Öxarfjörður () is a broad

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, Förden and East Jutland Fjorde, Germany, ...

in northeastern

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 s ...

, situated between the Tjörnes and Melrakkaslétta headlands.

Geography

Öxarfjörður is encircled by mountain ranges to the west and east, and the Gjástykki

lava field Lava fields are large, mostly flat areas of surface or subaquatic lava flows. Such features are generally composed of highly fluid basalt lava, and can extend for tens or hundreds of miles across the underlying terrain. Morphology and stru ...

s and an area with sand deposited by the glacial river

Jökulsá á Fjöllum Jökulsá á Fjöllum (; "glacial river in the mountains") is the second longest river in Iceland (206 km). Its source is the Vatnajökull glacier. It flows into the Greenland Sea. Jökulsá á Fjöllum streams over the waterfalls Selfoss, ...

in the south. The only village in the area is Kópasker with about 130 inhabitants. The

Mid-Atlantic ridge The Mid-Atlantic Ridge is a mid-ocean ridge (a divergent or constructive plate boundary) located along the floor of the Atlantic Ocean, and part of the longest mountain range in the world. In the North Atlantic, the ridge separates the North ...

runs through the western part of the fjord before going underwater again. Öxarfjörður went deeper inland in earlier geological times but the glacial river Jökulsá deposited sands from the highlands on a triangular area of about 300 km² called Sandur . Sandur is still trenched by the

delta Delta commonly refers to: * Delta (letter) (Δ or δ), a letter of the Greek alphabet * River delta, at a river mouth * D ( NATO phonetic alphabet: "Delta") * Delta Air Lines, US * Delta variant of SARS-CoV-2 that causes COVID-19 Delta may also ...

of Jökulsá which is constantly changing its riverbed. There are two big lakes on Sandur, Vikingavatn and Skjálftavatn , the latter one formed by an earthquake in 1976, over the course of which some houses in the area were destroyed.

Economy

The economy of the area is mainly

sheep farming Sheep farming or sheep husbandry is the raising and breeding of domestic sheep. It is a branch of animal husbandry. Sheep are raised principally for their meat (lamb and mutton), milk (sheep's milk), and fiber (wool). They also yield sheepskin an ...

. Sheep farm sizes vary between 100 and 1,000 sheep during winter. Between June and September the sheep and the newborn lambs are set free to graze in the highlands. They are driven home by all the farmers of an area on certain days in autumn with the help of horses and dogs. They are driven into a large fence and afterwards split up between the farmers who recognize them by their earmarks. There is a large lamb-processing factory named Fjallalamb in Kópasker. Fishery and tourism also play an important role. People work on fishing boats that set off from Kópasker harbour, and there are two fish farms producing

salmon Salmon () is the common name for several commercially important species of euryhaline ray-finned fish from the family Salmonidae, which are native to tributaries of the North Atlantic (genus ''Salmo'') and North Pacific (genus '' Oncorhy ...

halibut Halibut is the common name for three flatfish in the genera '' Hippoglossus'' and '' Reinhardtius'' from the family of right-eye flounders and, in some regions, and less commonly, other species of large flatfish. The word is derived from ''h ...

and

trout Trout are species of freshwater fish belonging to the genera '' Oncorhynchus'', '' Salmo'' and '' Salvelinus'', all of the subfamily Salmoninae of the family Salmonidae. The word ''trout'' is also used as part of the name of some non-salm ...

. Geothermal energy is utilized to heat the houses in the area. It is obtained from hot springs in Sandur.

Tourism

In the area is Jökulsárgljúfur, one of four Icelandic National Parks. It is located on the west bank of the glacial river Jökulsá á Fjöllum, and extends 30 km northwards from

Dettifoss Dettifoss () is a waterfall in Vatnajökull National Park in Northeast Iceland, and is reputed to be the second most powerful waterfall in Europe after the Rhine Falls. Dettifoss is situated on the Jökulsá á Fjöllum river, which flows from th ...

waterfall, covering 120 km². Dettifoss is Europe's most powerful waterfall with an annual mean flow rate of 193 m³ per second. Further upstream are Hljóðaklettar (Echo Rocks), which are a row of craters featuring

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 ...

columns. In the northern part of the National Park lies

Ásbyrgi Ásbyrgi () is a glacial canyon and forest in the north of Iceland, located approximately east of Húsavík on the Diamond Circle road. The horseshoe-shaped depression is part of the Vatnajökull National Park and measures approximately 3.5 ...

, a horseshoe-shaped depression, and the main campsite. There is one scheduled bus connecting the area with

Akureyri Akureyri (, locally ) is a town in northern Iceland. It is Iceland's fifth-largest municipality, after Reykjavík, Hafnarfjörður, Reykjanesbær and Kópavogur, and the largest town outside Iceland's more populated southwest corner. Nickn ...

, the only town with more than 10,000 citizens and an airport in northern Iceland.

References

Fjords of Iceland {{iceland-fjord-stub