Tröllaskagi () is a peninsula in northern
Iceland
Iceland is a Nordic countries, Nordic island country between the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic and Arctic Oceans, on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge between North America and Europe. It is culturally and politically linked with Europe and is the regi ...
on the
Greenland Sea
The Greenland Sea ( Danish: ''Grønlandshavet'') is a body of water that borders Greenland to the west, the Svalbard archipelago to the east, Fram Strait and the Arctic Ocean to the north, and the Norwegian Sea and Iceland to the south. The Gre ...
, between the
fjord
In physical geography, a fjord (also spelled fiord in New Zealand English; ) is a long, narrow sea inlet with steep sides or cliffs, created by a glacier. Fjords exist on the coasts of Antarctica, the Arctic, and surrounding landmasses of the n ...
s of
Eyjafjörður
Eyjafjörður (, ''Island Fjord'') is one of the longest fjords in Iceland. It is located in the central north of the country. Situated by the fjord is the country's fourth most populous municipality, Akureyri.
Physical geography
The fjord is ...
and
Skagafjörður
Skagafjörður () is a deep fjord and its valley in northern Iceland.
Location
Skagafjörður, the fjord, is about 40 km long and 15 km wide, situated between Tröllaskagi to the east and the Skagi, Skagi Peninsula to the west. Ther ...
. The peninsula is mountainous, with several peaks reaching over 1,000 meters above sea level, the tallest being
Kerling (1,538 m). It is the part of Iceland with the highest elevation outside the
central highlands.
The peninsula is cut by several deep valleys that were carved by glaciers during the
glacial period
A glacial period (alternatively glacial or glaciation) is an interval of time (thousands of years) within an ice age that is marked by colder temperatures and glacier advances. Interglacials, on the other hand, are periods of warmer climate betw ...
s of the last
Ice age
An ice age is a long period of reduction in the temperature of Earth's surface and atmosphere, resulting in the presence or expansion of continental and polar ice sheets and alpine glaciers. Earth's climate alternates between ice ages, and g ...
and later by the rivers that now flow down those valleys. A few permanent glacial ice caps still exist in central Tröllaskagi, but they are all rather small.
Human settlement is only extant in the relatively flat lowlands along the coast and in the valleys, but these lowlands are densely populated by Icelandic standards with important agricultural regions and a few towns and villages that mostly base their livelihood on fisheries. Those settlements are (clockwise around the peninsula beginning in Skagafjörður):
Hofsós
Hofsós () is one of the oldest trading ports in northern Iceland dating back to the 16th century. The tiny village Hofsós in the Northern Region in Iceland was a rather busy trading post in the 17th and 18th century, but despite the merchant a ...
,
Hólar
Hólar (; also Hólar í Hjaltadal ) is a small community in the Skagafjörður district of northern Iceland.
Location
Hólar is in the valley Hjaltadalur, some from the national capital of Reykjavík. It has a population of around 100. It is t ...
,
Siglufjörður
Siglufjörður () is a small fishing town in a narrow fjord with the same name on the northern coast of Iceland.
The population in 2011 was 1,206; the town has been shrinking in size since the 1950s when the town reached its peak of 3,000 inhabit ...
,
Ólafsfjörður
Ólafsfjörður () is a town in the northeast of Iceland located at the mouth of the fjord Eyjafjörður.
The town is connected to Dalvík on Eyjafjörður by the 3.5 km one-lane Múli tunnel (the ''Múlagöng'') and to Siglufjörður by the ...
,
Dalvík
Dalvík () is the main village of the Icelandic municipality of Dalvíkurbyggð. Its population is approximately 1,400. ,
Árskógssandur ,
Hauganes,
Hjalteyri
Hjalteyri () is a tiny fishing village in northern Iceland in the Norðurland eystra region.
Hjalteyri has 43 inhabitants and was the largest settlement in the former municipality of Arnarneshreppur before it merged to become part of Hörgársve ...
,
Hrafnagil
Hrafnagil (, also known as Hrafnagilshverfi and formerly Reykárhverfi ) is a small village in Eyjafjarðarsveit, northern Iceland, which in 2016 had 260 inhabitants.
The village has a school and a community center. The area has access to high-t ...
and the largest being
Akureyri
Akureyri (, ) is a town in northern Iceland, the country's fifth most populous Municipalities of Iceland, municipality (under the official name of Akureyrarbær , 'town of Akureyri') and the largest outside the Capital Region (Iceland), Capital R ...
.
Öxnadalsheiði
The
Ring Road
A ring road (also known as circular road, beltline, beltway, circumferential (high)way, loop or orbital) is a road or a series of connected roads encircling a town, city or country. The most common purpose of a ring road is to assist in reducin ...
runs through Tröllaskagi between Skagafjörður and Eyjafjörður through a mountain pass called
Öxnadalsheiði
Öxnadalsheiði is a plateau (which includes a valley of the same name) in between Norðurárdalur in Skagafjörður and Öxnadalur in Eyjafjörður, Iceland. Route 1 between Skagafjörður and Akureyri
Akureyri (, ) is a town in northern I ...
where the road reaches a maximum elevation of 540 meters above sea level, which can sometimes pose a problem during wintertime. Several different
tunnel
A tunnel is an underground or undersea passageway. It is dug through surrounding soil, earth or rock, or laid under water, and is usually completely enclosed except for the two portals common at each end, though there may be access and ve ...
ing projects have been suggested as a way to bypass Öxnadalsheiði.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Trollaskagi
Peninsulas of Iceland
Northeastern Region (Iceland)
Northwestern Region (Iceland)
Skagafjörður
Eyjafjörður