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Skaftá
The Skaftá () is a river in South Iceland. It is primarily glacial in origin and has had its course modified by volcanic activity; as a result of both, it often floods because of glacial melting. Course The river's primary source is two subglacial "cauldrons" beneath Skaftájökull, part of the Vatnajökull glacier in the interior of Iceland. It also receives spring-fed water from Langisjór, a lake a short distance to the west from which a tributary called the Útfall runs into the Skaftá. Other tributaries include the North and South Ófaerá, the Grjótá, and the Hellisá. West of Skaftárdalur, a farm named for the river valley, the Skaftá runs over a lava field in many channels, which recombine into three for the remainder of its course to the Atlantic: the Eldvatn or Ása-Eldvatn combines with the River Kúðafljót; the Ásakvísl or Árkvísla flows under a sand-covered lava field and has been affected by road construction; the third, easternmost branch, which flows ...
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Ice Cauldron
Ice cauldrons are ice formations within glaciers that cover some subglacial volcanoes. They can have circular to oblong forms. Their surface areas reach from some meters (as indentations or holes in the ice) to up to 1 or more kilometers (as bowl shaped depressions). Their existence is connected to ice-volcano interaction in two possible ways: They can be formed in the course of a subglacial eruption or on top of a continuously active subglacial high temperature geothermal area. In both cases, a jökulhlaup may be produced in connection with them. Formation and continued existence of ice cauldrons Ice cauldrons and subglacial eruptions When an eruption takes place under a bigger glacier, e.g. an ice cap, it normally begins with an effusive stage. The heat forms an ice cave and pillow lava is produced. After some time, the eruption has reached a stage where the pressure drops within the ice vault and the eruption style changes to become explosive. Hyaloclastite is produced and ...
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Kúðafljót
The Kúðafljót () is a river in the south of Iceland. It is one of the largest glacier rivers in the country. Name The ''Landnámabók'' reports that the name is from the ship of Vilbald, one of the first settlers in Skaftátunga. The name of the ships was ''Kúði''. Location and tributaries It flows east of the Mýrdalsjökull through the ''Skaftátunga'' district and flows into the Atlantic Ocean through the Mýrdalssandur from numerous tributaries, the most important of which are Hólmsá, Tungufljót and Eldvatn. An arm of the Skaftá also flows into the Kúðafljót.cf. Water quantity The mean water volume is 230 m³/s. The lowest measured value was 110 m³/s and the maximum measured value 2000 m³/s. The Kúðafljót is one of the rivers whose water level may indicate volcanic activity of Katla under the Mýrdalsjökull. Therefore, it is monitored closely. The Icelandic Meteorological Office monitors the Hólmsá, Eldvatn and Skálm tributaries. Eruption ...
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Kirkjubæjarklaustur
Kirkjubæjarklaustur ( Icelandic for "church farm cloister", pronounced ; often referred to locally as just Klaustur) is a village in the south of Iceland on the hringvegur (road no. 1 or Ring Road) between Vík í Mýrdal and Höfn. It is part of the municipality of Skaftárhreppur and has about 500 inhabitants. It is surrounded by hills and plateaus to the north. Kirkjubæjarklaustur is roughly east of the capital Reykjavik. Location Kirkjubæjarklaustur's geographical location makes it better known than other villages its size. It is the only place between Vík and Höfn which offers services, which includes a fuel station, a bank, a post office and a supermarket. Nearby tourist attractions include the Laki craters, the Eldgjá and Skaftafell, all in Vatnajökull National Park. An attraction close to the village is '' Kirkjugólf'' ("Church floor"), a natural pavement of basalt. These are basalt columns in the earth, but only the tops can be seen, and as the name suggests, t ...
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Laki
Laki () or Lakagígar (, ''Craters of Laki'') is a volcanic fissure in the western part of Vatnajökull National Park, Iceland, not far from the volcanic fissure of Eldgjá and the small village of Kirkjubæjarklaustur. The fissure is properly referred to as Lakagígar, while Laki is a mountain that the fissure bisects. Lakagígar is part of a volcanic system centered on the volcano Grímsvötn and including the volcano Þórðarhyrna. It lies between the glaciers of Mýrdalsjökull and Vatnajökull, in an area of fissures that run in a southwest to northeast direction. The system erupted violently over an eight-month period between June 1783 and February 1784 from the Laki fissure and the adjoining volcano Grímsvötn, pouring out an estimated 42 billion tonnes or of basalt lava and clouds of poisonous hydrofluoric acid and sulfur dioxide compounds that contaminated the soil, leading to the death of over 50% of Iceland's livestock population, and the destruction of the va ...
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Vatnajökull
Vatnajökull ( Icelandic pronunciation: , literally "Glacier of Lakes"; sometimes translated as Vatna Glacier in English) is the largest and most voluminous ice cap in Iceland, and the second largest in area in Europe after the Severny Island ice cap of Novaya Zemlya. It is in the south-east of the island, covering approximately 8% of the country. Size With an area of 7,900 km2, Vatnajökull is the second largest ice cap in Europe by volume (about 3,000 km3) and area (after the still larger Severny Island ice cap of Novaya Zemlya, Russia, which is in the extreme northeast of Europe). On 7 June 2008, it became a part of the Vatnajökull National Park. The average thickness of the ice is , with a maximum thickness of . Iceland's highest peak, Hvannadalshnúkur (), as part of the Öræfajökull, is in the southern periphery of Vatnajökull, near Skaftafell. Volcanoes Under the ice cap, as under many of the glaciers of Iceland, there are several List of volcanoes in Ice ...
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Rivers Of Iceland
On an island like Iceland, the rivers are short in length. None of the rivers are important as a means of navigation due to the impracticality of settlements in the Highlands of Iceland where they originate. South * Hvítá * Krossá * Kúðafljót *Markarfljót * Mustafl * Ölfusá (the Icelandic river with the greatest flow) * Rangá *Skaftá *Skeiðará * Skógá * Sog *Þjórsá (the longest river in Iceland, 230 km) * Tungnaá West *Fossá * Hvítá * Kjarrá–Thervá * Norðurá Westfjords *Dynjandi * Kolbeinsá * Staðará North *Blanda * Eyjafjarðará * Eystri Jökulsá * Fnjóská *Glerá * Héraðsvötn * Hörgá * Jökulsá á Fjöllum * Laxá * Norðurá * Skjálfandafljót * Vatnsdalsá East * Hamarsá *Hofsá * Jökulsá á Dal * Jökulsá í Fljótsdal * Jökulsá í Lóni *Lagarfljót * Selfljót See also *'''' {{List of rivers of Europe Iceland Iceland ( is, Ísland; ) is a Nordic island country in the North Atlantic Oc ...
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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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Atlantic Ocean
The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the " Old World" of Africa, Europe and Asia from the "New World" of the Americas in the European perception of the World. The Atlantic Ocean occupies an elongated, S-shaped basin extending longitudinally between Europe and Africa to the east, and North and South America to the west. As one component of the interconnected World Ocean, it is connected in the north to the Arctic Ocean, to the Pacific Ocean in the southwest, the Indian Ocean in the southeast, and the Southern Ocean in the south (other definitions describe the Atlantic as extending southward to Antarctica). The Atlantic Ocean is divided in two parts, by the Equatorial Counter Current, with the North(ern) Atlantic Ocean and the South(ern) Atlantic Ocean split at about 8°N. Scientific explorations of the A ...
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South Iceland
Southern Region ( is, Suðurland , lit: ''Southern Land'') is a region of Iceland. The population of the region was 28,399 (1 January 2020). The largest town in the region is Selfoss, with a population of 6,000. See also * 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 ... External links *Source
{{iceland-geo-stub ...
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Langisjór
Langisjór () is a lake in the western part of Vatnajökull National Park, Iceland. It is around 20 km in length and up to 2 km wide, with a total surface area of about and a depth of 75m at its deepest point. The lake is situated rather far from civilisation at the south-western border of Vatnajökull at an altitude of 670 m above sea level. Environmental campaigners have expressed concern at government plans to site an industrial dam on the lake. See also *List of lakes of Iceland This is a list of lakes of Iceland (partially indicating surface, depth and volume). Iceland has over 20 lakes larger than 10 km² (4 sq mi), and at least 40 others varying between 2.5 and 10 km² (1 to 4 sq mi) in size. This list also in ... References External links Official Website of Vatnajökull National Park* Photos: http://isafold.de/strutsstigur02/img_voetn.htm Lakes of Iceland Rift lakes of Iceland {{Iceland-geo-stub ...
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Grímsvötn
Grímsvötn (; ''vötn'' = "waters", singular: ) is a volcano with a (partially subglacial) fissure system located in Vatnajökull National Park, Iceland. The volcano itself is completely subglacial and located under the northwestern side of the Vatnajökull ice cap. The subglacial caldera is at , at an elevation of . Beneath the caldera is the magma chamber of the Grímsvötn volcano. Grímsvötn is a basaltic volcano which has the highest eruption frequency of all the volcanoes in Iceland and has a southwest-northeast-trending fissure system. The massive climate-impacting Laki fissure eruption of 1783–1784 was a part of the same fissure system. Grímsvötn was erupting at the same time as Laki during 1783, but continued to erupt until 1785. Because most of the volcanic system lies underneath Vatnajökull, most of its eruptions have been subglacial and the interaction of magma and meltwater from the ice causes phreatomagmatic explosive activity. Jökulhlaup Eruption