phenomenon generally met
with in the dune-regions. Thus he says (p. 53): )D'apres Solger le sable 6olien
ne se forme plus, actuellement il ne fait que se deplacer. Toutkowskij dit, qu'il
ne connait pas un seul exemple de la formation d'une nouvelle dune>. Unfor-
funately, the notices of Lencewicz regarding recent sand-drift are very scanty;
and a more detailed and exhaustive investigation of the conditions under which
it takes place, and the forms destroyed and built up, would be of great interest
from many points of view for the understanding of the old dunes. Anyhow,
there is no doubt that at several places in Poland sand-drift is going on on a greater
scale than would have been supposed from earlier descriptions. Nevertheless
Lencewicz has overlooked some important facts which prevents too far-reaching
conclusions as to actualistic views on the genesis of most of the inland dunes.
This is evident even if the negative formulation of Lencewicz is taken into account:
>)Il est bien possible que jadis nous avons eu des conditions meilleurs pour le
developpement des dunes, mais l'observation montre que la d6flation peut se pro-
duire dans notre climat>.
In the first place, it is naturally inaccurate without reservations to apply to
the German dunes the conclusions based upon studies in Poland, where the cli-
matic conditions are of far more continental character, particularly as the obser-
vations of the German scientists are incompatible with his own. In the final
chapter I shall have an opportunity once more to return to the theoretical im-
ANCIENT INLAND DUNES OF EUROPE 207
portance of the different climatic conditions of the zones, within which the inland
dunes of Central Europe are situated.
But even regarding the Polish dunes it seems to be not only possible but cer-
tain that more favourable climatic conditions for dune-formation have been pre-
valent during past epochs. The existence of marshy ground over which the
dunes have wandered may be noticed even in the map here reproduced. This
fact indicates that the dunes in question may have been driven at a time when
the climate was less humid than is the case to-day, for no elevation of the level
of the Vistula, similar to that of the Warthe and the Netze, seems to have taken
place.
In Poland, as well as in Germany, the present summer winds as to their di-
rection accord fairly well with those which the dunes bear evidence of. Thus
Lencewicz publishes a table (1922, p. 42) of the distribution of the winds at
Warsaw during the different months of the year which shows the predominance
of westerly and (for July) north-westerly winds during the summer. He adds,
however, that even the influence of the north-winds, which are most frequent only
in May, can be traced on some dunes the branches of which are unsymmetri-
cally developed. This seems rather astonishing as according to Lencewicz' table
winds with a southerly component (SW-S-SE) constitute 38 % whilst those with
a northerly component (NW-N-NE) constitute only 30 % of the winds of the
year.
In discussing the time of a supposed intenser dune-drift than at present, Len-
cewicz concludes that this must rather have been the Litorina than the An-
cylus epoch He bases this opinion on a study of the situation of the dunes rela-
tively to the terraces of the Vistula. He admits, however, that the determination
of the respective ages of the latter is rather uncertain. It is remarkable that
dunes occur on comparatively low terraces, and from this fact Lencewicz natu-
rally draws the conclusion that the dune-drift has continued until a relatively late
epoch. A quantitative study of the dune-drift on the lower and on the higher
terraces is desirable, however, before any safe conclusions can be arrived at re-
garding this question. To judge from the instances cited by Lencewicz, it seems
most probable that the dune-drift on the lower terraces only corresponds to the
modest dune-drift of to-day, and that it means only that there has been no de-
finite end of the dune-drift period in Poland, but that during later times it has
been confined to particularly exposed places.
On the strength of comparisons with other inland dunes I should regard also
those in Poland as mainly having been driven during an earlier epoch than is
supposed by Lencewicz. And according to the above, none of the facts given
by Lencewicz seem to contradict this opinion.
208 IVAR HO0GBOM
The dunes within the southernmost part of Poland (the former Austrian Galicia)
have been studied by Romer (1907). Although in many respects his opinions
differ from those of Solger regarding the interpretation of dune-forms, yet he
believes in east-winds as having been of influence for the dune-formation, which
is also regarded by him as periglacial. Besides, he strongly emphasizes the fact
that most of the dunes have to be considered as shore dunes, the directions of
which are due to the directions of the rivers in question and to those subordinate
winds which blow at more or less right angles against the shores. In this latter
respect he goes perhaps too far, as even winds blowing rather obliquely against
the shores produce the same effect; and thus probably also in these regions the
prevailing winds in most cases suffice to explain the development of dunes. There
seem to be instances, however, where shore-dunes are met with on the wrong
side of the river, but in such cases the more unsheltered position with regard
to winds coming from the river-side have certainly caused the seemingly reverse
sand-drift.
From the former Baltic provinces of Russia Hausen (1913, a) gives some mi-
scellaneous statements about the occurrence of inland dunes. Unfortunately his
notices are very scanty and not accompanied by maps, so it is difficult to form
a conception of the morphology, and above all of the regional distribution, of
these dunes. Summing up the observations made, Hausen states only (1913, b, p.
S141):_>Fossile Diinen kommen im Binnenlande oft vor? and >Ich selbst habe fiber
diese Bildungen keine besondere Beobachtungen angestellt.>
14 Geografiska Annaler 1923.
210 IVAR HOGBOM
The maps of the Russian General Staff from these parts on a scale of I:I 26,000
are not sufficiently detailed for the dunes generally to appear, and when in one
or two cases they do, the different inclination of wind- and lee-side does not
appear. I have not had access to maps on a larger scale, if there are any such
for these districts.
From the low moor-land east of Riga Hausen states (1913, a, p. 125) that the
railway crosses old dunes, which generally have a N-S length-direction and a
height of up to io m. Likewise, there are dunes between Riga and Kurtenhof,
and evidently in several places within the lowland of Mitau. None of these oc-
currences appear as continuous dune-regions on the map, though in some places
the topographical inclination signs possibly refer to dune-sides. No conclusions
can be drawn, however, as to the distribution or the general direction of the
dunes.
One of the best developed of the dune-fields seems to be that between Wolmar
and Walk (Walga). Hausen states (1913, a, p. 103), about this field, that the
dunes are of a lenghthened shape like oses, but says nothing of their dimensions
or orientation. From one place, however, he notes that the dunes rise out of
marshy ground. Thus, from these regions also there are indications that other
climatic conditions have been prevalent during the epoch of dune-formation. On
the map of the General Staff some dune-like ridges are certainly indicated, but
it would seem that only those bordering on the road have come in and that more
distant formations of this kind have not been reconnoitred. It is not possible,
therefore, to draw any conclusions from the maps as to the wind-direction or
to the distribution of the dunes.
North of Lake Peipus there is a continuous dune-field which appears on the
map (Gouv. Kurland IV: 6). It is made up of a swarm of dunes, about twenty
in all, the length-direction of which lies NE-SW, and which generally show a
gentle curving, concave towards the NW. The topographical notation indicates
no difference between wind-side and lee-side; but with regard taken to the basal
form there can hardly be any doubt that they are really dunes of the usual type.
Of this field Hausen says (1913, a, p. 62): >>Sotrifft man im N des Peipus
eine grosse Schar ungef'ihr NE-SW streichender, kleiner, auf der Karte wurm-
f6rmig aussehender Diinenwalle, die oft vom Moorboden umgeben sind. Sie
markieren offenbar succesive Lagen eines Strandes, der sich gegen SE zuruick-
gezogen hat. Diese Strandverschiebung kann jedoch nicht als Resultat einer
Landhebung angesehen werden, weil die Gegend fiber der marinen Grenze liegt.
Meiner Auffassung nach sind diese Wille als Eisseestrandbildungen zu deuten."
Though on the topographical map there are no figures showing the altitude at
the dune-field, it is clear from the situation and shape of the dunes that this for-
mation has not been caused by any successive retiring of the shore-line. Under
ANCIENT INLAND DUNES OF EUROPE 211
1 Alf61d, in Hungarian meaning lowland, should as geographical nomen proprium be used to signify
the great lowland mainly extending east of the Danube as distinct from the Little-Alf61d, the lowland
on both sides of The Danube in the region of Posony (Pressburg, Bratislava). Cfr Cholnoky (19to a,
P. 275).
212 IVAR HO GBOM
Of the fields mentioned, that at Nyirsig, presents special interest for this treatise,
as dune-forms are there met with which are similar in shape, and probably in
age, to those previously described.
The Nyirsig field, in contrast to the fields between the Danube and the Tisza,
may be regarded almost as a single complex of dunes which practically may be
enclosed within one single boundary line. It is situated on a loess-plateau around
the northern part of which the Tisza bends. The altitude of the plateau is about
120-130 m above sea-level, while the plain to the west lies below ioo m. Along
the northern parts the dune-bearing plateau is almost bordered by the Tisza,
whilst, to the west, there is a broad zone of the young-diluvial plain between the
river and the plateau.
Cholnoky regards the shape of the Nyirsig dunes as due to the prevailing
foehn-like north-winds (1910 a, p. 291). In accordance to this view he concludes
that the fans of the rivers Ondova, Tapoly, Ung, and Latorcza situated to the
north of the field have provided the sand-masses of the dunes.
Having had the opportunity of visiting this field and of comparing the dune-
forms with those met with in Germany and Sweden, however, I must in some
essential respects dissent from the opinion of Cholnoky. As I have previously
pointed out, like Cholnoky I consider the longitudinal forms as characteristic of
deflation regions or of regions where the wind locally attacks sand-masses half-
fixed by vegetation. Cholnoky's interpretation of the dune-forms in Nyirseg, how-
ever, does not seem to be fully in accordance with this principle.
The fact is, that in Nyirseg, particularly in the south-eastern part of the field,
the dunes have far more similarity to the transversal dunes of Northern Europe
than to any longitudinal forms hitherto known (cfr Figg. 32, 33). Cholnoky does
not except these dunes, but regards them, as well as the rest, as having been
driven by north-winds and only slightly altered by the less frequent west-winds.
vDie Kamme dringt der Westwind in ihrem Mittelstiick etwas ostwarts ab, doch bleibt
die Hauptrichtung beinahe genau nordsiidlich. Am besten ist die vorherrschende
Wirkung des Nordwindes bei Mairia-P6csund Hajdu-Saimson zu sehen, doch springt
hier auch zugleich die Kombination dieser Wirkung mit der des Westwindes scharf
in die Augen> (Cholnoky, 191o a, p. 291). This difference of opinion, whether
one regards the dunes as longitudinal forms created by north-winds and slightly
altered by west-winds, or - as I do - as transversal forms driven by westerly
winds, possibly somewhat modified by north-winds, may seem to be of small im-
portance, were it not that, in the latter case, the dunes must be regarded as
giving evidence of a change in the climatic conditions. I will, therefore, try to
further precisize my opinion.
There is in fact a striking difference between the morphology of the central
214 IVAR HO0GBOM
and northern parts of the dune-region on the one hand, and that of the eastern
and south-eastern parts of it on the other. First, it is remarkable how much
greater and how much better developed the dunes are in the last-mentioned region.
PooP
-)r
Fig. 32.
ihdL'/Lva
Part of the south-eastern dune-area of Nyirsdg. Drawn according to the map of the
K. u. K. Militiirgeogr. Inst., sheet Nyir-B61tek and Hajdti-V'mos-Pdrcs.
In the interior of the field the topographical delineation in the maps reminds one
very much of that in the maps from the dune-fields between the Danube and
the Tisza, to be described later on, although in Nyirseg the striking is N--S
instead of NW-SE.
The dunes in the south-eastern parts of the Nyirs6g field, part of which is re-
presented by Figg. 32 and 33 are both in size and shape almost identical with the
ANCIENT INLAND DUNES OF EUROPE 215
. -J
9:1
. 4 ,
4r-., - M ?
We 104
rl =13 4
Fig. 33. Dune-morphology of the south-eastern part of the Nyirseg field, scale I : 75.000. From the
map of the K. u. K. Militiirgeogr. Inst., sheet Nagy-Kill6 and Nyir-Bitor.
the field and have wandered out over plain ground. They are thus to be regarded
as inflation dunes Even this fact supports the interpretation of them as transversal
dunes driven by westerly winds and not as longitudinal ones, as the latter forms
are characteristic of deflation regions.
Other circumstances also indicate that these dunes represent ancient forms,
which have developed when the predominant winds were other than the present
northern ones. Where wind-furrows are to be seen, they correspond to the present
north-winds, while there are no wind-furrows called forth by west-winds, although
the dune-ridges directed north-south would present far more prominent obstacles
216 IVAR HOGBOM
to be cut through by these winds. Thus it would seem that west-winds do not
nowadays influence the dune-topography; this, however, the north-winds do, especi-
ally in the interior of the field, where in fact beautiful wind-furrows and garmadas
are always developing at places where the vegetation in some way or other has
lost its binding power.
There are also other objections to be raised against the opinion of Cholnoky,
that the bow-formed dunes are the products of alternating stronger north-winds
and less strong west-winds. The obstacles presented by the dune-flanks to the
prevailing north-winds, would in the first place be attacked by these and obliterated.
Besides, if one wind produces longitudinal forms, there is every reason to suppose
that another wind, blowing from another direction and working in the same ma-
terial, would also work out longitudinal forms.
Thus, all facts taken together seem, in my opinion, to indicate that the dunes
in question are of transversal type, and that they have been driven by WNW-
winds; this does not correspond to the present climatic conditions, when, as
Cholnoky points out, the prevailing winds come from the north.
Another fact which goes to prove that these dunes date from older times, the
climatic conditions of which were other than the present ones, is the existence of
marshy ground and small pools between many of the dunes. This is especially
the case in the very part of the field drawn on the sketch-map Fig. 32. On account
of the small scale, however, it has not been possible to distinguish these occur-
rences.
A glance at a map shows that the distance between the southernmost dunes
in Poland and the Nyirsig field is not very great, in fact only some 2oo00km.
It is true that this interspace is occupied by the geographical barrier of the
Carpathians, on both sides of which different climatic types might be expected.
The climatic influence of the Carpathians, however, should not be overrated,
especially when discussing a period during which an arid climate, distinguished
by west-winds, dominated the north-side.
Although many questions remain to be answered before a definite conclusion
can be drawn, it seems thus most probable that the older transversal dune-forms
at Nyirsdg are of the same average age as the northern dunes. The great west-
wind sweep of finiglacial time is thus probably to be traced as far south as to
the north-eastern parts of the Hungarian lowland.
The fields between the Danube and the Tisza. As shown by the map of Cholnoky
(191o a) of the morphology of the Alfold, swarms of dunes are scattered over the
northern and middle parts of the old-diluvian land-surface between the two rivers
falling within the Komitat Pest and the northern part of the Komitat BTics-Bodrog.
According to Cholnoky, the dune-swarms show a zonal distribution parallel to
ANCIENT INLAND DUNES OF EUROPE 217
the rivers, indicating three drier periods (1910 b). The dunes corresponding
to the first of them have wandered as far as to the Tisza, which in one instance
north of the K6r6s junction, because of later displacement of the river-bed, has
even cut off part of the dunes which thus now lie east of the Tisza. The dunes
corresponding to the second phase are situated along the middle of the plateau
(Kecskem& e- Szabadka), whilst the youngest dunes border the western side of
the plateau. A difference in the sand may be observed; the finest, most even-
grained and rounded material is to be found farthest to the east, whilst the sand
of the western dunes is more rugged and unsorted (Cholnoky 19io a, p. 292).
The basal forms of these aggregations of dunes of themselves indicate that
they have been driven by north-west winds. Originating from the Danube line,
the sand-mass has not been sufficient to cover the whole surface but only spots
of it. The fields are thus undoubtedly accumulative, in spite of the longitudinal
forms which they usually exhibit. These forms seem, however, to be due to
secondary deflation. The fields are in fact very instructive, although most probably
an observer without previous knowledge of yet more marked forms of wind-furrows
and garmadas would overlook the true character of the dunes, had not the excellent
studies and comparisons of Cholnoky made it clear.
The extensions of the longitudinal dune-forms correspond entirely to the NW-
winds which now are predominant in these regions; and although here too it seems
possible to distinguish older dune-forms, they do not indicate any marked change
in the wind-direction.
These relic dunes met with at some places are barchans, more or less destroyed
by the later sand-drift, which has developed the longitudinal wind-furrows and
garmadas. Only in the immediate neighbourhood of old river-beds there are some
dune-ridges of transversal shape. The development of the longitudinal forms is
mostly complete, however; and there are generally no evidences at all left of any
barchans or transversal dunes of older date.
On Fig. 34 I have reproduced a sketch-map of one of the remaining barchans
west of the Kolom Lake, near Isztk (Komitat Pest), which is only in the begin-
ning stage of destruction. This dune-hill is partly fixed with vegetation, and
has, therefore, preserved its barchan character as a whole. In many places,
however, the sand is quite bare, showing beautiful ripple-marks and edges between
wind-side and lee-side; here the characteristic wind-furrow and garmada forms are
in the beginning of development. To the east of the highest point, there is
already a distinct wind-furrow with a garmada altering the shape of the eastern
wing of the barchan. The top itself is partly fixed, but another wind-furrow is
in the beginning of breaking through there also. Yet further to the west, there
is a third wind-furrow. The two last-mentioned ones are without a garmada
terminating them; this is in fact a quite usual form.
218 IVAR HOGBOM
In other places in the neighbourhood there are wind-furrows with small defla-
tion witnesses on the sides. Sometimes the side-ridges are clearly recognizable
as residua, but in other cases the right interpretation of similar longitudinal
>)dunes>>may be overlooked by the unprepared observer.
When I visited this region, strong southerly winds had prevailed for a short
time, and there were several opportunities of studying the overthrowing of the
small forms, the great ones everywhere
keeping their original shape built up by
north-west winds. Besides reversed wind-
sides and lee-sides on the smaller dune-heaps
there could e. g. be noticed also the rede-
position of sand from a garmada as a little
transversal dune with well developed wind-
and lee-side in the bottom of a wind-
furrow.
South of Budapest in the neighbour-
hood of the village Dunaharasti, I was
fortunate enough to have the dune-mor-
phology demonstrated under the kind gui-
dance of Prof. Cholnoky himself. The
0 . relief of the land-surface is not so pronoun-
ced here as in the easterly fields, perhaps
/1 partly because of an older cultivation of the
L
.... i ground, but anyhow, no one who has stu-
Fig. 34. Barchan showing later wind-furrows died the Cholnoky treatise on the syste-
(marked by arrows). The flank to the right is matics of dunes, can be in doubt regarding
being transformed into a garmada. About 5 m. the system of wind-furrows and garmadas
aequidistance between the isohypses Near Iszaik,
caused by the here prevailing north-west-
Kom. Pest. Eye sketch.
winds, which have given the landscape its
undulating character. The region is also interesting, because the longitudinal forms
are found near to the lee-sides of transversal shore-dunes, thus illustrating how
easily longitudinal forms under special conditions can develop from transversal
dunes.
The Delibldt field shows the most impressive examples of longitudinal aeolian
denudation and longitudinal dunes. I have not myself had the opportunity of
visiting this field, but the oral informations kindly given to me by Prof. Cholnoky,
as well as a study of the topographical maps, have enabled me to form a con-
ception of the origin and the morphology of the dunes. Unfortunately, the spe-
cial treatise on this field prepared by Cholnoky has not as yet been published;
ANCIENT INLAND DUNES OF EUROPE 219
in connection with other problems of the Alf61d, however, he has made clear his
opinion regarding the main features of the morphology.
The Deliblht field is situated on the great fan of waste which has been depo-
sited in the south-eastern corner of the Alf6ld, before the present drainage system
of the lowland had developed. In some respects the material of the field, in
which the aeolian forces have worked, gives the key to the development of the
forms of the dunes. The Deliblit sand is, as Cholnoky points out, no ordinary
dune-sand, but has more the character of a dusty earth. This indicates that, as
a whole, the Deliblit field, not only the south-eastern beginning of it, is a defla-
tion region, where only an insignificant separation of the material as to its coar-
seness, has taken place. The ridges are thus to be regarded rather as deflation
remnants than as dune-forms in the strictest interpretation of the word. Under
such circumstances it is quite natural, that longitudinal forms should prevail, and,
in fact, no other field offers better examples of a regular rifling. It is necessary,
however, to state that the longitudinal ridges, as a rule, are not to be regarded
as untouched remnants of the original deposits; but the decisive process seems
to have been the excavation by deflation, and the local accumulations have
adapted the longitudinal depositions accordingly. The longitudinal forms, being
less exposed to the action of the wind, explain also why the sand, under the
influence of the dry and strong south-easterly Kossava-foehn, has not been blown
free from the dusty material. It would be very interesting to know, whether there
is not to be found a material with a coarser medium size in the central and
distal parts of the field. If, contrary to the conditions in normal fields, this
should be the case, it would be possible to prove where the deflation ends and
where accumulation predominates. The fact that some barchans are to be found
in the centre of the field seems also to be in accordance with this supposition.
That they are lacking within the distal parts of the field may be due to a rapidly
decreasing power of the wind as it passes over the field, in consequence of which
only the finer material is transported further. If this is the case, the maximum
coarseness of the grains would be found in the middle of the field. Anyhow,
interesting data must be found if an investigation of the sand should be carried
out along a south-eastern - north-western line of this dune-field.
The usual rule, that negative conclusions as to previous climatic conditions are
not to be drawn, because remains of ancient dune-forms are lacking, is not quite
in place at Deliblit. There the question arises how it is possible that no separa-
tion of finer material has occurred in previous epochs, whereas present dune-drift
is going on, or was going on before the artificial binding of the sand begun.
The question cannot perhaps be answered until our knowledge of all the fac-
tors concerned has been widened; but the possible interference between the local
220 I V A R H O GB O M
winds and the more general west-wind system may offer one explanation, which
has, however, to be further proved.
I have thought the Deliblkit field worth mentioning, though it does not show
distinct ancient forms. It is, however, one of the largest of the recent inland dune-
fields and illustrates the conditions which make dune-drift possible during the pre-
sent climatic epoch, that is to say, in this place the sand-deposits cut through
by the Danube and the strong wind sweeping down from the mountains. It
is true that sand-drift also takes place in other regions of Hungary; but there it
is a question of rearranging the old dunes built up of the sterile free-blown sand,
whilst, at Deliblkit, the ground in itself offers a fairly good soil for vegetation,
as is indeed proved by the cultivation, which Hungary had just completed to a
high degree of efficiency before she lost this ground.
CHAPTER IV.
Some climatological Conclusions.,
Few, if any, problems have roused such an animated discussion amongst Scan-
dinavian geologists as that concerning the late quaternary development of the
climate, and it is natural that this should be so. Hardly any other chapter of
geology embraces such a multiplex material requiring to be managed with a de-
tective's skill in combinations and sense of the distinction between the essential
and the accidental. Especially this is true about the biological and phyto-geo-
graphical investigations, which, no doubt, have to solve most of the climatological
problems of postglacial time.
I
In order to avoid any extensive terminological definitions and to facilitate an outlook for foreign
readers over the problems here to be mentioned, I publish below an abbreviated synoptical table on
the principal divisions of late glacial and postglacial time according to the nomenclature in use by Swe-
dish scientists. Broader summaries of these problems can be found e. g. in L. v. Post (1909, p. 638)
and A. G. H6gbom (1913, p. 114). Cfr also Sandegren (1915, p. 37) and Sundelin (1917, p. 89).
Thousands of years: II Io 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 I Chr. B. I 2
t I I I I
Geochronology and geolo- Gotiglacial Finigl. P o s t g I a c i a time.
gical divisions of De
and Geerwtigim.
followers,ti.me time.
History of the Baltic Baltic Ice-Lake and Ancylus Littorina L i mne a Mya
(Munthe). Ice Sea stages. stage. stage. stage. st.
Climatological divisions Arctictim e.[ Sub- Boreal time. Atlantic time Sub-boreal Subatl. and
(Sernander a. o.) arct. (Warm, (Warm, time. present time
dry). humid). (Warm, dry). (Cold, humid).
Regarding the above inserted earlier climatological divisions it should be recalled that they evidently
cannot exactly fit into the absolute chronology of the scheme, as they to a certain degree refer to a
gliding scale (cfr Sernander, 1916, p. 136). It seems most suitable, however, generally to coordinate
the boreal time with the later half of finiglacial time and the very beginning of postglacial time in ac-
cordance with the conception of the climatic development arrived at through the geochronological re-
cords. This also conforms to the statements made by Sernander (1915, p. 538, 1916, p. 136).
222 IVAR H O GGBOM
flora, whilst in Middle Sweden a more temperate flora immediatly conquered the
ice-free land. So far geological and palaeo-botanical studies have given agreeing
results. (Cfr e. g. G. De Geer, I910, Gunnar Andersson and S. Birger 1912,
p. 122, and 1914, p. 559).
The relatively short period the climatic changes of which are registered by the
geochronological studies, is thus characterized by an intensifying of a warmer or
more continental climate during the finiglacial time. The existence of the great
terminal moraine belt, however, as well as some less conspicuous irregularities in
the recession of the land-ice, proves that this development was not a continuous
one. Anyhow, as there are no corresponding data of contradicting signification
available from the preceding and the following times, the climatic amelioration,
which caused the retreat of the ice, probably reached its greatest intensity in the
finiglacial stage.
This conception of the general climatic development accords well with the in-
terpretation of the age of the dunes which has been advanced in the respective
chapters of this treatise, viz. that the dunes situated within or connected with the
once ice-covered area of North and Middle Europe date from this terminal phase
of glacial time, the finiglacial epoch.
It remains, however, to discuss some climatological problems from the different
regions and to give some general conclusions of the climate of the time in question
based on a combination of the obtained local data.
Norway, indicate winds which have blown in the same direction as the run of the
respective valleys; thus it lies near at hand to draw conclusions as to the direct-
ing influence of the latter upon the winds. However, a map over the present
frequency of different wind-directions shows at different stations that this influence
58
A
4f D J#
759
.0
760
6 759
Fig. 35. Isobars and winds in July. H, high Fig. 36. Probable run of isobars and dominant
pressure. L, low pressure. (Mainly after Mohn, winds in finiglacial summer. II, high pressure,
H. E. Hamberg, and Hellmann). L, low pressure.
boreal epoch. Basing his views on the distribution of Trapa natans and Cladium
Mariscus in the different horizons of the peat-bogs, v. Post finds a change in the
type of climate from late finiglacial to early postglacial time, manifested by a
more marine climate during the former, and a more continental climate during
the later epoch. Without entering much upon the phyto-geographical and palaeon-
tological facts on which these conclusions have been founded, some remarks should
be made in this connection regarding the compatibility of the view that the boreal
climate was a maritime one with some geological evidences, to which the atten-
tion has been called in this chapter. I have already pointed out the facts which, in
my opinion, indicate that the finiglacial epoch was characterized by a more continental
climate, namely, in the first place, the rapid melting away of the landice, which
implies a low precipitation during winter and a high temperature during summer.
v. Post arrives at his conclusion regarding the boreal climate from the occur-
rence of Cladium in the peat-bogs. The present geographical distribution of
Cladium - which now lives in such different regions as the South Baltic coun-
tries, the valleys of the Alps, Portugal, and the Crimea - is considered to indi-
cate that the plant needs a maritime climate for its existence. Trapa, on the
other hand, is held to indicate a more continental climate during sub-boreal time,
when this plant had its greatest maximum in Northern Europe. The boreal
drought, the signs of which Sundelin (1917, pp 270, 285) and others find in the
low levels of the lakes, some of which would even have been without outlets,
and in the brackish diatomac4-flora of some of them, v. Post regards as a conse-
quence of an anticyclone in summer over the remaining ice-remnant in Northern
Sweden. Thus, according to the views of v. Post, it would be more proper to
speak of the maritime character of the boreal climate only during the cold season.
The conception of a maritime winter and, consequently, a relatively great snow
precipitation, however, seems too disaccordant with the geological evidences of
the climate of that time to be based on the occurrence of a hydrophilous plant,
such as Cladium.
Regarding the summer climate v. Post, as mentioned, considers that an anti-
cyclone existing above Northern Sweden, which at that time was still covered
with land-ice, produced east or north-east winds in the southern parts of the country.
According to the dune-studies in this treatise, however, the influence of the ice-
rest has not been intense enough to produce a fully developed anticyclonic wind-
system, but only interfered by deviating the winds due to general pressure con-
ditions. Besides, it seems impossible that a drought during summer only would
have caused a drying up of the lakes so that their levels sunk considerably be-
low the pass-point of the outlets and that a seasonary evaporation would make
the water brackish. Regarding the incompatibility of such variations in the level
of the lakes with the explanation of the stool-layers confer A. G. Hogbom (1916).
ANCIENT INLAND DUNES OF EUROPE 229
Sundelin (1919, p. 235) distinguishes as follows the type of climate which has
prevailed in Southern Sweden from that in the middle and northern parts of the
country in late finiglacial time. DDas von dem eiserfiillten kalten baltischen Meer
hervorgerufene kiihlfeuchte 'primatlantische' Klima, das wihrend der Eisschmelze
in der Kiistengegend Osterg6tlands und Smilands geherrscht zu haben scheint,
wahrend ein warmtrockenes boreales Klima weiter im Innern des Landes herrschte,
diirfte sich geltend gemacht haben, wenn auch immer schwicher, solange noch
ein grbsserer Eisrest in Norrland vorhanden war.)) The direct evidences of the
dunes do not contradict this opinion of Sundelin; on the contrary, the fact
that no ancient dunes have been found within Sma'land, for instance, seems rather
to support it. It has to be kept in mind, however, that dunes in that region
may exist, although they have not as yet been observed. And judged from the
point of view of the general run of the isobars constructed according to the
orientation of the dunes (cfr Fig. 36), the influence of the Baltic as a cold region
on the distribution of the air-pressure seems to have been only of slight im-
portance.
on my map Fig. 36. Hence, the two theories are in fact not so mutually con-
tradictory as could be supposed at the first glance; it is possible that the rapid
melting away of the ice is due to changed temperature conditions in the Norwe-
gian Basin as well as to the development of a pronounced lowpressure region
in the east of Europe during summer. The westwind-track of the German dunes
originates south-east of the Norwegian Basin; and consequently the humidity of
the winds cannot have been much influenced by changes in the northern part
of the Gulf Stream.
The dunes indicate a dry climate at the time of their formation, but to a cer-
tain degree strong winds may cause dune-drift at places which would have been
fixed by a xerophilous vegetation if exposed only to moderate winds. It is thus
possible that dunes once formed and covered by vegetation may withstand a
later dry period, provided that this period is relatively calm. The condition,
however, is always that the dunes are fixed by vegetation; if this is not the case,
no climate exists where such an absolute calm reigns that uncovered sand-dunes
are not attacked by the winds and thus destroyed or displaced. Especially on
the Mora-field in Sweden it is evident that no later sand-drift of any importance
has taken place, as there neither any secondary dune-forms occur nor a re-
newed wandering of the dunes has taken place. The unavoidable conclusion is
thus, that at least most of the/ Middle-Swedish dunefields have been destitute of
vegetation during no period since the time of the formation of the dunes. It is
rather astonishing that, notwithstanding this, accidental destruction of the vegeta-
tion caused by fires or by the action of man has not for a sufficiently long time
allowed the wind to disarrange the ancient dune-system.
The above conclusion regarding the continual vegetation which since finiglacial
time has covered the ancient dune-fields, and especially that at Mora, seems to
be of s5me importance for the reconstruction of the later climatic development
also. Evidently, the interest in this respect centres on the question how far the
interpretation here given of the history of the dunes contradicts the Blytt-Ser-
nander theory of the dry sub-boreal epoch. As it seems necessary to regard it
as an established fact that the dunes have been covered by vegetation, it is a
purely biological question to decide whether it is possible that a general drought
has ruled at the same time, manifested inter alia through numerous lakes without
outlet. This question, however, may be left for the botanists and phyto-geo-
graphers to answer.
In this connection the phyto-palaeontological study of Lundquist of the peat-
bogs containing dune-sand in Vtstergbtland, should be recalled, as it shows that
there too. the later driven dunes were fixed already in sub-boreal time, possibly
whith the exception of its beginning. These dunes are also interesting as an
ANCIENT INLAND DUNES OF EUROPE 231
evidence that southerly winds predominated at the time of the great postglacial
change from wet atlantic to dry sub-boreal climate. Unfortunately, similar obser-
vations from other regions most probably cannot be made, as dunes of this age
have not been met with elsewhere.
Solger theory, which requires direct east-winds. Particularly this is the case if
Poland is considered, where the main direction of the ice-border has been about
WSW-ENE.
During the warmer season there must also have been a low pressure over the
ice-free continent in the south-east compared with the pressure in the north-west;
and consequently the isobars could not have been determined solely by the cold
center presented by the inland-ice. The winds must, therefore, have blown more
southwards than corresponds to a simple inland-ice anticyclone theory. In other
words, the same deviation to the left, which has been found for the periglacial
winds in Scandinavia, must also have characterised the corresponding winds of an
earlier epoch south of the Baltic, and probably in a still higher degree. Conse-
quently, even according to Solger's interpretation of the morphology of the German
dunes, their orientation would not indicate the anticyclonic winds to be expected
outside the ice-border when it was receding from the regions south of the Baltic.
Furthermore, the foehn-character could not have been so pronounced as, for
instance, in Middle Sweden, as the falling height was due only to the thickness
of an ice-sheet thinning out slowly over the peripheric lowland.
Already this brief exposition tells against the Tutkowsky-Solger theory, the
untenability of which, however, most clearly appears from a study of the dune-
morphology itself, as I have demonstrated in a previous chapter.
Another side of the question is, whether sand-drift took place also at the time
when the inland ice was leaving Germany and Poland, although the thereby formed
dunes have since been destroyed by the later general sand-drift.
As I have briefly mentioned in the description of the German dunes, there are
some few dunes the morphology of which seems to indicate winds blowing from
the north. There is a possibility that these dunes may have been formed in a
periglacial situation, in which, as has been shown above, north-winds rather than
east-winds are to be expected. These dunes, however, are too insignificant and
too irregular to allow any general conclusions. It seems also improbable that they
should have resisted the later intense sand-drift which has built up the other dunefields.
Thus it must be said that there are no direct evidences left of a periglacial
dune-formation in Germany and Poland.
In this connection some attention. should be devoted to the loess question. For
those who have paid no notice to the form and to the orientation of the dunes,
as well as for those who have accepted the intrepretation of Solger, it is the most
natural thing to connect the history of the German and the Polish dunes with
that of the loess or at least of the youngest loess formation, the position of which
may indicate a late glacial age. According to the opinion advocated in this
treatise, viz. that the dunes were driven by west-winds, it is evident that there
exists no connection between the ancient dunes and the
loess.beds of Central Europe.
ANCIENT INLAND DUNES OF EUROPE 233
local foehn-winds from the inland-ice. On the other hand, the dunes south of
the Baltic, which nowadays are everywhere practically fixed by vegetation, ex-
cept at some places in Poland, indicate a former dry period, which according to
the statements in this inquiry, should correspond to the later part of finiglacial
time and, possibly, the earliest postglacial time, according to the nomenclature of
De Geer.
In order to get an idea of the changes compared with the present climatic
conditions which must be supposed to have taken place if the dune-drift at that
time is to be explained, several factors have to be considered.
Concerning the changes in the distribution of land and sea, those north of the
Baltic evidently have not been of any direct importance for the aridity of
the dune-driving winds south o0 the Baltic, as these winds have come from
the west or north-west. On the other hand, the existence of land outside Hol-
land may have been of some influence, as the west-winds at the epoch in quest-
ion had to pass a longer distance over land than nowadays, and thus may
have possessed a greater deficit of saturation when reaching the dune-regions.
It is true that the extension of land westwards at the time in question is not per-
fectly known, but it seems probable that most of the shallow North Sea was at
that time part of the continent, connecting England and Denmark (Reid, 1913).
This would mean that north-west winds reaching the present North Sea coast
would have passed a distance similar to that between Hamburg and Berlin over
land, perhaps consisting for the most part of marsh regions. Notwithstanding this
character of the ground, the winds must have got somewhat warmed in comparison
with the present west-winds in the same region. This difference, however, must
have been of comparatively insignificant consequence. Anyhow, I have thought
it worth mentioning as a local geographical factor which may have contributed
to a displacement westwards of the more arid areas, now to be found in Poland
and east thereof.
Lencewicz has stated that dune-drift is always going on at certain suitable pla-
ces in Poland, although evidently on a small scale, and farther east dune-drift is
still more common. The present 190 isotherm (not reduced to sea-level) encloses
in July, extending from southern Russia, part of southern Poland, whilst the great-
est part of Germany lies in July within the 18' and 17' isotherms. One may
thus roughly estimate that, if temperature alone were decisive, an elevation of the
summer-temperature of at least two degrees would be needed if dune-drift were
to go on in Germany at the ancient fields.
The Scandinavian phyto-palaeontologists have stated that during the climatic
optimum the summer-temperature was some two degrees higher than nowadays
(cfr Gunnar Andersson 19To, G. Samuelsson 1915), but the opinions regarding
the time for this climatic optimum are diverging. Sernander (191o) places it in
236 IVAR HO GBOM
sub-boreal time and Gunnar Andersson (19io) in Ancylus time, that is to say
more or less at the same time as the dune-drift went on. However, one may
hardly draw any strict parallels with the testimony of the dunes in this respect,
as it refers to the region south of the Baltic from where no similar determina-
tions regarding a climatic optimum are at hand.
Besides, the intensity of the winds and the amount of precipitation play such
a part in the dune-building processes that any estimation of the changes in tem-
perature must be done with reservation for the influence of changes in the other
climatic factors. The above reasoning regarding the run of the isotherms, however,
may serve to illustrate the displacement west-wards of the climatic regions compared
with nowadays, which can be supposed to have characterized the dunedrift
time.
at that time, the gradient may be supposed to have been greater and, conse-
quently, the winds stronger than now.
The same effect might also regarding Middle Europe has been brought about
by the general displacement of the climatic zones towards the North, which can
be supposed to have taken place during the probable climate optimum charac-
terizing the time in question, and on account of which the Azoric maximum,
which now includes part of Europe, even more than at present, might have in-
fluenced the climate of Middle Europe.
In all probability surer and further reaching conclusions regarding the climatic
development may be based on a continued study of the dunes, if this is com-
bined with the experiences from other branches of science. This, however, re-
quires a material of observation not yet brought together. Especially it is to
be expected that examinations of peat-bogs in the ancient dune-regions, combined
with the evidences of the dunes themselves about the climatic conditions, will
bring about new results.
In this treatise the dunes mainly have had to speak for themselves, and only
incidentally I have brought their testimony in connection with observations of
other than physico-geographical or geological character. This, I believe, also
has been the most advisable in a monograph over the ancient dunes. On the
other hand, for a general survey of the late quaternary climatic development the
dunes, of course, must be only a detail, the evidences of which have to be
weighed against those arrived at by other means.
LITERATURE.
List of works referred to in the text.
JENTZSCH, A.: Geologie der Diinen. Handb. des deutschen Diinenbaues, herausge-
geben von P. Gerhardt. Berlin I9oo00.
-: Uber den Eiswind und das Diinengebiet zwischen Warthe und Netze. Zeitschr.
d. Deutsch. Geol. Ges., Monatsber., Bd 6o. Berlin 1908.
JESSEN, A.: Vendsyssels Geologi. Danmarks Geol. Unders. V. Raekke, Nr. 2. Kjoben-
havn 1918.
KAUNHOWEN, F.: Geologische Beobachtungen in der Umgebung des oberen Spreewaldes.
Jahrbuch d. K. Preuss. Geol. Landesanst. f. 1915. Berlin 1916.
KEILHACK, K.: Die grossen Diinengebiete Norddeutschlands. Zeitschr. Deutschen Geol.
Ges. Bd 69. Berlin 1917.
KINDLE, E. M.: Recent and fossil Ripple-mark. Canada Dep. of Mines, Museum Bull.
No. 25. Ottawa, 1917.
KORN, J.: Uber Diinenzuige im Torfe des Netzetales bei Czarnikau, ihr Alter und ihre
Entstehung durch westliche Winde, nebst Bemerkungen fiber die alluviale Entwick-
lung des Netzetales. Jahrb. d. K. Preuss. Geol. Landesanst. ftir i916, Bd 37.
Berlin 1918.
KRUKOWSKI, S.: Importance des zones de recession de la dernibre glaciation en Pologne
pour la connaissance des plus a.nciennes industries sur le terrain de cette glacia-
tion (French resumd). Wiadomosci Archeologicznych, VII. Warszawa 1922.
LEHMANN, F. W. P.: Wanderungen und Studien in Deutschlands gr6sstem binnenldn-
dischen Diinengebiet. X. Jahresbericht d. Geogr. Ges. zu Greifswald 1907.
LEIVISKA, I.: Uber die Entstehung der Diinengebiete an der Kiiste des Bottnischen
Meerbusens. Fennia, Bd 23. Helsingfors 1905.
: Der Salpausselkit. Fennia, Bd 41. Helsingfors 1920.
LENCEWICZ, S.: Wydmy Sr6dladowe Polski (Resume: Les dunes continentales de la
Pologne). Inst. de Geogr. de l'Univ. de Varsovie. Warszawa 1922.
LEVERETT, F.: Comparison of North American and European glacial deposits. Zeitschr.
f. Gletscherkunde, Vol. 4. Berlin 1910.
LIDPN, R.: Geokronologiska studier 6fver det finiglaciala skedet i Angermanland. Sve-
riges Geol. Unders. Ser. Ca. N:r 9. Stockholm 1913.
LINDSTROM, A.: Jordslagen inom Vesternorrlands lan. Sveriges Geol. Unders. Ser. C.
N:r 92. Stockholm i888.
L6czv, L.: Geological Map of Hungary. Re-edited and supplemented by Ch. Papp.
Hungarian Geogr. Soc. Budapest 1922.
LUNDQUIST, G.: Pollenanalytiska aldersbestaimningar av flygsandsfdlt i Vasterg6tland.
Svensk Bot. Tidskr. Bd 14. Stockholm 1920.
MUNTHE, H.: Studier 6fver Gottlands senkvartira historia. Sveriges Geol. Unders., Ser. Ca,
N.o 4. Stockholm 191o0.
- : Ngra ord i en terminologifriga. Geol. Foren. Fdrh, Bd 33. Stockholm I9I1.
NANSEN, Fr.: En faerd til Spitsbergen. Kristiania I920.
NEHRING, A.: Tundren und Steppen. Berlin i890.
NELSON, H.: Om randdeltan och randasar i mellersta och s6dra Sverige. Sveriges
Geol. Unders. Ser. C. N:r 220. Stockholm i9io0.
NILSSON, ALB.: Anteckningar om svenska flygsandsfdlt. Geol. F6ren. F6rh. Bd 27.
Stockholm 1905.
NORDENSKJOLD, O.: Studien tiber das Klima am Rande jetziger und ehemaliger Inland-
eisgebiete. Bull. Geol. Inst., Vol. i5. Uppsala 1916.
ANCIENT INLAND DUNES OF EUROPE 241