Geldingadalur Eruption
We were aware of a volcanic eruption occurring at Geldingadalur, just south of a mountain called Fagradalsfjall.
The eruption was close to Reykjavík - the first on the capital’s peninsula in living memory.
Since its explosive beginning, the eruption had been continuing on and off for many months.
My friend Tom (who’d just departed Iceland on his own lava hunt) recommended some websites to monitor the situation.
The data was not looking hopeful, but we visited the volcano on Wednesday July 7.
It was only a moderately challenging hike of about one hour to the best viewpoint.
On the way up we saw views of the black, steaming lava field which had spewed from the cone and was slowly engulfing all before it.
We were able to walk down to it, even souveniring some still warm lava rocks.
Alas, when we arrived at the viewpoint it was a double failure - the cone was not erupting, and it was obscured by low cloud anyway.
The view in the GIF below shows the cone totally obscured, a steaming lava field in the foreground.
We didn’t know it at the time - but we’d return later.
Next we were off to Þingvellir National Park which is a place of great cultural significance to Icelanders.
It was a meeting place and parliament for the country’s early settlers.
But it’s also a place of geological import - one of the few sites you can glimpse the edge of continental tectonic plates above the ground.
It’s the edge of both the North American Plate (which I am touching in the picture below) and the Eurasia Plate - they’re moving apart by a few centimetres per year.
Despite some of the marketing hype, the two plates are actually miles apart… So you can see both simultaneously, but you certainly cannot touch them at the same time!
The large area (rift zone) between the plates itself includes fissures being created as the plates separate.
These are sometimes promoted as places where you can snorkel or scuba dive and “touch both plates” - but this is slightly disingenuous!