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“Geography is the subject which holds the key to our future” -
Head of Department -
DAY 2 -
1. Gulfoss Waterfall
After our visit to the Geysir Centre we drove alongside the Hvita river with a steep gorge to the right. As we descended to the lower car park, the thundering falls of Gulfoss came into view. ‘Gulfoss’ translates as ‘Golden Falls’. It is one of Iceland’s best known natural wonders and Europe’s most powerful waterfall.
Here the white coloured, glacial water of the Hvita river – tumbles 32m into a 2.5km chasm.
The walls of the gorge are basalt (some columnar). We are going to walk alongside the deafening double falls. Must wear raincoat at this point!
Gulfoss is now state owned – it was once part of a farm but was threatened by development. Private plans had been drawn up to dam the Hivta river at this point for a hydroelectric project in 1920s. The farmer – Tomas Tomasson and his daughter Sigridur fought to save the falls from being sold to foreign buyers for development – which has meant that this remains one of nature’s wonders untouched by modern intrusion. Sigridur went to Reykjavik and protected to the government and threatened to fling herself into the falls if the construction went ahead. Instead the government brought the falls and made them into a national monument since 1975.
From the main car park we also got a view over the ice cap Longjokull (Long Glacier) stretching right across the horizon.
Longjokull – The Long Glacier seen across the horizon.
On the journey from Gulfoss to Thingvellir we visited a dairy farm Efsti-
2. Geysir
Following Gulfoss we then made our way to Geysir, a geothermally active area with a number of volcanic features including hot springs, solfatara and geysirs. The area has a number of walking trails amongst the steaming vents. Geysir, is an Icelandic term meaning ‘gusher’ and is used to describe similar types of features found across the world and is the original geyser area after which all others across the world are named.
Geysirs are formed under rare hydrogeological conditions which only exist in few places on earth which are found near active volcanic areas due to the proximity of magma. When the water becomes superhot and boils, some is forced up towards the surface before seeping back down to be reheated. The geysir consists of tube like hole running deep into the crust filled with water – near the bottom of the tube (about 2,000m) is molten rock. Water in the lower part becomes superhot and boils – some of the water is forced up and the boiling water turns to steam / gas – which jets towards the surface. Continues until all water forced out or temperature drops below boiling. Then gradually seeps back and process begins again.
Strokkur Geysir erupts every 6-
3. Thingvellir
Our final visit of the day was to Thingvellir National Park, the national shrine of Iceland which is now a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It was here here that the oldest existing parliament in the world assembled in 930AD. It is also an area of great interest for its physical geography as it is marked by a canyon formed between the North American and Eurasian Tectonic plates.
When Iceland’s unruly early settlers decided to form a commonwealth (a political community founded for the common good) in AD930 the site they shoes for their new national assembly was their new national assembly, the natural amphitheatre of Pingvellir (“Parliament Plains”).
Today the area is still regarded with reverence by Icelanders – declared part of a national park in 1928. There is an area where the two halves of Iceland – The European and the American tectonic plates are tearing apart. A crack known as Almannagja (“everyman’s chasm”) -
Following a walk along the side of the canyon and back up to a vista point overlooking the national park we finally made our way back for a relaxing swim!