Breiðdals volcano

Breiðdals volcano
	Berufjörður from the Teigarhorn
location	Eastern Iceland
Coordinates	64 ° 51 '56 " N , 14 ° 33' 21" W Coordinates: 64 ° 51 '56 " N , 14 ° 33' 21" W
Type	Volcano (extinct)
rock	Rhyolite
Age of the rock	approx. 7 trash. Years

The Breiðdalsvulkan (Isl. Name Breiðdalseldstöð ) is a large, no longer active central volcano in Iceland .

Shaping the area in southeast Iceland

The Breiðdals volcano has had a lasting impact on the area around the Breiðdalsvík bay and the Berufjörður fjord .

Since then, the glaciers of the Ice Age have severely abraded it, so that only the ruins of what was once a huge mountain can be seen.

These are the mountains in the background of the Breiðdalsvík and especially a chain of rhyolite mountains that characterize the north side of Berufjörður. The names of the most important peaks, which are still more than 900 m above sea level today, are seen from west to east: Flögutindur , Smátindur , Röndólfur , Slöttur and Stöng .

Volcanic activity around 7 million years ago

About 7 million years ago, when the east fjords of Iceland were still volcanically active, the important volcano made itself felt through large eruptions. The column system belonging to it is oriented to the north.

The mountain must have towered over the area at that time by several hundred meters. During a major eruption, however, the magma chamber collapsed and left a 600 m deep caldera .

A major eruption occurred at the beginning of this volcano's existence, producing tremendous amounts of Ignimbritic debris from glowing clouds racing in all directions, but especially to the north . There they covered 430 km² with tuff rock . You can imagine what happened in a similar way to the eruption of Mount St. Helens in the USA in 1980. The layers can still be seen today and are 3 to 15 m thick . You can easily recognize them by the greenish color of the rock.

literature

Ari Trausti Guðmundsson: Á ferð um hringveginn . Reykjavík 1990
Hjörleifur Guttormsson: Austfirðir frá Álftafirði til Fáskrúðsfjarðar. Ferðafélag Íslands, árbók 2002.