Eastern Region (Iceland)
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Eastern Region (Iceland)
Eastern Region ( is, Austurland ) is a region in eastern Iceland. Its area is and in 2020 its population was 13,173. The Eastern Regions has a jagged coastline of fjords, referred to as the Eastfjords ( ). The largest town in the region is Egilsstaðir, with a population of 2,300. The oldest municipality is Djúpivogur, which got their trading licence in 1589 and had a population of 470 in 2015. The only car and passenger ferry that sails between Iceland and the European continent calls at Seyðisfjörður once a week in the summer months and intermittently the rest of the year. The region is home to the Kárahnjúkar Hydropower Plant. Among notable tourist destinations are the Helgustaðir mine, which is known for its Iceland spar Iceland spar, formerly called Iceland crystal ( is, silfurberg , ) and also called optical calcite, is a transparent variety of calcite, or crystallized calcium carbonate, originally brought from Iceland, and used in demonstrating the polariza ...
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Iceland
Iceland ( is, Ísland; ) is a Nordic island country in the North Atlantic Ocean and in the Arctic Ocean. Iceland is the most sparsely populated country in Europe. Iceland's capital and largest city is Reykjavík, which (along with its surrounding areas) is home to over 65% of the population. Iceland is the biggest part of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge that rises above sea level, and its central volcanic plateau is erupting almost constantly. The interior consists of a plateau characterised by sand and lava fields, mountains, and glaciers, and many glacial rivers flow to the sea through the lowlands. Iceland is warmed by the Gulf Stream and has a temperate climate, despite a high latitude just outside the Arctic Circle. Its high latitude and marine influence keep summers chilly, and most of its islands have a polar climate. According to the ancient manuscript , the settlement of Iceland began in 874 AD when the Norwegian chieftain Ingólfr Arnarson became the first p ...
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Egilsstaðir
Egilsstaðir () is a town in east Iceland on the banks of the Lagarfljót river. It is part of the municipality of Múlaþing and the largest settlement of the Eastern Region with, as of 2020, a population of 2,522 inhabitants. Formerly Egilsstaðir was part of Norður-Múlasýsla. Overview Egilsstadir is located at . The town is young, even by Icelandic standards where urbanization is a fairly recent trend compared to mainland Europe. It was established in 1947 as an effort by the surrounding rural districts recognizing it had become a regional service centre. The town, which is named after Egilsstaðir farm, is near the bridge over Lagarfljót where all the main roads of the region meet, Route 1 as well as the main routes to the Eastern Region. Egilsstaðir has grown to become the largest town of East Iceland and its main service, transportation, and administration centre. The town has an airport, college, and a hospital. The town grew quickly during the economic boom in th ...
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Regions Of Iceland
The regions of Iceland are eight areas of Iceland that roughly follow the arrangement of parliamentary constituencies as they were between 1959 and 2003. These regions are not incorporated polities but rather recognized groupings of municipalities. Iceland only has two levels of administration, the national government and 69 municipalities. The municipalities have organized themselves into eight regional associations and those boundaries are also recognized by Statistics Iceland to report statistics. Since 2014, police and commissioner (''sýslumaður'') districts have followed the eight region model with the exception that Vestmannaeyjar form a special district and are not part of the South region. The divisions of Iceland for the purposes of health care and district courts diverge more from the commonly used eight region model. The postal code system also roughly corresponds with the regions with the first digit of the three digit codes usually being the same as on the map below ...
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Fjord
In physical geography, a fjord or fiord () is a long, narrow inlet with steep sides or cliffs, created by a glacier. Fjords exist on the coasts of Alaska, Antarctica, British Columbia, Chile, Denmark, Germany, Greenland, the Faroe Islands, Iceland, Ireland, Kamchatka, the Kerguelen Islands, Labrador, Newfoundland, New Zealand, Norway, Novaya Zemlya, Nunavut, Quebec, the Patagonia region of Argentina and Chile, Russia, South Georgia Island, Tasmania, United Kingdom, and Washington state. Norway's coastline is estimated to be long with its nearly 1,200 fjords, but only long excluding the fjords. Formation A true fjord is formed when a glacier cuts a U-shaped valley by ice segregation and abrasion of the surrounding bedrock. According to the standard model, glaciers formed in pre-glacial valleys with a gently sloping valley floor. The work of the glacier then left an overdeepened U-shaped valley that ends abruptly at a valley or trough end. Such valleys are fjords wh ...
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Djúpivogur
Djúpivogur () is a small town and municipality (Djúpavogshreppur ) located on a peninsula in the Austurland region in eastern Iceland, near the island of Papey and on the fjord Berufjörður. The municipality was formed by the merger of rural communities Berunes , Buland , and Geithellur on October 1, 1992. The coastline consists of three fjords Berufjörður, Hamarsfjörður , and Álftafjörður. The town of Djúpivogur is located on a peninsula between Berufjörður and Hamarsfjörður. Approximately 900 m west of the town is a work of art named "Eggin í Gleðivík" (The Eggs of Merry Bay) by Sigurður Guðmundsson. The work is a replica of the eggs of 34 nesting birds in the area, and was installed in the summer of 2009. Djúpivogur is home to Langabúð , one of Iceland's oldest commercial buildings. The south end dates back to 1790, but the building only took on its present appearance when the northern part was constructed in 1850. Langabúð served many purp ...
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Seyðisfjörður
Seyðisfjörður () is a town in the Eastern Region of Iceland at the innermost point of the fjord of the same name. The town is located in the municipality of Múlaþing. A road over Fjarðarheiði mountain pass (elevation ) connects Seyðisfjörður to the rest of Iceland; to the ring road and Egilsstaðir. Seyðisfjörður is surrounded by mountains with the most prominent Mt. Bjólfur to the west (1085 m) and Strandartindur (1010 m) to the east. The fjord itself is accessible on each side from the town, by following the main road that leads through the town. Further out the fjord is fairly remote but rich with natural interests including puffin colonies and ruins of former activity such as nearby Vestdalseyri , from where the local church was transported. History Settlement in Seyðisfjörður traces back to the early period of settlement in Iceland. The first settler was Bjólfur, who occupied the entire fjord. The ruin of a burned-down stave church at Þórunn ...
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Kárahnjúkar Hydropower Plant
Kárahnjúkar Hydropower Plant ( is, Kárahnjúkavirkjun ), officially called Fljótsdalur Power Station ( is, Fljótsdalsstöð ) is a hydroelectric power plant in Fljótsdalshérað municipality in eastern Iceland, designed to produce annually for Alcoa's Fjarðaál aluminum smelter to the east in Reyðarfjörður. With the installed capacity of , the plant is the largest power plant in Iceland. The project, named after the nearby Kárahnjúkar mountains, involves damming the rivers Jökulsá á Dal and Jökulsá í Fljótsdal with five dams, creating three reservoirs. Water from the reservoirs is diverted through of underground water tunnels and down a vertical penstock towards a single underground power station. The smelter became fully operational in 2008 and the hydropower project was completed in 2009. The Kárahnjúkar Dam ( is, Kárahnjúkastífla ) is the centrepiece of the five dams and the largest of its type in Europe, standing tall with a length of and com ...
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Helgustaðir Mine
Helgustadir mine ( ) is a mine in the east of Iceland where Iceland spar (a form of transparent calcite) was mined from the mid-17th century to the 20th century. It is the source of the largest and clearest known Iceland spar specimen and the source of most museum specimens of Iceland spar. It was declared a nature reserve in 1975. About Location The mine is located near Eskifjörður, east of Iceland. Helgustadir mine consists of two mines, known as the upper and lower mine. Uses Crystals from this area are known for exceptional clarity, leading to the mineral being named "Iceland spar". Iceland spar from Helgustadir mine was used in optical devices used in physics, chemistry, and geology, most importantly Nicol prisms. Nature reserve The nature reserve is 0.9 hectares The hectare (; SI symbol: ha) is a non-SI metric unit of area equal to a square with 100-metre sides (1 hm2), or 10,000 m2, and is primarily used in the measurement of land. There are 10 ...
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Iceland Spar
Iceland spar, formerly called Iceland crystal ( is, silfurberg , ) and also called optical calcite, is a transparent variety of calcite, or crystallized calcium carbonate, originally brought from Iceland, and used in demonstrating the polarization of light (see polarimetry). It occurs in large readily cleavable crystals, is easily divisible into parallelepipeds, and is remarkable for its birefringence. This means that the refractive index of the crystal is different for light of different polarization. A ray of unpolarized light passing through the crystal is divided into two rays of perpendicular polarization directed at different angles. This double refraction causes objects seen through the crystal to appear doubled. Historically, the double-refraction property of this crystal was important to understanding the nature of light as a wave. This was studied at length by Christiaan Huygens and Isaac Newton. Sir George Stokes also studied the phenomenon. Its complete explanation i ...
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Stuðlagil
Stuðlagil (; also transliterated as ''Studlagil'') is a ravine in in the municipality of Múlaþing, in the Eastern Region of Iceland. It is known for its columnar basalt rock formations and the blue-green water that runs through it. It became an unexpected tourist sensation after being shown in a WOW air airline brochure in 2017. The rock formation is 30 meters tall. The river Jökla runs through the ravine. The water level decreased by 7 to 8 meters due to the Kárahnjúkar Hydropower Plant, which opened in 2009. See also * List of columnar basalts in Iceland Columnar jointed volcanic rocks exist in many places on Earth. Perhaps the most famous basalt lava flow in the world is the Giant's Causeway in Northern Ireland, in which the vertical joints form polygonal columns and give the impression of having ... References {{DEFAULTSORT:Studlagil Ravines Landforms of Iceland Eastern Region (Iceland) Columnar basalts in Iceland External links Official website< ...
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