Ok (volcano)
| OK | ||
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 Shield volcano Ok seen from Reykholtsdalur (right in the background) |
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| height | 1198 m | |
| location | Iceland | |
| Coordinates | 64 ° 35 '52 " N , 20 ° 52' 50" W | |
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| Type | Shield volcano | |
| Age of the rock | approx. 110,000 years | |
The Ok ( Icelandic ok 'yoke' ) is a shield volcano in Iceland . It is located in the municipality of Borgarbyggð . Its height is 1198 m .
Location and description
The extinct volcano lies between the Reykholtsdalur , which it towers over by approx. 800 m, and the Kaldidalur highland slope in the west of the island.
Opposite, on the eastern side of Kaldidalur, are the Þórisjökull glacier and the second largest Icelandic glacier, Langjökull .
geology
The Ok is a shield volcano, which consists mainly of olivine basalt and is approx. 130,000 to 110,000 years old, ie it was formed in one of the warm ages of the Ice Age. The mountain is one of the largest of its kind, but in contrast to Skjaldbreiður, it was also eroded by the glaciers of the Ice Age. B. explains the rugged rocks on its west side.
A large main crater adorns the summit of the shield volcano.
Okjokull
Glacier moraines in the area are evidence of colder eras. For a long time the summit of the Ok was glaciated. Due to global warming, however, the spread of the glacier known as Okjökull (Icelandic for 'Ok glacier') steadily decreased, while the melt water formed a small lake in the main crater. In 2012 the ice surface had shrunk to just 0.7 square kilometers, in 2014 the Okjökull finally lost its status as a glacier: its remaining mass of ice and snow was no longer powerful enough to move ("flow") under its own weight so that it no longer met the definition of a glacier. The decisive factor here was not the surface, but the thickness.
On August 18, 2019, a memorial plaque was put up at the foot of the Ok, designed as a "letter to the future". According to this letter, the senders know about the glacier retreat and also what to do. Only future readers would know if anything had been done.
Hiking on the Ok
Most of the time you climb from the big stone man Beinakerling at the highest point of the Kaldidalur slope .
See also
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c Ari Trausti Guðmundsson, Pétur Þorleifsson: Íslensk fjöll. Gönguleiðir á 151 tind. Reykjavík 2004, p. 214 f.
- ↑ Crater lake on volcano Ok. In: Eldey. August 31, 2010, accessed July 24, 2019.
- ↑ See e.g. B. Útivist hiking club (Icelandic), accessed April 17, 2011.
- ↑ Oddur Sigurðsson: Af hverju er Ok ekki lengur jökull? Hver er þá minnsti jökull landsins núna? In: Vísindavefurinn. Háskóli Íslands, October 22, 2014, accessed April 7, 2018 (Icelandic).
- ↑ Victims of global warming: The Icelandic glacier Okjökull is dead. In: Der Standard . August 19, 2019. Retrieved August 19, 2019 .
- ↑ Memorial plaque for "Okjökull" In: tagesschau.de . August 18, 2019, accessed August 18, 2019.