Kolbeinsey
| Kolbeinsey | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Waters | Greenland Sea |
| Geographical location | 67 ° 8 ′ 9 ″ N , 18 ° 41 ′ 3 ″ W |
 |
|
| surface | 0.009 ha |
| Highest elevation | 8 m |
| Residents | uninhabited |
Kolbeinsey ( German "Kolbeinns Insel" ) is a 90 square meter volcanic rock 105 km north of the Icelandic north coast and 74 km north-northwest of the island of Grímsey . The island is the 67 ° 08 'N northernmost point of Iceland . The section of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge to the north of Iceland is named after her, the so-called Kolbeinseyrücken .
Volcanism
It is the only place where the undersea volcanic mountain range Kolbeinseyrücken breaks the sea surface.
Kolbeinsey Island was formed by an undersea volcanic eruption similar to that of Surtsey . Its exact age is not known, it probably formed in the late Pleistocene or early Holocene . Originally it was a fairly large island with a shield volcano on top of pillow lavas and palagonite . The remainder that still exists consists of basalt .
The last known volcanic eruptions on the Kolbeinsey Ridge were in 1755 and 1372.
Historical background
The island was so well known in medieval Iceland that it is mentioned in both the land book and one of the 14th century Icelandic sagas .
According to these sources, Kolbeinsey was named after Kolbeinn Sigmundarsson , the first settler in Kolbeinsdalur in the Skagafjörður district of northern Iceland. Accordingly, Kolbeinn was so angry about the political circumstances of his country that he got into a boat and sailed north. But he was shipwrecked on that rock north of Grímsey, where he finally met his death.
At the beginning of the 17th century, Guðbrandur Þorláksson , the then Bishop of Hólar , sent men on an adventurous journey to this island, among others. a. to measure them. This is z. B. portrayed in a ballad from the middle of the 17th century.
Erosion and rescue attempts
The island is exposed to severe wave erosion and will completely disappear in the near future - probably around 2020, as has been calculated from the previous erosion work of the sea.
At the beginning of 2001, the size of the island was only 90 m², which corresponds to a circle less than 11 m in diameter . The original size of the island is unknown. When it was first measured in 1616, its size was 700 m north-south and 100 m east-west. By 1903 the size had already halved. In August 1985 an expansion of 39 m in diameter was recorded. The highest point is 8 m above sea level .
The fact that the island is adding around 9400 km² of territorial fishing grounds to the Icelandic state gives every reason to comprehensively secure the proven fragile nature of the rock in its current state. In order to prevent erosion, among other things, the construction of a steel wall was proposed.
On the island in 1989, a helicopter built of concrete helipad, to counteract erosion. As it became known in March 2006, however, the landing site can no longer be used, as large parts of it fell into the sea due to the forces being eroded.
In June 2013 it was reported that the island is now divided into two parts. The western island measures 29 × 12.4 meters and is 3.8 meters high. The eastern one measures 21 × 14.6 meters and is 4 meters from the western one.
The Youtuber Tom Scott flew over the island in the summer of 2020 and was able to confirm that at least at low tide both parts still protrude from the water.
See also
Web links
- Kolbeinsey in the Global Volcanism Program of the Smithsonian Institution (English)
- Information about Kolbeinsey (German)
- Information and numerous pictures from Kolbeinsey (2006) (Icelandic)
Individual evidence
- ↑ Kolbeinsey in the Global Volcanism Program of the Smithsonian Institution (English)
- ↑ Kolbeinsey Ridge (volcano) on Wolfram Alpha , accessed on August 8, 2016 (English)
- ↑ Kolbeinsey Ridge in the Global Volcanism Program of the Smithsonian Institution (English)
- ↑ Iceland's northernmost point disappears by 2020 , Iceland Review Online August 31, 2011, accessed August 8, 2016.
- ↑ Kolbeinsey are now two , Iceland Review Online June 19, 2013, accessed August 8, 2016.
- ↑ Tom Scott: Is The Most Northern Part Of Iceland Still There? August 17, 2020, accessed on August 17, 2020 .