Earthquake aftermath

The earhquake we experienced at the end of May and its many hundreds of aftershocks resulted in new geothermal activity in Hveragerði. Several hot springs appeared and some are very active, spouting water and mud around themselves and forming small craters. They’ve become something of a tourist attraction and the local authority here has roped them off for safety’s sake.


That hasn’t prevented some foolish tourists from trying to get ‘just a little bit closer’ and there was an accident, fortunately with just minor injuries, the other day. We’ve said it before but we’ll say it again: ‘There’s boiling water on the surface of our planet here. You must be very careful when you approach these hot springs. A close-up photo is just not worth a scalded foot, or worse.’


The mountains around the town bear the scars of many rockfalls caused by the shaking and in several places we can see where large boulders have rolled down the slopes — in some cases coming to rest on footpaths. It’s the rock cycle in action.



The Icelandic Met Office has summarised information from the quakes on their splendid website.