Iceland, the result of two volcanic phenomena
Iceland is a large island in the North Atlantic. It is the second largest island in Europe (103,125 km²), after Great Britain. It has 4,970 km of coastline, stretching from north to south between the Vestmann Islands, on the 63rd parallel north, and the small island of Grímsey, crossed by the Arctic Circle. And from east to west, between 13° and 24° W longitude. Its closest neighbors are Greenland (280 km to the west) and the Faroe Islands (470 km to the southeast). Norway lies 970 km to the east.
Iceland is the only island resulting from the action of two volcanic phenomena: accretion and hot spots. The first, accretion, is responsible for the formation of the ridge on which the island lies. This phenomenon occurs when tectonic plates move apart, and magmatic rock fills the space left by the movement of the plates, before solidifying. The second is the hot spot from which magma rises, feeding the country's volcanoes.
An island with many facets
Travelers will be amazed by the variety of landscapes on this unique island. Iceland's land has been shaped by volcanic activity. Its coasts are predominantly rocky, with varying degrees of elevation, sometimes carved into deep fjords or peninsulas like Snæfellsnes to the west. Volcanoes and hot springs rub shoulders with glaciers. Moss and green grass border black sand deserts and lava fields. The inland highlands are uninhabited, with a small population spread between the towns and villages of the coastal strip.
The circular national road (1,330 km), which circumnavigates the island, generally follows the coastline, with occasional inland incursions. In the south, the road skirts a vast black-sand plain criss-crossed by a multitude of rivers. Cliffs, common on the coast, are sometimes found inland, as at Ásbyrgi in the north, where they border a horseshoe-shaped depression sheltered by a forest. The interior is made up of mountains, plateaus and hills, moors and deserts. Among the mountains are numerous tabular volcanoes, with flat, often snow-capped summits, such as Herðubreið or "broad shoulders", massive, solitary and always covered in clouds, at the foot of which flow the rare freshwater springs of the Ódáðahraun black sand desert.
Between the mountains, rivers have carved immense gorges, sculpting great organs in the basalt. Hljódaklettar is famous for its strange Echo Rocks, piles of basalt columns in all directions. But the most spectacular landscapes are the deserts of black sand and stone, such as the Kjölur plateau, situated between the Langjökull and Hofsjökull ice caps. But it's above all Landmannalaugar's labyrinth of multicolored sand mountains, between which black lava flows spill out, that takes the prize for strangeness. Here, human activity fades away in the face of violent, tormented nature. The same nature you'll rave about again and again on an epic trip to Iceland.
The land of ice also shaped by glaciers
An ice age is characterized by a continuous fall of snow which, after hardening, covers a large part of the planet's surface. During interglacial periods, such as the current one, glaciers cover around 10% of the globe, but they invade almost 30% of the oceans and 32% of the land that emerged during glaciations. Glaciers at the North Pole then spread southwards, until temperatures become too high for them to continue their advance. The Earth is likely to experience further ice ages in the next few thousand years, but this will be delayed by the greenhouse effect, which is warming the planet.
When they reach a thickness of around 20 m, glaciers take on an imposing stature. Under the effect of their own weight, they deform and advance along land masses, bringing about a profound change in relief. The movement is slow, estimated at around one metre per day. The valleys become rounder, and the glacier continues to advance until it stagnates in one place for several thousand years. The retreat of the glacier, as its constituent ice melts, leaves behind a steep-sided landscape with an ancient glacial trough invaded by water. Fjords, found not only in Iceland but also in other countries such as Ireland and Norway, are an example of this result in the landscape.
