The geological wonder of Iceland

No wonder that Icelanders have such great respect for nature (Campers rip up moss to insulate tent) – they really have many reasons to be proud of it.

Iceland is geologically one of the most interesting places in the world. Geysers, thermal pools, lakes, fjords, ice caves and glaciers, all in one place? This is not a coincidence. Just a bit south of the Arctic Circle, Iceland is a unique compound of ice and fire. It lies on divergent plate boundary (where two tectonic plates are moving away from each other). As a result, Iceland has very interesting geology reflected in volcanoes and geothermal activities.

One of islands of Iceland, Grímsey, belongs to the Arctic Circle, but although Iceland is so far in the north, thanks to the Gulf Stream, it’s much warmer then we would expect. Average temperature during summer is around 10–13 °C (50–55 °F). During winter south of Iceland is not that cold (around 0 °C (32 °F)), but highland average is much less (around −25 to −30 °C (−13 to −22 °F)). The lowest temperature recorded was −39.7 °C (−39.5 °F). Icelanders would say: “If you don’t like the weather, wait  5 minutes.”. This is what I’m counting on during my winter visit.

The Eurasian plate and the North American plate started to separate and geological history of Iceland began. But this separation was not enough to create an island. If this was enough, we would have land following line of tectonic plates through the Atlantic ocean. Iceland is truly special place, were abnormal amount of magma rises onto the surface. There is more than 130 volcanoes, of which 18 have erupted since human settlement of Iceland began circa 900 AD. Thanks to its rich volcanic activity, this wonderful land is formed. Age of a surface is very diverse and interesting for studying. On the east an west we can find the oldest rocks. Through the center of land, rocks are significantly younger.

It is possible to walk through lava streams since the Holuhraun volcano is opened for hiking or maybe visiting inside of extinct volcano (link). There is just one question to answer: Which of these activities demands a greater daredevil? With progress of my research, indecisiveness about what I want to see first grows!