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Stuðlagil Canyon 2
Stuðlagil Canyon (; also transliterated as ''Studlagil'') is a basalt column canyon located in the Jökuldalur valley in East Iceland. Known for its towering hexagonal basalt formations and vivid turquoise river, the canyon gained international attention after the flow of the Jökulsá á Dal (Jökla) River was reduced due to the Kárahnjúkar Hydropower Plant project. Though the canyon was physically revealed between 2006 and 2009, it remained largely unknown until its popularization by Icelandic photographer and travel writer in 2016. Geological features Stuðlagil Canyon is composed of hexagonal basalt columns formed by the slow cooling and contraction of thick lava flows during volcanic activity. This geological structure, known as basalt columns or sometimes columnar jointing, is found in several places in Iceland, but Stuðlagil is notable for the height, number, and alignment of its columns. The canyon's formations rise vertically from the riverbed, with some reaching ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tourist Attractions In Iceland
Tourism is travel for pleasure, and the Commerce, commercial activity of providing and supporting such travel. World Tourism Organization, UN Tourism defines tourism more generally, in terms which go "beyond the common perception of tourism as being limited to holiday activity only", as people "travelling to and staying in places outside their usual environment for not more than one consecutive year for leisure and not less than 24 hours, business and other purposes". Tourism can be Domestic tourism, domestic (within the traveller's own country) or International tourism, international. International tourism has both incoming and outgoing implications on a country's balance of payments. Between the second half of 2008 and the end of 2009, tourism numbers declined due to a severe Economy, economic slowdown (see Great Recession) and the outbreak of the 2009 2009 flu pandemic, H1N1 influenza virus. These numbers, however, recovered until the COVID-19 pandemic put an abrupt end to th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Canyons And Gorges Of Iceland
A canyon (; archaic British English spelling: ''cañon''), gorge or chasm, is a deep cleft between escarpments or cliffs resulting from weathering and the erosive activity of a river over geologic time scales. Rivers have a natural tendency to cut through underlying surfaces, eventually wearing away rock layers as sediments are removed downstream. A river bed will gradually reach a baseline elevation, which is the same elevation as the body of water into which the river drains. The processes of weathering and erosion will form canyons when the river's headwaters and estuary are at significantly different elevations, particularly through regions where softer rock layers are intermingled with harder layers more resistant to weathering. A canyon may also refer to a rift between two mountain peaks, such as those in ranges including the Rocky Mountains, the Alps, the Himalayas or the Andes. Usually, a river or stream carves out such splits between mountains. Examples of mountain-type ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Columnar Jointing
Columnar jointing is a geological structure where sets of intersecting closely spaced fractures, referred to as Joint (geology), joints, result in the formation of a regular array of polygonal Prism (geometry), prisms, or columns. Columnar jointing occurs in many types of igneous rocks (e.g. basalt, andesite, rhyolite), and forms as the rock cools and contracts. Columnar jointing can occur in cooling lava flows and ashflow tuffs (ignimbrites), as well as in some shallow intrusions. Columnar jointing also occurs rarely in sedimentary rocks, due to a combination of Solution_(chemistry), dissolution and Precipitation_(chemistry), reprecipitation of interstitial minerals (often quartz or cryptocrystalline silica) by hot, hydrothermal fluids and the expansion and contraction of the rock unit, both resulting from the presence of a nearby Igneous intrusion, magmatic intrusion. The columns can vary from 3 meters to a few centimeters in diameter, and can be as much as 30 meters tall. The ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Geology Of Iceland
The geology of Iceland is unique and of particular interest to geologists. Iceland lies on the divergent boundary between the Eurasian plate and the North American plate. It also lies above a hotspot, the Iceland plume. The plume is believed to have caused the formation of Iceland itself, the island first appearing over the ocean surface about 16 to 18 million years ago. The result is an island characterized by repeated volcanism and geothermal phenomena such as geysers. The eruption of Laki in 1783 caused much devastation and loss of life, leading to a famine that killed about 25% of the island's population and resulted in a drop in global temperatures, as sulfur dioxide was spewed into the Northern Hemisphere. This caused crop failures in Europe and may have caused droughts in India. The eruption has been estimated to have killed over six million people globally. Between 1963 and 1967, the new island of Surtsey was created off the southwest coast by a volcanic eruption. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Columnar Basalt
Basalt (; ) is an aphanitic (fine-grained) extrusive igneous rock formed from the rapid cooling of low-viscosity lava rich in magnesium and iron (mafic lava) exposed at or very near the surface of a rocky planet or moon. More than 90% of all volcanic rock on Earth is basalt. Rapid-cooling, fine-grained basalt is chemically equivalent to slow-cooling, coarse-grained gabbro. The eruption of basalt lava is observed by geologists at about 20 volcanoes per year. Basalt is also an important rock type on other planetary bodies in the Solar System. For example, the bulk of the plains of Venus, which cover ~80% of the surface, are basaltic; the lunar maria are plains of flood-basaltic lava flows; and basalt is a common rock on the surface of Mars. Molten basalt lava has a low viscosity due to its relatively low silica content (between 45% and 52%), resulting in rapidly moving lava flows that can spread over great areas before cooling and solidifying. Flood basalts are thick sequenc ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
East Iceland
Eastern Region (, ) is a region in eastern Iceland. Its area is and in 2024 its population was 11,085. The Eastern Region has a jagged coastline of fjords, referred to as the ''Eastfjords'' ( ). The largest town in the region is Egilsstaðir, with a population of 2,632. The oldest municipality is Djúpivogur, which got their trading licence in 1589 and had a population of 412 in 2024. The only car and passenger ferry that sails between Iceland and the European continent calls at Seyðisfjörður once a week except in the winter season. The region is home to the Kárahnjúkar Hydropower Plant. Among notable tourist destinations are the Helgustaðir mine, which is known for its Iceland spar, and Stuðlagil Stuðlagil Canyon (; also transliterated as ''Studlagil'') is a basalt column canyon located in the Jökuldalur valley in East Iceland. Known for its towering hexagonal basalt formations and vivid turquoise river, the canyon gained international .... References See als ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Stuðlagil Canyon Jokuldalur Iceland-12
Stuðlagil Canyon (; also transliterated as ''Studlagil'') is a basalt column canyon located in the Jökuldalur valley in East Iceland. Known for its towering hexagonal basalt formations and vivid turquoise river, the canyon gained international attention after the flow of the Jökulsá á Dal (Jökla) River was reduced due to the Kárahnjúkar Hydropower Plant project. Though the canyon was physically revealed between 2006 and 2009, it remained largely unknown until its popularization by Icelandic photographer and travel writer in 2016. Geological features Stuðlagil Canyon is composed of hexagonal basalt columns formed by the slow cooling and contraction of thick lava flows during volcanic activity. This geological structure, known as basalt columns or sometimes columnar jointing, is found in several places in Iceland, but Stuðlagil is notable for the height, number, and alignment of its columns. The canyon's formations rise vertically from the riverbed, with some reaching s ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kárahnjúkar Hydropower Plant
Kárahnjúkar Hydropower Plant ( ), officially called Fljótsdalur Power Station ( ) is a hydroelectric power plant in Fljótsdalshérað municipality in eastern Iceland, designed to produce annually for Alcoa's Fjarðaál Aluminium smelting, aluminum smelter to the east in Reyðarfjörður. With the installed capacity of , the plant is the List of power stations in Iceland, 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 the centrepiece of the five dams and the largest of its type in Europe, standing tall with a length of and comprising of material. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
