Iceland is still covered in snow which just makes the trekking all the more wet!
Today, the 31st January, we went on our first excursion out if six, which we will go on in relation to one of the courses we are taking at The University of Iceland - Icelandic Nature and Cultural Legacy. The course concerns several areas of Iceland’s heritage with a primary focus on geology, biology and literature.
Today’s excursion went to the geologically and biologically interesting area around one of the landmark buildings at the outskirts of Reykjavik, namely Perlan (the pearl). The building is situated atop the hill Öskjuhlíð, which stretches 61 metres above sea level at the moment. During previous times, and the ice age(s), the hills rise above sea level has varied, which makes the surrounding area a virtual geological wonderland.
Perlan
After 45 minutes of preliminary trekking from our living quarters to Perlan, through an ice slippery city cowered in snow, we were all sweaty and quite eager to continue with the real trekking when we stood a top Öskjuhlíð. Here we met up with our lecturers, Hrepna and Kristinn, and the rest of the class.
Unluckily for learning-by-seeing-geology the entire hill of Öskjuhlíð was covered in a quite thick layer of snow, which meant that it was not possible to observe where the sea levels of previous eras could be seen by water rounded boulders and small fossilized sea snails. It was however possible to examine the large number of evergreens which led to a fascinating discussion of how these trees can remain green when covered in snow, photosynthesis and the function of needles versus leaves. Geology – 0, Biology - 1.
The excursion also led us by a man made geyser, which lay bubbling ominously. The hot spot was created to test how and why geysers erupt, and is set to erupt each 20 minutes during the high season. This meant that there was no action while we stood around the enclosure surrounding the large pool of almost boiling water. The group found this a wee bit disappointing, but easily cheered up again when we one hour later descended the hill and arrived at the cold windswept beach. Here we were told a little about whales native the sea surrounding Icelandic and their migration patterns.After this two hour of excursion, which ended at the beach, we all started the 45 minutes post trekking back to our residences. One down, five to go.
By Esben
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Excursion on the 14th of February
1st stop
Our first stop was at a lake called Kleifarvatn (vatn means lake in Icelandic). The lake has been created as a result of a depression between two volcanic ridges, where the groundwater is seeping in and filling the lake. It is at the current stage 80 meters deep and hot springs are located at the bottom. The mountain range next to it is volcanically active and there has been seismic activity near the lake. This means that an eruption can happen within a few year, but it should be a fissure eruption and therefore relatively harmless.
2nd stop
We continued to the Seltún hot spring, which is a high temperature geothermal area. This basically means that it is still in contact with active volcanoes and that the temperature is above 100°C. If you were to dig just 50 cm, down into the ground you’d have temperatures around 150°C - 200°C.
A lot of the area was yellow, which were deposits of sulphur.
3rd stop
We had to do a short (but still hard) hike to reach a small volcano, which had erupted 2000 years ago. It had been a quite peaceful eruption when it erupted, and the lava had just created channels, when leaving the volcano (because it had been out in the open).
4th stop
We had a short stop at the richest church in Iceland (because toilets were located here). The church had been build by a couple of fishermen in the 12th century who had promised God that they would build a church wherever they came ashore, if they survived being shipwrecked. Since then it’s been said to be good fortune to donate money to the church. Hence it is the richest in Iceland.
5th stop
Our last stop on the way was at an old lava tube. Lava tubes are created when lava leaves a volcano underground. It proved to be a bit tricky to get into the cave (and through it), due to a lot of snow and ice. In a lot of countries it probably would have been considered too risky to take a whole class through terrain like this, but it was nice for a change to be treated as adults who were in charge of their own responsibility.
Bonus info
The main incomes for Iceland are
- Providing energy for creating aluminium (there are 3 factories in Iceland).
- Fishing.
- Tourism (last year there were around 700.000 tourists and that can be a danger due to overgrazing (too many tourists in certain areas can harm the environment)).
Lava provides a lot of shelter and warmth. This leads to moss establishing itself after 10-15 years. This again leads to soil being created which means that other types of vegetation can grow and hereby draw birds and other animals to the area.
Volcanic glass = magma which gets in contact with water
By Louise Ibsen
