Vatn

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Location and size
Iceland lies close to the Arctic Circle. Total
area103,000 square km. Iceland is geologically
a young country, and is still in the process of
formation. The interior plateaus and
mountains. The highest mountain Hvannadalshnúkur
in Öræfajökull glacier (glose to Skaftafell),
about 2110 m.
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Flora
The Icelandic flora includes about 470 species of
indigenous and naturalized species of vascular
plants. Common species of trees Sorbus aucuparia
L. (Reynir) Betula pubescens (Birki) Juniperus
communis (Einir) Pinus mugo (Fjallafura) Larix
sibirica Ledeb (Lerki) Picea engelmannii
(Blágreni)
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Fauna
When Iceland was settled in the ninth century,
the Arctic fox was the only land mammal in the
country. Later, man introduced (accidentally!)
the mouse and the rat, and still later deer and
mink were imported. The mink was imported for fur
farming, but some animals escaped and the mink
now belongs to the fauna of the island. Sea
mammals Seals and whales. Birds More than 200
kinds 72 nest regularly. Fresh Water
FishesSalmon and trout.
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IcelandNatural Resources
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Hot water is used for electricity production and
heating spaces (homes, greenhouses..), swimming
pools, pavements etc.
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Continental Drift
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Continental drift
Iceland is on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, where the
Eurasian and North American crustal plates are
formed by volcanic activity. The youngest rocks
appear in the middle
Ca 10 of Iceland is covered by glaciers
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Geothermal water
Cold and hot ground water
Hot and cold ground water
Magma body
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Svartsengi and The Blue Lagoon

• The Svartsengi geothermal power plant is
  connected to boreholes producing steam and a
  mixture of steam and water
• There are heat-exchangers that produce hot water
  and urbines that generate electricity
• The Blue lagoon was formed when hot water from
  the nearby Svartsengi geothermal power plant that
  formed due to heat exchange was discharged into
  the adjacent lava field

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The Journey
http//www.casdn.neu.edu/geology/department/staff
/colgan/iceland/iceland.html
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Þingvellir
At Þingvellir, Alþing - general assembly was
established A.D. 930 and continued to convene
there until 1798. Many major events in the
history of Iceland have taken place at
Þingvellir. Today Þingvellir is a national
park The faults and fissures of the area make
evident the rifting of the earth's crust
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Gullfoss and Geysir
Gullfoss (The Golden Waterfall) is in River Hvítá
which has its source underneath the glacier
Langjökull, and flows into the Atlantic. The
water cascades down 33 m into the 2,5 km long
canyon below. The canyon was created at the end
of the last glacial period flood waves. Following
large earthquakes in Souhtern Iceland in June
2000 Geysir started to erupt after having been
dormant since 1915. The geyser Strokkur erupts
every 8 minutes and has been the main geysir in
the area since 1963.
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Until the last glacial age a continuous glacial
cap covered the highland area and the ocean
extended far inland in the lowlands of South
Iceland
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Skógar og Vík í Mýrdal
Skogar two farms, a school and a folk museum.
Old houses have been restored and rebuilt on the
museum grounds. The church is a replica of old
country churches the inside decorations are old
artefacts from bygone churches. Vík í Mýrdal
the southernmost coastal village of the country.
There are large bird breeding colonies not far
from the village arctic tern (kría), puffins
(lundi), guillemot (langvía), fulmar (fýll),
kittiwakes (rita) etc.
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Katla
Photograph of Katla volcano erupting through
Mýrdalsjökull ice cap in 1918. This eruption
deposited a huge volume of tephra on the ice cap
and surrounding landscape, and unleashed a
catastrophic flood of melt water and sediment
over Mýrdalssandur Katla volcano is showing signs
of unrest
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Kirkjubæjarklaustur
In 1186 a convent of the Benedictine order was
established but in1550, the Icelanders were
became lutherian. Topographical names in the area
remind of the catholic past, such as Systrastapi.
Two nuns are said to have been buried there after
they were burned at the stake. This area contains
some famous natural phenomena.
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Skaftáreldar
The Skaftáreldar eruptions of 1783. A long row of
craters erupted for almost two years and covered
the area with lava and the whole country with
ashes. Pastures were poisoned and people and
livestock died of famine and diseases. Only
38.500 Icelanders survived the disaster. The
Danish authorities contemplated to move the
surviving population to Denmark
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Skaftafell
The national park Skaftafell contains precious
natural pearls glaciers and mountains. It
includes half of Glacier Vatnajokull.  There are
no roads for motorized vehicles in the park, but
there is a network of trails.
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Öræfajökull
Oraefajokull is the largest active post-glacial
volcano in Iceland. Oraefajokull is also nown for
its outlet glaciers that sweep down into the
surrounding lowland plains from the volcano.
North and north-west of Oraefajokull is the
largest glacier in Iceland, Vatnajokull.
Oraefajokull has erupted twice in historical
times in 1362 and 1727. The 1362 eruption was
explosive and the largest in Icelandic historical
time. It destroyed a whole district with floods
and tephra fall. By the 1400's a new settlement
had sprung up again in this area.In 1727
Oraefajokull erupted again, and with similar
effects.
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Jokulsárlón
Jokulsarlon (glacier lagoon), east of Skaftafell,
is a deep lake clustered with ice floes
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The origins of Icelanders
Analysis on the Y-chromosome and mtDNA indicate
that about 80 of Icelandic men and 40 Icelandic
women are of Scandinavian origin
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The Origins of the IcelandersSigurður Nordal
InstituteÞingholtsstræti 29P.O. Box 1220, 121
Reykjavík, IcelandTelephone 562 6050, fax 562
6263, nordals_at_hi.is The Viking Age (800-1066)
is the most famous period of Scandinavian
history. At that time, the Norse seafarers took
control of all the sea passages around northern
and western Europe, as well the water trade
routes in the east and southwards to Russia. They
even went as far south as the Mediterranean Sea.
On their voyages around the oceans, they
discovered and settled uninhabited islands, among
them Iceland, the Faroe Islands and
Greenland.Norse OriginsIn The Book of the
Icelanders (Íslendingabók), the first Icelandic
historian, Ari Þorgilsson the Wise (1068-1148),
relates the followingIceland was first settled
out of Norway at the time when Ivar
Ragnarsson Shaggy Breek killed the English King
Edmund the Holy. That was seventy winters into
the nine hundredth year after the birth of
Christ, as described in his saga. There was a
Norseman called Ingólfr, who can truly be said to
have first travelled to Iceland when Haraldr the
Fairhaired was sixteen winters old and a second
time a few winters later. He settled in the
south, in Reykjavík. (the Icelandic version of
Íslendingabók which can be found in Volume 1 of
the Íslenzk Fornrit series, this excerpt on pages
4-5.)
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The Origins of the IcelandersSigurður Nordal
InstituteÞingholtsstræti 29P.O. Box 1220, 121
Reykjavík, IcelandTelephone 562 6050, fax 562
6263, nordals_at_hi.is There are reports of
seafarers who came to the island before
Ingólfurs voyage and who stayed there over the
winter. One of these was Floki Vilgerðarson, also
known as Hrafna or Raven-Floki. He was a
Norwegian viking who used the raven as his
sailing guide, on account of which he acquired
his nickname. He had intended to settle in
Iceland but returned to Norway after a difficult
winter. It was Hrafna-Floki who gave Iceland its
name.    According to The Book of Settlements
(Landnámabók), Ingólfur Arnarson established
himself in Iceland in 874. However, it is the
Irish monks who are thought to have been the
first men to settle the country in the eighth and
ninth centuries, although there are few remains
or remnants of their settlement. Most indications
are that the majority of settlers came from
Norway, but there is also talk of the mixing of
Norse and Celtic blood when the Norsemen went on
Viking raids.    Placenames throughout the
country bear witness to the Norse origins of the
Icelandic people, and some places are named after
the Norse gods, such as Þórshöfn (Thors harbour)
and Þórsmörk (Thors pasture), while other place
names point to the nations Celtic origins, for
instance Bekansstaðir (Beecans place),
Njálsstaðir (Nials place) and Írafell (Mount
Irish).
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The Origins of the IcelandersSigurður Nordal
InstituteÞingholtsstræti 29P.O. Box 1220, 121
Reykjavík, IcelandTelephone 562 6050, fax 562
6263, nordals_at_hi.is IIIGenetic Research into
Icelandic OriginsNot everyone is as convinced of
the supposed Norse origins of the Icelandic
people, and some believe that recent research
into the genetics of men on the one hand and
women on the other lends support to their doubts.
The research has concentrated on genetic
mitochondria which are inherited in the female
line alone, from mother to child. Since almost
all of the inherited genetic mitochondrion of
Icelanders has been passed directly from women of
the settlement period, it is possible through
comparative research to work out their
origins.    The first results to come out of the
research, which is being done by DeCode in
collaboration with the University of Oxford,
indicate that 63 of Icelandic female settlers
were of Celtic origin and had ancestral lines
traceable to the British Isles. On the other
hand, only about 37 of them were of Nordic
origins. However, the research into male
Y-chromosomes (inherited via the male line)
revealed that a much greater percentage of male
settlers were of Nordic origins, or 80, and 20
have origins which can be traced to the British
Isles.    This is one of the most extensive
genetic research projects ever conducted in one
country in order to investigate its origins, but
conclusive results are not yet ready.