Dyrhólaey (, "door hill island"), formerly known by seamen as Cape Portland, is a small

promontory A promontory is a raised mass of land that projects into a lowland or a body of water (in which case it is a peninsula). Most promontories either are formed from a hard ridge of rock that has resisted the erosive forces that have removed the soft ...

located on the south coast 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 ...

, not far from the village Vík. It was formerly an island of

volcanic A volcano is a rupture in the crust of a planetary-mass object, such as Earth, that allows hot lava, volcanic ash, and gases to escape from a magma chamber below the surface. On Earth, volcanoes are most often found where tectonic plates ...

origin, which is also known by the Icelandic word ''eyja'' meaning ''island''. The volcano erupted about 100 thousand years ago during the

Pleistocene The Pleistocene ( , often referred to as the '' Ice age'') is the geological epoch that lasted from about 2,580,000 to 11,700 years ago, spanning the Earth's most recent period of repeated glaciations. Before a change was finally confirmed ...

. The peninsula has an elevation of , and the Dyrhólaey Lighthouse sits at the top of the formation facing the sea. The view from Dyrhólaey is broad: To the north is to be seen the big

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 a ...

Mýrdalsjökull Mýrdalsjökull (pronounced , Icelandic for "(the) mire dale glacier" or "(the) mire valley glacier") is an ice cap in the south of Iceland. It is to the north of Vík í Mýrdal and to the east of the smaller ice cap Eyjafjallajökull. Between t ...

. To the east, the black

lava Lava is molten or partially molten rock ( magma) that has been expelled from the interior of a terrestrial planet (such as Earth) or a moon onto its surface. Lava may be erupted at a volcano or through a fracture in the crust, on land or ...

columns of the

Reynisdrangar Reynisdrangar () are basalt sea stacks situated under the mountain Reynisfjall near the village Vík í Mýrdal in southern Iceland. It is framed by a black sand beach that was ranked in 1991 as one of the ten most beautiful non-tropical beach ...

come out of the sea, and to the west the whole coastline in the direction of Selfoss is visible – depending on weather conditions. In front of the peninsula, there is a gigantic black arch of lava standing in the sea, which gave the peninsula its name (meaning: ''door hill island''). In the summertime, many

Atlantic puffin The Atlantic puffin ('), also known as the common puffin, is a species of seabird in the auk family. It is the only puffin native to the Atlantic Ocean; two related species, the tufted puffin and the horned puffin is found in the northeaster ...

s can be found nesting on the cliff faces of Dyrhólaey.

References

External links

Information

Dyrhólaey website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dyrholaey Bird cliffs of Iceland Former islands Inselbergs of Iceland Landforms of Iceland Natural arches Peninsulas of Iceland Pleistocene volcanoes Rock formations of Europe Southern Region (Iceland) Tourist attractions in Iceland Volcanoes of Iceland

See also

References

External links