Hestfjall (Grímsnes og Grafningur)

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Hestfjall
Horses (isl. Hestar) at Hestfjall (right)

Horses (isl. Hestar) at Hestfjall (right)

height 322  m
location Southwest of Iceland
Coordinates 63 ° 58 ′ 59 ″  N , 20 ° 42 ′ 0 ″  W Coordinates: 63 ° 58 ′ 59 ″  N , 20 ° 42 ′ 0 ″  W.
Hestfjall (Grímsnes og Grafningur) (Iceland)
Hestfjall (Grímsnes og Grafningur)
Type Shield volcano
Hestfjall, right

Hestfjall, right

Template: Infobox Berg / Maintenance / BILD1

The Hestfjall is a 322 meter high mountain of volcanic origin. It is located in the south of the Grímsnes og Grafningur municipality in the Árnessýsla district in southwest Iceland . Its volume is given by Eason et al. (2015) estimated at 1.7 km 3 , which would have roughly the same volume as the new lava field of Bárðarbunga on Holuhraun from 2014/15.

Surname

There are numerous mountains in Iceland called Hestfjall . The name means horse mountain (isl. "Fjall" = Eng. "Mountain"). Many mountains in Iceland also bear the name Hestur (Eng. "Horse").

location

The mountain is located about 20 km from the city of Selfoss in a northeast direction.

The Hvítá flows towards the sea at its feet , while the Hestvatn lake spreads out on its north side .

geology

Type and formation of the mountain

Hestfjall is actually a shield volcano from a warm period of the Ice Age. However, this is only half formed, as apparently a glacier prevented the lavas from spreading further.

After the ice age glaciers thawed, today's Flóa, d. H. flooded the plain between the volcanic mountain ranges in southwest Iceland and the eastern volcanic zone (with Hekla , Mýrdalsjökull , etc.). As a result, the mountain, like many other small mountains in this plain, such as the Vörðufell , was an island for some time. This explains the steep rock bastions on its south side, which were created by sea erosion.

Earthquake hypocenter

Since South Iceland is located in a transform zone, a lot of crevasses run through the country, which in this area are mostly oriented from north to south. From time to time there are also stronger earthquakes here due to the movements of the continental drift . This last happened on June 17 and 21, 2000 and in May 2008. During the 6.3 magnitude earthquake on June 21, 2000, the hypocenter was almost exactly below Hestfjall. This resulted in a number of new faults and houses were damaged, but people were not harmed because most of the people were outdoors due to the national holiday, which was celebrated on this day when the weather was fine.

Hiking at Hestfjall

You can easily go up the mountain from the north, from Vatnsnes farm.

See also

Web links

About the earthquake in 2000

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Eason et al .: Effects of deglaciation on the petrology and eruptive history of the Western Volcanic Zone, Iceland. In: Bulletin of Volcanology June 2015, p. 6.
  2. ^ Hans Ulrich Schmid: Dictionary Icelandic-German. Hamburg (Buske) 2002, p. 64.
  3. a b c Ari Trausti Guðmundsson, Pétur Þorleifsson: Íslensk fjöll. Gönguleiðir á 151 tind. Reykjavík (Mál og Menning) 2004, p. 108.
  4. Thor Thordarson, however, classifies it among the tabular volcanoes , see: Thor Thordarson, Armann Hoskuldsson: Iceland. Classic Geology in Europe 3. Harpenden (Terra) 2002, p. 81
  5. Thor Thordarson, Armann Hoskuldsson: Iceland. Classic Geology in Europe 3. Harpenden (Terra) 2002, p. 71
  6. ^ Ari Trausti Guðmundsson, Pétur Þorleifsson: Íslensk fjöll. Gönguleiðir á 151 tind. Reykjavík (Mál og Menning) 2004, p. 109.