Where Did Iceland Come From?

The country of Iceland sits directly on the front lines of the battle between two tectonic plates causing earthquakes and volcanoes as they slide past, under and over each other. Situated on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, a seam in the Earth's surface under the North Atlantic Ocean where the Eurasian and North American plates slide apart (Sigmindsson). 

Iceland's Major Volcanoes and Tectonic Plate Boundaries (BBC News). 

Located along the ocean floor, the Ridge contains a deep rift valley where magma seeps upward from the mantel erupting from the seafloor as lava. That lava hardens into new crust atop the two diverging plates (Allen). The plates move apart along the Mid-Atlantic Ridge an average of about 1 inch per year or 15.5 miles in a million years (U.S. Geological Survey).

Crevice between the North American and Eurasian Plates near Iceland (Mustard).

Iceland’s is a hotspot for geologic activity and has more than 200 volcanoes (Wikipedia). Its volcanic activity is believed to have brought about its existence. The pocket of magma that sits beneath Iceland rose to the surface of the ocean, where it cooled and gradually accumulated into an island beginning about 70 million years ago (Thompson).

The Eyjafjallajokull Volcano (thinglink).

The island continues to evolve through the same processes that created it, with volcanoes erupting every so often and new fissure appearing along its slopes. This upwelling of hot rock in the Earth’s mantel beneath Iceland is known as the Iceland Plume. It’s speculated to reach as far as where the mantel meets the core at 2,880 km depth (Thompson).

Iceland Plume (National Geographic).

Such a volatile piece of land can have disastrous effect on its residents. In 2010, Iceland’s glacier-covered Eyjafjallajökull volcano erupted. The ice began to melt as the red-hot explosive blasts burst through the glacier and water poured down the mountain washing away roads and barreling into homes forcing nearly 700 residents to evacuate. Shortly after, a huge mushroom cloud of ash emerged nearly 20,000 ft high. The wind blew the ash east, blotting out the sun and causing extensive air travel disruptions worldwide (Booth).

Eyjafjallajökull 2010 Eruption (Holm).

References

Allen, Dr. Casey. "Lecture 11: Tectonics." Introduction to Physical Geography. CO, Denver. 15 Mar. 2017. Lecture

Booth, Robert, and Severin Carrell. "Iceland Volcano: First Came the Floods, Then the Smell of Rotten Eggs." The Guardian. Guardian News and Media, 15 Apr. 2010. Web. 31 Mar. 2017. <https://www.theguardian.com/world/2010/apr/15/iceland-volcano-eruption-ash-earthquake>.

Eyjafjallajökull 2010 Eruption. Dir. Frederik Holm. YouTube. N.p., 14 Dec. 2010. Web. <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e-TMtRh8AIs>.

The Eyjafjallajokull Volcano. N.d. Thinglink. Web. <https://www.thinglink.com/scene/772123067559182337#>.

Iceland Extreme Beauty. YouTube, 2016. National Geographic. Web. <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XEsWd3dy51s>.

Iceland's Major Volcanoes and Tectonic Plate Boundaries. N.d. BBC News. Web. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/8623239.stm>.

Mustard, Alex. Crevice between the North American and Eurasian Plates near Iceland. N.d. Daily Mail. Web. <http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1385589/The-growing-gap-Eurasia-North-American-tectonic-plates.html>.

Sigmundsson, Freysteinn. Iceland Geodynamics: Crustal Deformation and Divergent Plate Tectonics. Chichester: Springer, 2005. Print.

Thompson, Andrea. "How Did Iceland Form?" LiveScience. Purch, 22 Mar. 2010. Web. 31 Mar. 2017. <http://www.livescience.com/8129-iceland-form.html>.

United States. U.S. Geological Survey. Understanding Plate Motions. N.p., 15 Sept. 2014. Web. 17 Mar. 2017. <https://pubs.usgs.gov/gip/dynamic/understanding.html>.

"Volcanology of Iceland." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 30 Mar. 2017. Web. 31 Mar. 2017. <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volcanology_of_Iceland>.

Thingvellir National Park: Climate, Temperature, and The Solstice

Thingvellir Park is generally considered to be one the “weather paradises” of Iceland. However, the weather in the park, like everywhere else in Iceland is swift to change (Wiki Voyage).

Figure 1: Map showing the location of Thingvellir National Park (Wikipedia).

 Iceland climate is tempered by the Gulf Stream, a powerful, warm, and swift Atlantic Ocean current. Winters in Thingvellir National Park are relatively mild for its latitude (N 64°) while a warm summer day can reach to 77 °F (Wikipedia).

Figure 2: Extratropical Cyclones near Iceland (NASA).

Iceland is situated between warm and cold ocean currents and air masses often causing cyclones to pass, especially in winter, through the Thingvellir area. These cyclones bring precipitation and strong winds, which cause rapid changes in weather. The park sits just north of Lake Thingvellir, about an hour inland and experiences a slight continental influence, causing greater variations in temperature. (Wikipedia).

Figure 3: Thingvellir covered in snow (Wikipedia).

In winter, Thingvellir sustains harsher winter temperatures than other parts of the nation partly because of an increase in altitude in the mountainous region and partly because temperature decreases as distance from the sea increases. Monthly temperatures vary considerable from year to year. Thingvellir the lowest mean temperature (from 1936-1988) in January was -7.4 °C and the highest was 2.3 °C. In July, the lowest value was 8.3 °C and the highest was 13.1 °C (Einarsson).

Table 1: Monthly mean temperature got Thingvellir, Reykjavik and Eyrarbakki (Enarsson). 

Because of the Earth’s axis tilt and Iceland’s northern location on the globe the days are long in the summertime and very short in the wintertime. This phenomenon is known as the summer and winter solstices. Between May and August, Thingvellir’s nights may be short and bright. Icelander’s have learned to cope with these varying days by taking naps during the day or simply using blackout curtains. In the wintertime when darkness blankets the land for hours, Icelanders will use special alarm clocks that mimic the rising sun and illuminate their room slowly until their alarm sounds (Ashwin).

Figure 4: Midnight Sun, Iceland (YouTube).

References 

Ashwin. "Midnight Sun And Polar Nights: What Are They And Why Do They Occur?" Science ABC. Science ABC, 20 Jan. 2017. Web. 05 Mar. 2017.

"Climate of Iceland." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 02 Mar. 2017. Web. 05 Mar. 2017.

Dr. Casey D. Allen, Associate Professor, Department of Geography & Environmental Sciences University of Colorado Denver: Introduction to Physical Geography. 

Einarsson, Markús Á., and Markus A. Einarsson. "Climatic Conditions of the Thingvallavatn Area." Oikos 64.1/2 (1992): 96. Web.

"Þingvellir National Park." Þingvellir National Park – Travel Guide at Wikivoyage. N.p., n.d. Web. 05 Mar. 2017.

Figure and Table References 

Figure 1: Wikipedia. "Thingvellir National Park."

Figure 2: Allen, Jesse. Extratropical Cyclones near Iceland. 2006. Earth Observatory, Madison. "Thingvellir Covered in Snow" 

Table 1: Einarsson, Markús Á., and Markus A. Einarsson. "Climatic Conditions of the Thingvallavatn Area." Oikos 64.1/2 (1992): 96. Web.

Figure 3: Wikipedia. "Thingvellir Covered in Snow" 

Figure 4: YouTube. Kenneth, 1 Mar. 2017. Web. 5 Mar. 2017.