Landscape change and human response during a thousand years of climatic fluctuation and volcanism: Skaftafell, Southeast Iceland

Abstract

climatic fluctuation and volcanism: Skaftafell, Southeast Iceland ABSTRACT- The ancient farm of Skaftafell, dating from the Saga Period in Icelandic history is taken as the center-piece for depiction of climatic and landscape change from the earliest settlement in the ninth century AD to the present. The study of landscape evolution is divided into four main periods: 1) the Saga Period, AD 874-1350; 2) the beginning of glacier advance and volcanic activity, AD 1350-1500; 3) the Little Ice Age, AD 1500-1900; and 4) the Modern Period, AD 1900-1990. Is/laps have been produced to represent each period; they show the positions of farms which have survived far more than a thousand years, and churches that have been overwhelmed by catastrophic geomorphic processes, the positions of the glacier termini, melt water rivers, and main pasture lands. These reconstructions are based upon a mixture of physical evidence and folklore and historical documentation. Landscape evaluation is also described through the eyes of historic personalities who lived at Skaftafell. Survival of a rich culture in this region is remarkable in face of a series of almost overwhelming disasters. Today the biggest threat, or challenge and opportunity for sustainable development, is the vast influx of tourists to this region, one of the most isolated in the world. They are drawn to Skaftafell through the establishment of a National Park in one of the most scenically dramatic and beautiful landscapes in the world.