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The Faeroes (in Faeroese, Føroya) are a group of 17 islands (total area 1400 km2) in the North Atlantic lying 300 km NW of the Shetland Isles, at approximately 7° W and 62° N (Fig. 196). The islands were first colonized by the Norwegian Vikings (c. AD 800). They are now a self-governing community of Denmark with an estimated population of 48 588 (1992).

Fig. 196
figure 27_1-4020-4495-X_28

Present bathymetric map of the North Atlantic showing the Faeroe Islands located on the Greenland-Scotland Ridge and the distribution of exposed early Tertiary-Recent plateau basalts in East Greenland, Iceland, Faeroes and British Isles (dark stippling).

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© 1997 Chapman & Hall

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Lesher, C.E., Noe-Nygaard, A. (1997). Faeroe islands . In: Encyclopedia of European and Asian Regional Geology. Encyclopedia of Earth Science. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/1-4020-4495-X_28

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/1-4020-4495-X_28

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht

  • Print ISBN: 978-0-412-74040-4

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