Snæfellsjökull (, ''snow-

fell A fell (from Old Norse ''fell'', ''fjall'', "mountain"Falk and Torp (2006:161).) is a high and barren landscape feature, such as a mountain or moor-covered hill. The term is most often employed in Fennoscandia, Iceland, the Isle of Man, pa ...

glacier A glacier (; ) is a persistent body of dense ice that is constantly moving under its own weight. A glacier forms where the accumulation of snow exceeds its ablation over many years, often centuries. It acquires distinguishing features, such as ...

'') is a 700,000-year-old

-capped stratovolcano in western

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 ...

. It is situated on the westernmost part of the

Snæfellsnes The Snæfellsnes () is a peninsula situated to the west of Borgarfjörður, in western Iceland. The Snæfellsjökull volcano, regarded as one of the symbols of Iceland, can be found in the area. With its height of 1446 m, it is the highest ...

peninsula in Iceland. Sometimes it may be seen from the city of

Reykjavík Reykjavík ( ; ) is the capital and largest city of Iceland. It is located in southwestern Iceland, on the southern shore of Faxaflói bay. Its latitude is 64°08' N, making it the world's northernmost capital of a sovereign state. With a po ...

over Faxa Bay, at a distance of 120 km. The mountain is one of the most famous sites of Iceland, primarily due to the novel ''

Journey to the Center of the Earth ''Journey to the Center of the Earth'' (french: Voyage au centre de la Terre), also translated with the variant titles ''A Journey to the Centre of the Earth'' and ''A Journey into the Interior of the Earth'', is a classic science fiction novel ...

'' ( 1864) by Jules Verne, in which the protagonists find the entrance to a passage leading to the center of the earth on Snæfellsjökull. The mountain is included in the Snæfellsjökull National Park (Icelandic: ''Þjóðgarðurinn Snæfellsjökull''). Snæfellsjökull was visible from an extreme distance due to an arctic mirage on July 17, 1939. Captain Robert Bartlett of the ''

Effie M. Morrissey ''Effie M. Morrissey'' (now ''Ernestina-Morrissey'') is a schooner skippered by Robert Bartlett that made many scientific expeditions to the Arctic, sponsored by American museums, the Explorers Club and the National Geographic Society. She also ...

'' sighted Snæfellsjökull from a position some distant. In August 2012, the summit was ice-free for the first time in

recorded history Recorded history or written history describes the historical events that have been recorded in a written form or other documented communication which are subsequently evaluated by historians using the historical method. For broader world his ...

Geology

The stratovolcano, which is the only large central volcano in its

part Part, parts or PART may refer to: People *Armi Pärt (born 1991), Estonian handballer * Arvo Pärt (born 1935), Estonian classical composer *Brian Part (born 1962), American child actor *Dealtry Charles Part (1882–1961), sheriff (1926–1927) a ...

of Iceland, has many pyroclastic cones on its flanks. Upper-flank craters produced intermediate to felsic materials, while lower-flank craters produced

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 ...

ic lava flows. Several

holocene The Holocene ( ) is the current geological epoch. It began approximately 11,650 cal years Before Present (), after the Last Glacial Period, which concluded with the Holocene glacial retreat. The Holocene and the preceding Pleistocene togeth ...

eruptions have originated from the summit crater and have produced felsic material. The latest eruption took place within 150 years of 200 CE and released approximately of volcanic material. The eruption was explosive and originated from the summit crater, and may have produced lava flows. Snæfellsjökullfromthesea

View from Snæfellsjökull on the summer solstice

Climbing

In summer, the saddle near the summit can be reached easily by walking, although the glacier's crevasses must be avoided. Several tour companies run regular guided walks during the season. To reach the true summit requires technical ice climbing.

In culture

Literature

Snæfellsjökull serves as the entrance to the subterranean journey in Jules Verne's classic science fiction novel, ''

'' (1864). It is also featured in the 1960s ''Blind Birds'' trilogy by Czech SF writer

Ludvík Souček Ludvík Souček (17 May 1926 - 26 December 1978) was a Czech science fiction writer. Biography Born at Prague, he graduated at Medical faculty of Charles University in Prague as a dentist in 1951 and started his professional life at the dental cl ...

, loosely inspired by Verne's work. While trying to discern whether Jules Verne actually visited Iceland, a Czechoslovak-Icelandic science party discovers an ancient alien outpost in the cave system under Snæfellsjökull. It also figures prominently in the novel ''Under the Glacier'' (1968) by Icelandic Nobel laureate Halldór Laxness.

Radio and podcasting

Snæfellsjökull is the setting and subject of "Lava and Ice" (episode 2) of ''Wireless Nights'',

Jarvis Cocker Jarvis Branson Cocker (born 19 September 1963) is an English musician and radio presenter. As the founder, frontman, lyricist and only consistent member of the band Pulp, he became a figurehead of the Britpop genre of the mid-1990s. Following P ...

BBC Radio 4 BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC that replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. It broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history from the BBC' ...

and podcast series.

References

Additional sources

External links

The website of Snæfellsjökull National Park

Snæfellsjökull
in the Catalogue of Icelandic Volcanoes
Snæfellsjökull The Jewel of West Iceland
{{DEFAULTSORT:Snaefellsjokull Mountains of Iceland Stratovolcanoes of Iceland Western Region (Iceland) National parks of Iceland Jules Verne Active volcanoes Snæfellsnes Subglacial volcanoes of Iceland One-thousanders of Iceland Glaciers of Iceland Volcanic systems of Iceland Snæfellsnes Volcanic Belt Calderas of Iceland Central volcanoes of Iceland Pleistocene stratovolcanoes Holocene stratovolcanoes