Hot springs are common phenomena in Iceland, geysers much less so. One of nature’s truly dramatic spectacles an erupting geyser is a sight never forgotten. The word geyser originates from Geysir — a well known spouting hot spring in Haukadalur.

Geysers are fascinating but the physics behind their eruptions is rather complex. Step forward Amanda Lloyd, a Manchester University undergraduate, who on a recent field trip to Iceland neatly summarised the science in a presentation she gave to the rest of her group. We’re grateful to her for allowing us to reproduce it here.

Iceland’s glaciers and ice-caps provide us with some wonderful landscapes and leave a lasting impression in the minds of all our visitors. They are, of course, transient landscapes coming and going with prevailing climatic conditions. The names people have given to the glaciers is an interesting study in its own right and a new book published by the US Geological Survey summarises their histories.

You can read more about the book here and it’s even possible to download a PDF version to read on your computer.

The authors have done a commendable job and all interested in the ‘ice’ of Iceland will enjoy browsing this work.

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.

It's not often sleepy Hveragerði gets a mention in the world's media but last Thursday was an exception. The quake was widely, and it has to be said rather exaggeratedly, reported and was the largest to occur in Iceland for eight years.

Thankfully there were no serious injuries or major damage though many householders, including ourselves, have spent the past few days sweeping up broken glass and damaged furniture.

The 'quake measured 6.3 local magnitude and we've more detailed information about the event here.

Thanks to all of you who contacted us enquiring if we were OK, we very much appreciated your good wishes.

Travellers in Iceland are faced with hazards quite different from many other countries. Most visitors know that Iceland is a volcanic country with its associated phenomena of earthquakes and eruptions. Severe weather conditions can also be extremely serious. However, few travellers are aware of the potential problems caused by jökulhlaups.

A jökulhlaup, or glacial burst, often results from the quick melting of glacial ice by a volcano erupting under the ice cap itself. The resulting floods can be devastating. Centuries of experience mean that very few areas of habitation are likely to be affected by these floods, but other areas, including popular tourist destinations, are a different matter. A case in point concerns Þórsmörk in southern Iceland. It’s a valley surrounded by glaciers and has a good chance of being affected by the next eruption of a volcano called Katla. Icelandic geologists don’t preface future Katla eruptions with an ‘if’, but instead say ‘when’, and believe that the next Katla eruption will happen sometime soon. Covering the volcano is the great icecap of Mýrdalsjökull and the floodwater will flow from one of it’s outlet glaciers, quite possibly into þórsmörk.



The potential for calamity is real. Getting a warning to travellers is not a trivial task and sadly visitor knowledge of the risk is rather low. A recent study found on Vegagerðin’s (the national road authority) website (PDF) highlights Þórsmörk’s particular concerns and an internet search for ‘Icelandic natural hazards’ will result in a wealth of further information.

Our guides are all aware of issues such as these and their first responsibility is to make sure that our visitors enjoy Iceland’s incredible scenery and natural history safely. We also ensure that independent travellers using our services are briefed about the potential hazards of an Icelandic journey.

Iceland sits astride the mid Atlantic ridge, one of the world's tectonic plate boundaries. The crustal plates here are moving away from each other and as a result we experience earthquakes and eruptions. At around 11pm last evening there was a great booming sound and the house shook and rattled. The 'quake lasted only a few seconds and things quickly returned to normal.
These days whenever we have such an event we quickly look up what happened on a website maintained by the Icelandic met office. It records the signals received from many sensors scattered around the country and updates the website in almost real time. It's an impressive resource and is well worth browsing around.

We learned that last evenings 'quake was just 2.4 on the Richter scale but felt more powerful as it occurred 4.9 kilometres underground and just over three kilometres from where we live. The small red dot just north of Hveragerði on the map shows the location of the earthquake.

... is the title of a recently published book by Ari Trausti Guðmundson.

It covers the geological history of Iceland and provides a very good insight into the processes that shaped the country. The book also contains a substantial contribution from well known geologist, Halldór Kjartansson who sadly died in 1995.

We've noticed that more and more participants in our tours are developing a greater interest in geology and this book is heartily recommended to them.

It's widely available in Icelandic bookshops or from the publishers Mál og Menning.

We've had a busy time these last few weeks and have had some great fun looking after our student visitors. Iceland's volcanic landscapes are highly regarded by geographers and geologists and no visit is complete without the chance to examine a crater or two. These students learned a lot when they visited Eldborg, a small crater on the Reykjanes peninsula in SW Iceland.

Their trip was arranged by UK based Discover the World and there's lots more information on their website.

We've recently returned from a trip to the Westman Islands, a group of volcanically active islands off the south coast of Iceland, and learned a lot about the eruption that took place there in 1973.

The US Geological Survey has a thorough account of the event which is available for download here. It's interesting reading, particularly if you have visited the island and are able to visualise the geography more clearly.

There has been a jökulhlaup (glacier burst) in Vatnajökull, the large ice-cap in south east Iceland.

An enormous volume of water has flooded out of the glacier into the river Skaftá these past few days. Volcanic activity under the ice-cap causes melt water to build up and a sudden release causes the glacier to 'burst' and the outlet rivers to flood. Additionally, strong sulphur fumes were detected and a warning was given by the authorities to avoid the area.

Jökulhlaups are fairly common here and the flat plains between the mountains and the sea in south east Iceland are formed from deposits washed down in these incredible floods. The plains are called sandur.

We haven't been able to visit the area and have no photos or first hand accounts to relay. However, the national broadcasting company has this to report on their website. Click on the link, 'HORFA' to see a short film of the event and the ice canyon that formed on the glacier itself. The link may only be active for the next two weeks and only works with Windows media player. Morgunblaðid newspaper has some photos and film of the flood itself on their website

The largest jökulhlaup in recent times was in 1996 when a volcano erupted under the ice of Vatnajökull. The resulting flood was incredible and the incident attracted global attention. You can read a summary of the eruption and resulting flood here.

Iceland is volcanically active. Groundwater is heated, often to very high temperatures, and with careful management can be used to heat houses and generate electricity. As you can imagine the use of this sustainable resource featured prominently in a lot of field work undertaken by visiting students over these last few weeks. A couple of days ago students from three schools in western England sampled at first hand this geothermal energy. On a rather cold day they were able to bathe in a hot river at a very comfortable 40 degrees Celsius. Geography had never been so interesting!

A new, lavishly illustrated guide to some of southern Iceland's 'geosites' has been recently published. Good map of the sites, excellent photographs and a text summary for each location. It's a useful field guide to some of the many amazing geological sites in this part of Iceland.

The book is called: 100 Geosites in South Iceland by Eriksson, Eriksson and Vilmundardottir and is available in bookshops in Iceland or from The Students' Bookshop online.