Reykjanes () is a small

headland A headland, also known as a head, is a coastal landform, a point of land usually high and often with a sheer drop, that extends into a body of water. It is a type of promontory. A headland of considerable size often is called a cape.Whittow, John ...

on the south-western end of the Reykjanes Peninsula in Iceland, giving the main peninsula its name. Volcanic action is responsible for forming the entire peninsula. The nearest town is Keflavik. The name, Reykjanes, translates to "smoking point,” “reykja” meaning smoking, and “nes” meaning point. It is named this due to the due to the continuing volcanic activity of the

Reykjanes volcanic belt The Reykjanes Peninsula ( is, Reykjanesskagi ) in southwest Iceland is the continuation of the mostly submarine Reykjanes Ridge, a part of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, on land and reaching from Esja in the north and Hengill in the east to Reyk ...

; there are also many other uses of this name in Iceland, e.g. the Reykjanes Peninsula or Reykjanes in

Ísafjarðardjúp Ísafjarðardjúp () is a large fjord in the Westfjords region of Iceland. Its name translates to ''Depth of the fjord of sea ice''. Ísafjörður, capital of the Westfjords region, is situated close to the mouth of Ísafjarðardjúp in Sk ...

Geography

The region is about to the south of Iceland's international airport. It is about and includes the Reykjanes volcanic system that extends in a linear fashion up its centre continuing to the north-east as the hill of Sýrfell at high. Other volcanic systems of the Reykjanes volcanic belt could affect the Reykjanes region and have erupted as recently as 2024. Other hills associated with the system are Skálafell (Grindavíkurbær) with a height of in the south-west near the sea and Bæjarfell at high to its north. The

Reykjanesviti Reykjanesviti () is Iceland's oldest lighthouse, located at Reykjanestá. It serves as a landfall light for Reykjavík and Keflavík. History The tower is a tall construction, situated on the southwestern edge of the Reykjanes peninsula. The ...

lighthouse is on Bæjarfell and is fairly frequently visited by tourists.. The

geothermal power station Geothermal power is electrical power generated from geothermal energy. Technologies in use include dry steam power stations, flash steam power stations and binary cycle power stations. Geothermal electricity generation is currently used in 2 ...

is inland from the lighthouse to its north-east. Valahnúkamöl is its south western cliff coast leading to

Reykjanestá Reykjanestá () is the uttermost tip of Reykjanes Peninsula (''Reykjanesskagi'') in Iceland. It is situated on a small peninsula called Reykjanes which in itself again is part of the big peninsula Reykjanesskagi. Road 425 and some smaller r ...

, the most south-western cape of the area.

Geology

The basaltic low relief lava shields of the Reykjanes volcanic system are typically more than 4500 years old, but towards the south there are more recent eruptive fissures, with crater rows, tindars and hyaloclastite hills as well as parts of tuff cones near the south-west shoreline. The offshore volcanoes have produced 15 different tephra layers in the region. The volcano erupted for a 30 odd year period ending in 1240 CE. In 1226 CE an explosive eruption off Reykjanes produced about of tephra with deposits up to away. It also has lava dated to 2150 years ago and 3200 years ago. The Reykjanes volcano has been classified historically with the active as of

2024 Predicted and scheduled events * January 1 ** In the United States, books, films, and other works published in 1928 will enter the public domain, assuming there are no changes made to copyright law. ***''Steamboat Willie'', Walt Disney's fi ...

Eldvörp–Svartsengi Eldvörp–Svartsengi (); "fire cones–black meadow" in Icelandic language, Icelandic also Svartsengi volcanic system) is a volcanic system in the southwest of Iceland on the Southern Peninsula (Iceland), Southern Peninsula, southeast of Keflaví ...

volcano to its south-east as its rift system intersects this to the east in the

and the two volcanic systems are very similar, even though they have separate geothermal systems,and lava composition. Recent studies tend to classify the Reykjanes volcanic system as a separate fissure volcano of the Reykjanes volcano belt. This volcanic system marks the transition from the mainly extensional structure of the underwater Reykjanes Ridge of the Atlantic mid-oceanic ridge to a trans-tensional plate boundary in the Reykjanes Peninsula. The wide Reykjanes volcanic system is in a rift zone, which extends , including at least out to sea towards the Reykjanes Ridge. Volcanic rock production has kept pace with rift extension and subsidence with at least ten eruptions in the 14,500 years since the area became ice free after the end of the last ice age. Within the volcanic system there are active NE–SW dip-slip faults. There are two main fissure swarm zones being in the north (Stampar) and south (Sýrfell). They are separated by about , and their western parts have been active in the last three eruptive periods of the Reykjanes area. The volcanic rocks are basalts, with picrite, or

tholeiite The tholeiitic magma series is one of two main magma series in subalkaline igneous rocks, the other being the calc-alkaline series. A magma series is a chemically distinct range of magma compositions that describes the evolution of a mafic magma i ...

characteristics. While the active volcanism on the peninsula has been a major source for the geothermal activity in the area, there is evidence that the volcanism can fuel geothermal systems up to 30 kilometers away, as far as Hvalfjörður. On the Reykjanes Peninsula itself, the system has had its geothermal potential exploited, producing up to 176 MW of energy. Most of the Reykjanes area is at risk of disruption from future eruptions and susceptibility maps have been published.

References

Sources

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External links

Catalogue of Icelandic Volcanoes - Reykjanes
{{Volcanoes of Iceland, state=collapsed Headlands of Iceland Black sand beaches Rift volcanoes Volcanoes of Iceland Volcanic systems of Iceland Reykjanes Volcanic Belt

Geography

Geology

See also

References

Sources

External links