Dettifoss

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Dettifoss
The Dettifoss from the east side

The Dettifoss from the east side

Coordinates 65 ° 48 '52 "  N , 16 ° 23' 4"  W Coordinates: 65 ° 48 '52 "  N , 16 ° 23' 4"  W.
Dettifoss (Iceland)
Dettifoss
place Kópasker , Reykjahlíð , Iceland
height 44 m
flow Jökulsá á Fjöllum → Öxarfjörður

The Dettifoss [ 'tεhtɪˌfɔsː ] ( isl. "Falling waterfall") is the largest waterfall in northeast Iceland and, due to the combination of volume flow and height of fall, just before the Rhine Falls , it is the most powerful waterfall in Europe .

Location on Jökulsá á Fjöllum

The Jökulsá á Fjöllum river plunges into the Jökulsárgljúfur gorge , which is over 100 meters deep , in the north of Iceland , about 30 kilometers from where it flows into the Arctic Ocean . The water flow of the glacier river is an annual average of 193 m³ / s, but fluctuates with the seasons. The river drains the northern part of the Vatnajökull glacier. At the subglacial volcano Kverkfjöll, the Jökulsá á Fjöllum leaves the glacier through ice caves. One kilometer after the approximately ten meter high step of the Selfoss follows the Dettifoss. Over a width of about 100 meters, the gray-brown masses of water pour down over 44 meters and then flow about two kilometers further towards the 27 meter high Hafragilsfoss . On average, the water masses at Dettifoss have an output of around 85 megawatts .

traffic

Dettifoss can be reached on the west side via a new asphalt road (route 862 - Dettifossvegur) and on the east side via an older gravel road (route 864 - Hólsfjallavegur).

The waterfall is located on the Demantshringurinn (approximately diamond tour), a well-known tourist route around Húsavík and Lake Mývatn in northern Iceland.

Picture gallery

  • Dettifoss from the east side

  • Dettifoss (aerial view)

  • Dettifoss with rainbow

  • Spray whipped up

  • Jökulsárgljúfur gorge below Dettifoss

  • View of Dettifoss from the west side

Media reception

The musical work Dettifoss op. 57 by Jón Leifs is inspired by this waterfall.

The waterfall is in the science fiction -Kinofilm Prometheus - seen from 2012 at the beginning of a scene in which he is a landscape of the early Earth.

See also

Web links

Commons : Dettifoss  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Filming Locations . In: IMDb , accessed on July 24, 2014 (English)