Full resolution (JPEG) - On this page / på denna sida - First part - I. Physical Geography - 1. Configuration and Water-system. By Docent Gunnar Andersson, Ph. D., Stockholm - A) The Highlands and Alpine District of Upper Sweden - b) The Morainic and Marshy Belt - c) The Marine-Deposit Belt
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14
i. physical geography oF sweden.
them.> — A clear manifestation of the great prevalence of these
peatmosses is the brown colour of those streams (e. g. the Gide, öre, and
Råne) that take their rise here, as compared with the clear water of
the great rivers that proceed from the mountains.
In the regions within this belt not subject to inundation or
excessive moisture, forests grow in great abundance; indeed so extensive are
the forests, that it is this region that constitutes the chief source of
that wealth in timber for which Sweden is so famous, and which
exercises such an influence upon the economy of the world. Pines are,
in general, the most prevalent trees on drier soils and where
forest-conflagrations in recent times destroyed the old timber, whereas the
spruce is more plentiful in places more subject to moisture. On the
peatmosses, on the other hand, no timber is found; there the ground
has a covering of different species of ericaceous-plants, sphagnum, and
sedge, with here and there some patches of dwarfling pines.
Save for the parts of Upper Lappland above described, where the
rivers flow across plains, the typical river-valley in this belt has steep
and bare banks; the landscape only assumes a more attractive
appearance in the vicinity of the lakes or along ths course of some isolated
glen. Otherwise the aspect these forest-clad regions wear is extremely
monotonous, giving the beholder the impression of a land of vast
distances with scanty communications. Except in the fertile Silurian
plain of Jemtland, whose surface was also partially covered with
the ice-blocked lakes above described, the possibilities of cultivation
with the prices of labour now prevailing are very limited. In
order to escape from the destructive agency of frost as far. as possible,
and to obtain the best and warmest soil available, the land to be
brought under cultivation has been selected on the slopes of the heights
that face the south, and there hamlets, farms, and dairy-pastures may
be seen, like so many oases in the endless desert of forests. In the
southernmost parts of the region, in the mining districts of Dalarne
and Vermland, cultivation of the soil has made greater progress, owing
to the somewhat milder climate and especially to the abundance of
valuable ore-deposits.
c) The Marine-Deposit Belt. The extent of this belt is very
clearly marked in general in the river-valleys. At the base of the
valleys lie wide plains, consisting of delta-land of sand or clay,
deposited on the seabottom when the coast-districts were washed by the
sea, at the close of the Glacial Epoch or later. In Norrbotten these
marine deposits attain an elevation of about 200 meters, and extend
about 100 or 150 kilom, into the interior; in Ångermanland, Medelpad,
and Helsingland they are as much as 250 meters above the sea, but do
not penetrate inland more than from 50 to 80 kilom., as a rule. The sea
has washed away the morainic deposits of the Glacial Epoch from the
summits, which consequently mostly display the naked röck, or at all events
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