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Borgarvirki lies between Vesturhóp and Víðidalur in the north of Borgarvirki North Iceland
There is a viewing dial inside. It is accessible to visitors travelling around the peninsula of
Borgarvirki lies between Vesturhóp and Víðidalur in the north of 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 ...
, and at 177m above sea level it dominates the surrounding region. Made out of 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 ...
strata, it has been used as a fortress. Borgarvirki is a natural phenomenon, altered by humans in earlier centuries. In 1949, Borgarvirki was renovated by workers who installed a granite lintel at the main entrance.
Borgarvirki is a volcanic plug
A volcanic plug, also called a volcanic neck or lava neck, is a volcanic object created when magma hardens within a vent on an active volcano. When present, a plug can cause an extreme build-up of high gas pressure if rising volatile-charged ma ...
(gosstapi ), and the Icelandic sagas
The sagas of Icelanders ( is, Íslendingasögur, ), also known as family sagas, are one genre of Icelandic sagas. They are prose narratives mostly based on historical events that mostly took place in Iceland in the ninth, tenth, and early el ...
mention that in earlier centuries it was used for military purposes.There is a viewing dial inside. It is accessible to visitors travelling around the peninsula of
Vatnsnes
Vatnsnes () is a peninsula jutting into Húnaflói in northern Iceland. It is surrounded by waters of Miðfjörður on the west and Húnafjörður on the east. It is home to one of the largest seal colonies in Iceland, among others at Hindisv ...
.
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
External links
North Iceland Landforms of Iceland Mountains of Iceland Volcanoes of Iceland Volcanic plugs of Iceland Columnar basalts in Iceland {{iceland-geo-stub