Grímsnes volcanic system
The Grímsnes volcanic system is located in the south of Iceland in the municipality of Grímsnes og Grafningur . You cross it as a tourist on the classic route of the Gullni hringurinn . It is about 15 to 20 km northeast of Selfoss .
Iceland's youngest volcanic system?
The interesting thing about this system is that it has not yet built its own central volcano. It appears to be the youngest active volcanic system currently in existence in Iceland .
Rows of craters
The system includes the Seyðishólar crater series , a popular area for weekend homes , and the Tjarnarhólar , which includes the Kerið crater , which contains a crater lake but is not a maar , but a cinder cone . There was a small lava lake in it 6,300 years ago .
The highest of these craters are the Seyðishólar, whose iron-rich red slag is mined in stone pits. There is a transmitter mast on one of them.
They are also relatively low hills that only reach a height of just over 100 m, a total of around 12 cinder cones, which follow the orientation of the southern Icelandic earthquake zone.
These craters formed 8,000 to 5,000 years ago in a series of mixed eruptions (effusive and explosive eruptions: lava and gas materials). A total of 1.3 km³ of lava was produced ( Grímsneshraun ,).
Each of the small volcanoes consists of about two to four individual craters, which lie on short volcanic fissures from a length of 300 m to 1 km. Each of these surrounds a small lava field. The largest of these measures 23.5 km².
Only the Kérhóll stands on its own. There, around 6,200 years ago, a ring-shaped welding slag cone built up around an outlet opening .
The smallest hills are the Selhólar .
Other rows of craters that belong to the system are the Borgarhólar and the Rauðhólar (Grímsnes) .
See also
- Volcanoes in Iceland
- Geography of Iceland
- Rauðhólar (disambiguation)
Individual evidence
- ↑ Thor Thordarson, Armann Hoskuldsson: Iceland. Classic Geology in Europe 3. Harpenden 2002, p. 81 f.
- ↑ cf. Íslandshandbókin. 2. bindi. 1989, p. 821
- ↑ cf. Íslandshandbókin, ibid.
- ↑ Thor Thordarson, ibid., P. 82
- ↑ Íslandshandbókin. 2. bindi. 1989, p. 792
Web links
- Grímsnes the Global Volcanism Program of the Smithsonian Institution (English)
- Kristian Saemundsson: Structural geology, volcanology and geothermal activity , Nov. 2009 (PDF file; 4.5 MB) (English)
- Sveinn P. Jakobsson, ea: Volcanic systems and segmentation of plate boundaries in Iceland, (PDF file, abstract; 74 kB) (English)
- Sveinn P. Jakobsson: The Grímsnes lavas, SW-Iceland. Acta Naturalia Islandica, II.6 (PDF file, English; 2.4 MB)
Coordinates: 64 ° 2 ′ N , 20 ° 52 ′ W