The first Scandinavian settlers on the island still worshipped pagan Norse Gods, but by the 10^th century the country was under increasing pressure from mainland Europe to convert to Christianity, not something everyone was initially willing to do. In the end, the majority of the island’s population accepted the Christian faith, but for those who didn’t, they were (for a while at least) still allowed to worship their gods, as long as it was in private.

Christianity in Europe at the time was entirely under the control of the Roman Catholic church, and it was Archbishop Adalbert of Hamburg-Bremen who was responsible for looking after the affairs in Scandinavia. In 1056 he appointed Isleifur Gissurarson as the first Bishop of Iceland, and from his homestead in Skaholt, Isleifur set up Iceland’s first episcopal see.

To educate his clergy, the new bishop also opened the country’s first official school, and it was one of his students, Jon Ogmundarson, who later became the first Bishop of Holar, the second of Iceland’s episcopal sees.

In 1551, Iceland turned its back on Catholicism and began to follow Martin Luther’s Protestant movement: Even though other faiths have come into the equation in more recent times, the primary religion today is still known as the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Iceland, usually abbreviated to just The Church of Iceland. Administered as a single diocese, the Church is headed by the Bishop of Iceland whose seat is in the rather plain Reykjavik Cathedral.

The island’s historic religious beginnings haven’t been forgotten though, and both Skaholt and Holar are ‘suffragan’ sees, with suffragan (assistant) bishops to the Bishop of Iceland. It seems strange that they both maintain their cathedrals even though they are both in the same diocese, but I noticed on more than one occasion how the Icelandic people have a real sense of pride in their country, and in recognition of the first see being introduced 900 years earlier, Skaholt Cathedral was rebuilt between 1956 and 1963.

About a twenty minute drive from Skaholt is Kerid (G), a dormant volcano that last erupted around 6,500 years ago, but what exactly is a volcano, and why does Iceland have so many? It’s all to do with those tectonic plates again, and the boundary of the North American and Eurasian plates that pass through Iceland are part of the Mid Atlantic Ridge, the longest mountain range in the world.

I’ve already described how tectonic plates are part of the earth’s crust and float on top of the molten mantle, but not all plates move around in the same way: Basically, there are three types of  plate boundaries – Transform, Convergent and Divergent. At Transform Boundaries, the plates move past each other and can be responsible for earthquakes, a subject which I’ll be talking about in a while: At Convergent Boundaries the plates collide and push up to form mountain ranges, and as the name suggests, Divergent Boundaries are moving apart. Both Convergent and Divergent Boundaries can produce volcanic activity, and as we saw in Part 1, the plate boundaries in Iceland are moving apart.

Although these plates are spreading, they never actually separate because magma is forced up, under pressure, to fill the void. Most of this volcanic activity in the Mid Atlantic Ridge goes unobserved because 90% of it lies more than 8,000 ft under the ocean, but Iceland is one of the few places where it rises to the earth’s surface.

When a volcano makes its presence known on the island it can erupt in various ways, either with lava flows, the emission of gases or volcanic ash. I’m sure many of you will remember the eruption of Eyjafjallajokull in 2010, I know I do. My wife was really concerned that we were going to be trapped in Spain for another week instead of being able to fly back to the West Country, but while she was frantically trying to work out an alternative way to get home, I was frantically trying to find a way to get an extra free week’s holiday in Spain.

Eyjafjallajokull is what’s called a Stratovolcano, the most destructive of the three main types of volcano. The other two are Shield and Cinder Cone volcanoes, but as this post is about the Golden Circle and not an ‘ology’ course, I think I’ll leave it there for now. The only thing I will say is that Kerid was initially thought to be a Stratovolcano, but experts now believe that it was a Cinder Cone volcano and not formed by a volcanic explosion, but by an eruption which emptied its magma reserve. This eruption caused the cone to collapse into the empty magma chamber, thereby creating the caldera that we see here now.

This caldera consists of red volcanic rock (as opposed to the usual black) and is around 180 ft deep, 560 ft wide and 890 ft across. At its base is an aquamarine lake that lies at the same level as the water table, which means that it wasn’t formed by an accumulation of rainwater – but having said that, the amount of rainfall can change the depth of water to anything between 23 and 46 feet.

At the time we were here it was possible to visit the crater for free, but there is now a small admission charge, which no doubt helps to maintain this special landscape including the steps that lead down to the lake.

In the previous two posts I described how geothermal energy is produced in this unstable landscape, and just to refresh your memory, it happens when the hot rocks below the earth’s surface come into contact with water – sometimes naturally as at the Haukadalur Valley, and sometimes with the aid of human intervention, as at the Nesjavellir Geothermal Power Station, but at Hverageroi (H), our final stop on the Golden Circle, the town utilises this free source of energy for growing crops, and has done since the 1920s.

We only had a brief stop in this pleasant town of around 3,000 people, and on reflection I think it deserved longer, but it’s impossible to cover everything properly on a tour like this. We were encouraged to visit what looked like a garden centre and it took a while for the penny to drop that the subtropical plants on sale here were cultivated in a greenhouse using geothermal energy.

We didn’t have time to visit the Geothermal Park which focuses on how the locals have learnt to harness all this free energy. Apparently, you can watch how they bake bread underground and even boil your own egg over a steam vent to go with it if you like. Talking of food, our driver told us that if you caught a salmon in the local river it would already be poached (cooked I mean, not stolen) and all you had to do was pick potatoes from the garden which were already boiled and you had a ready-made meal. The story sounded like a bit like a coach driver I knew, who on tours around Scotland, had gullible passengers traipsing through the heather looking for a haggis he had just spotted. I’m not sure if our Icelandic driver was referring to the nearby Reykjadalur River or not, but this valley is popular with hikers as the shallow thermal river is ideal for bathing in.

One thing he told us that I do believe, was about a place he pointed out to us in the town where a geyser erupted right under a house and forced the owners to leave. They moved about 20 feet away and still lived there next to the hole in the ground.

If ever I was to have the opportunity to drive around the Golden Circle under my own, um, steam then I would be happy to spend a night in Hverageroi, in perhaps somewhere like the Greenhouse Hotel which opened in 2021.

Hverageroi lies just off the island’s circular road and it was less than an hour’s drive back to Reykjavik, but instead of ending the post here, It’s as good a time as any to talk about the Reykjanes Peninsula which lies just to the south-west of Hverageroi and Reykjavik.

This is where the Blue Lagoon is located, and a place we went to separately from the Golden Circle tour. It’s one of Iceland’s main tourist attractions due to its geothermal spa, which isn’t quite like it seems. In actual fact, the bathing water is a by-product from the Svartsengi power plant and quite a unique phenomenon. The temperature of the water is always around the 100 degrees mark and the milky blue colour of the water is thanks to its high silica content. Set amongst lava fields and an area of high seismic and volcanic activity, it’s a must visit, providing you’re not in the way of any lava flows.

The area around the Blue Lagoon is where the latest earthquakes and volcanic eruptions have been taking place, and so, if you don’t mind, I want to just give a brief explanation about seismic activity first. If you weren’t already aware, seismology is the study of earthquakes, and if you were paying attention instead of dozing off when I was telling you about the different types of plate boundaries, you might remember that Transform plate boundaries are where the tectonic plates move past each other. The tension that this movement makes produces cracks and fissures in the earth’s surface, and depending on the amount of pressure that builds up, will determine the severity of the earthquake when it happens.

Earth tremors can also be a signal that a volcanic eruption is about to take place – and this is what happened at Grindavik, a small fishing town close to the Blue Lagoon.

The area in this part of the peninsula takes its name from the local volcano, Fagradalsfjall, and until 2021, no volcanic eruption had occurred in Reykjanes for more than 800 years. The first one at Fagradalsfjall in 2021 was followed by two others – one in August 2022 and another in July 2023.

The video below, taken by Tamas Nemeth, shows the volcano erupting in 2021.

Fagradalsfjall in actual fact, is just one of six volcanic systems in the Reykjanes Peninsula, and if you know what the differences are, then you’re well on your way to becoming a seismologist, vulcanologist – or both. I’m neither, but what I can tell you is that the latest activity has been taking place in the Eldvorp-Svartsengi volcanic system which is adjacent to Fagradalsfjall.

To be more precise, the recent earthquakes and volcanic eruptions are centred around the Sundhnukur crater row, which is located between Grindavik and the Blue Lagoon.

Starting in late October 2023, a series of earthquakes indicated that a volcanic eruption in the area was about to take place, and Grindavik, a town of around 4,000 people, was evacuated. In November, work started on creating protective barriers around the Blue Lagoon and power station, and on December 18^th, just before the work was completed, a fissure eruption began.

As its name suggests, a fissure eruption is one where lava emerges from a fissure in the ground rather than from a volcanic cone or vent. The eruption on December 18^th was approximately 2.2 miles long, but it was just the start of more to come. After the eruption died down, barrier work was completed around the Blue Lagoon and power station, and then work started on constructing barriers around Grindavik which would take about three weeks to complete, but at around 08.00 on the morning of the 14^th January (2024) a second fissure erupted. Initially, the barrier work that had already been completed kept most of the lava away from the town. However, a few hours later a smaller third fissure opened up inside the barriers burning down three homes in the process. Check out the video below by Isak Finnbogason

Yesterday morning (8^th Feb) another eruption occurred in the same area as the one in December. The worry this time is that the hot water pipes that serve the local region (including Iceland’s main airport at Keflavik) from the Svartsengi power station have been damaged. The latest news is that the eruption has diminished but thousands are left without hot water. I can’t quite believe it, but it appears that all flights in and out of Keflavik are virtually on time. I think that tells you everything you need to know about the Icelandic people.

POSTED – FEBRUARY 2024