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Head of Department - Mr R Chambers

DAY 3 - Wet Wetter, Wettest - there’s ‘snout’ like it!

1. Dyrholaey
This morning we had the opportunity to experience Iceland’s amazing coastal geography. Our first stop this morning was to Dyrholaey, a small peninsula / headland on the south coast of Iceland. It is an island of volcanic origin surrounded by black sandy beaches. Dyrholaey is a huge naturally formed arch in the cliff which at 120 m high is so large that at certain tides ships can sail through it. The area is also rich in birdlife as we found out!. Other coastal features here include sea cliffs, arches, stacks and blow holes.

The black basalt has been worn into an arch 120 metres high (very popular as a sanctury for bird life!).

2. Reynisdranger
After our visit to Dyrholaey we continued down the coast to Reynisdranger, characterised by basalt sea stacks framed by a black sand beach. The area has distinctive basalt columns and other amazing rock formations, perfect of course for a few group photograph opportunities. Here we got our first view of puffins! There are believed to be between 8-10 million puffins in Iceland. The Atlantic puffins have a distinctive colourful beak which whilst in the winter fades to grey in the spring becomes a vivid orange colour. We saw them in their favoured habitat on the rocky cliffs at Reynisdranger.

Our morning ended with lunch in the small fishing village of Vik with an opportunity to visit a souvenir shop and have a well deserved sit down!

3. Sólheimajökull 

After lunch we made our way back along the coastline for a stop off at Sólheimajökull (also known as the “Black Glacier” due to the ash and moraines held within it). Sólheimajökull is a tributary glacier which extends from the Mýrdalsjökull ice cap which covers the Katla volcano. Sólheimajökull is also known as the ‘incredible shrinking glacier’ which has retreated by about a km over the last decade. The surface of the glacier is covered by crevases, ice ridges and streams run across the ice. In front of the glacier was a small proglacial lake with clear evidence of the retreating glacier with blocks of floating ice on it.

4. Skogafoss

Our next port of call was the stunning Skogafoss waterfall at a towering 62m high. The waterfall has formed due to the process of isostacy (the ground rebounding as ice sheets have melted). Icelandic legend has it that a settler named Prasi hid a chest of gold behind Skogafoss

5. Seljalandsfoss

Our next visit in our action packed day was to Seljalandsfoss waterfall, a 60m tall waterfall with the opportunity to walk behind the curtain of water! Since the last ice age - Iceland has slowly been rising up out of the sea (this occus as ice melts and the weight of the ice which once pushed down on the land has reduced) this has caused uplift known as Isostacy (or isostatic rebound) which has resulted in the ancient sea cliffs now being over 8km from present seashore. We were lucky enough at Seljalandsfoss to experience what it is like to walk behind a waterfall.

At Dryholaey and Reynisdranger we saw many puffins. There are believed to be between 8-10 million puffins in Iceland and over half of the world's population of the Atlantic Puffin breed in Iceland each year. The Atlantic Puffin is one of four species of puffins. (Icelandic world for Puffin is Lundi). What sets the Atlantic Puffin is apart is the colourful beak - this fades to gray in winter - but in the spring blooms into orange colour - probably to do with attracting potential mates. Puffins spend most of their lives at sea - but in spring / summer - they return to land to form breeding colonies. They are very social birds and faithful to their mates - once they pair they pair for life! (they can live for between 20-25 years). They like building nests in rocky cliffs - so the Westman Island and Dyrholaey on the South Coast are popular locations for these. They are sea birds and when not swimming use the waves for resting - they can actually dive up to 60 metres - they feed mainly on herring and sand eels. Puffins are also strong fliers (although they look funny in the air) - they can flap their wings at 400 wing beats a minute and can get up to 90km/hr.

Puffins are a popular game bird in Iceland and up until 2007 large numbers were hunted annually - but hunting has decreased more recently and restrictions in places.

This waterfall also features in the Justin Bieber “I’ll Show you” video shot with a backdrop of stunning Icelandic landscapes. Student’s can see how many places they can recognise from today’s adventures!

6. The Lava Centre

Our final visit of the day was to the new Lava Centre museum in Hvolsvollur - only a short drive from Husid and the Skallin Centre. This museum helps to explain the physical geography and earth science which explains how Iceland has formed over millions of years. Multimedia and interactive presentations enabled students to get a better understanding of how the earth’s inner forces have shaped Iceland and the earthquakes and volcanoes which are experienced here.

Day 1

Day 2

Day 4

Day 5

What have we learnt?