Exploring Iceland….The Land of Fire and Ice…

 

Iceland has been called The Land of Fire and Ice because of its’ geology… Iceland is a volcanic island. The island 'raised its head' above the Atlantic ocean around 18 million years ago, when it was formed by extensive volcanic eruptions. It has 30 active volcanos and about 11% of the land mass is covered by glaciers and as we explored parts of the island it was easy to see both the ice and the fire. 

In the Highlands there was snow as we drove through…

Here you can see the pipes that run along the ground carrying hot water from the ground to geo thermal plants…

Here is a close up of one of the glaciers compliments of Google…

The glaciers feed the many rivers and waterfalls that we saw…

 

Wide, clean rivers everywhere…

We visited the Gullfoss Waterfall which was fed by the Langjokull Glacier…it  was very big and powerful…

It is often called the Golden Falls because on sunny days rainbows are easily seen as they were the day we visited…

Views of the falls from the top…

This is Skogafoss Waterfall on the south part of the island, it is 15 metres wide and 62 metres high…

It is unique because you can also walk behind it…

This was a smaller, hidden waterfall we hiked in to see…

We visited Thingvellir (or, in Icelandic, Þingvellir) National Park which  is the only place in the world where you can stand between two continental plates, in a distinctive geological landscape that changes every year. Þingvellir is also a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and an important historical location in Iceland.

We walked through the continental divide with one side of the rift being the EuroAsia plate and on the other side is the North America plate.

Here is a map showing the rift and the number of active volcanos in the country.

This place also had beautiful landscapes…

Here you can see typical Icelandic architecture with the pointed roofs, they are modelled after the old truf homes. This style of house is seen everywhere in the county. 

Since Iceland sits on this continental rift there is a lot of seismic activity which creates many geo thermal spots all over the island. There are geysers both large and small…

Lots of lagoons to soak in…

They are fed from the very hot water reaching 100C, the one we are in is located by a cold river so the water is mixed and is around 40C.

It is called the Secret Lagoon and is Iceland’s oldest public pool.

The Icelanders also use the geo thermal energy to bake bread beside a hot lake, the bread is placed in the sand and baked for 24 hours. 

Don sampling the sweet rye bread from the ground…

Since there are many volcanos in Iceland there are also volcanic crater lakes such as Kerid Crater which is 6500 years old and made up of a unique red volcanic rock… 

Looks like a lunar landscape…

Because of all the volcanic activity in Iceland there are many black beaches…

Here basalt columns can be seen, these are formed as lava cools after an eruption…

We also visited the Soltheimajokull Glacier where it can be easily seen how fast the ice field is receding, in the picture below in the foreground there is a small blue sign. This sign shows where the glacier was only 10 years ago…

We covered a lot of ground in the week we were here and was so impressed with the beauty of Iceland, even though we only saw a fraction of it, here are a few pictures from my bus window…

A snow covered glacier in the distance…

Lava fields in the foreground….

Snow covered mountains…

Many red roof churches…

Green pastures…

Deep valleys…

Snow covered fields…

A small farmhouse…

As can be seen by these pictures Iceland has so much varied geology that makes for very picturesque landscapes. We really enjoyed our time here and would certainly recommend it as a tourist destination, of course be prepared for how expensive it is, but still worth the trip! Now on to Denmark…