Iceland 2011

We continue our visit to the Mývatn site with a short ascent of the Hverfjall volcano.

This very young volcano is only 2500 years old. It was born from a single phreatomagmatic explosion (magma / groundwater contact) caused by the Krafla magma. Krafla, located about fifteen kilometers from here, is a caldera, meaning a large area corresponding to the collapse of the volcano into the magma chamber 100,000 years ago. The Krafla caldera measures 10 km in diameter.

The parking lot at the foot of the volcano from where we started, and in the background, Hliðarfjall.

The Hverfjall crater (1200 meters in diameter)

The plume of steam from the Blue Lagoon (the Jarðböðin við Mývatn natural baths where we will go tomorrow).

It doesn't show in the photos, but it's not warm; there's still a bit of snow, enough to make a magnificent little snowman. 

Búrfell mountain. This table-like shape is typical of lava eruptions that penetrate the ice cap (which covered the entire region at the time).

We leave the volcano to head towards Námafjall, a hydrothermal site of solfataras and mud pots...

This explosive place has not prevented human settlement... nor that of goats, for that matter!

The singer Björk also has her own locality!  

The Hverir site is located at the foot of the Námafjall volcano. Here, mud pots and sulfur fumaroles coexist.

With this red soil, I expect to find the small Martian robots Opportunity and Spirit buried in the sand around a fumarole...  

If we are on Mars, then it's not the Moon but Phobos or Deimos...  

Yellow sulfur accumulates at the exit of the solfataras

And there you have it, we've had our dose of magma for today!!! Well, that was without counting the campsite where we pitched our tent... which is right in front of a lava field... But rest assured, we are in the town of Reykjahlíð which was partly destroyed by this lava flow in 1729. The church and some other buildings were spared (the current church was built on the foundations of this "miraculous" church...).