Baula () is a mountain situated in the west 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 ...

near Route 1,

Bifröst University Bifröst University () is located in the valley of List of valleys of Iceland, Norðurárdalur, approximately 30 kilometers north of Borgarnes, Iceland. Originally a business school, it also offers degrees in law and social sciences, at both bach ...

, and the craters of Grábrók. The mountain's reddish or orange hue is caused by its

rhyolite Rhyolite ( ) is the most silica-rich of volcanic rocks. It is generally glassy or fine-grained (aphanitic) in texture, but may be porphyritic, containing larger mineral crystals (phenocrysts) in an otherwise fine-grained groundmass. The mineral ...

rock composition. Geologically, the mountain is a

laccolith A laccolith is a body of intrusive rock with a dome-shaped upper surface and a level base, fed by a conduit from below. A laccolith forms when magma (molten rock) rising through the Earth's crust begins to spread out horizontally, prying ap ...

, a type of igneous

intrusion In geology, an igneous intrusion (or intrusive body or simply intrusion) is a body of intrusive igneous rock that forms by crystallization of magma slowly cooling below the surface of the Earth. Intrusions have a wide variety of forms and com ...

. It was formed 3.4 million years ago.Johannesson, Haukur (1975) ''Structure and petrochemistry of the Reykjadalur central volcano and the surrounding areas, Midwest Iceland'', Doctoral thesis, Durham University. Baula is characterized by its almost perfect cone. Nearby is Baula's “little sister,” a mountain called Litla-Baula, where rare

columns A column or pillar in architecture and structural engineering is a structural element that transmits, through compression, the weight of the structure above to other structural elements below. In other words, a column is a compression member. ...

of rhyolite are found. Together, Baula and Litla-Baula have often been described as Iceland's most beautiful pair of mountains.

References

* Hróarsson, Björn (1994) ''Á ferð um landið, Borgarfjörður og Mýrar, Mál og menning'' (in Icelandic) {{Authority control Volcanism of Iceland Mountains of Iceland Pliocene magmatism Laccoliths Borgarbyggð

See also

References