Tag Archives: Earth Science

Iceland’s Golden Circle – Pt 3 The End of the Tour and the Reykjanes Peninsula

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Iceland's Golden Circle - Pt 3 The End of the Tour and the Reykjanes Peninsula

The third and final part of our Golden Circle Tour takes us further downriver from Gulfoss and the Hot Springs of Haukadalur to Skaholt (F on map), an area not noted for its geothermal, seismic or volcanic activity, but for its connection to Iceland’s early days as a Christian country.

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Originally posted 2024-02-09 15:54:01.

Iceland’s Golden Circle – Pt 2 Gulfoss and Geysirs

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Iceland's Golden Circle - Pt 2 Gulfoss and Geysirs

If you followed Pt 1 of our Golden Circle tour, you may remember that we visited the Nesjavellir Geothermal Power Station before driving on to Thingvellir National Park, where we could see how the North American and Eurasian tectonic plates are gradually pulling Iceland apart.

This fault line is responsible for the large number of earthquakes and volcanic eruptions that frequently occur in Iceland, but we’re now on our way to an area that will show us in graphic detail how these seismic events affect the landscape in other ways and why the power station is located where it is.

Part of the  journey from Thingvellir meant driving along a gravel road (which has since been tarmacked) to the Gulfoss Waterfall (D on map). There is no shortage of waterfalls in Iceland but this one is special. Apparently, the River Hvita (when it’s not iced up) plunges downhill at an average rate of 5,000 cubic feet per second. I forgot to bring my cubic measuring stick with me to see if it’s true or not, but let’s just say it’s one extraordinary spectacle, and it’s not hard to believe that during the 20th century there was talk of harnessing its power for hydroelectricity. Fortunately it didn’t materialize and is now one of Iceland’s main tourist attractions.

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Originally posted 2024-01-06 11:43:16.

Iceland’s Golden Circle – Pt 1

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Iceland's Golden Circle - Pt 1

Having spent our first day in Iceland exploring Reykjavik and trying to get my camera to tell the difference between a whale and a wave, it was time to start looking a bit further afield, and the obvious place to begin was the Golden Circle. Apparently, the name Golden Circle was conjured up by the marketing people to describe a circular tour from Reykjavik that encompasses some of the highlights of south-west Iceland. The three main sites are Thingvellir, Haukadalur and Gulfoss, which means Golden Waterfall, and from where this circular route gets its name.

If I was to do this trip today I think I would hire a car, but back in 2006 it made more sense to use an experienced tour company for this 150 mile round trip. The map below shows the officially recognised route of the Golden Circle, but our journey started with a slight variation. For some reason Google wouldn’t let me chart the exact route that we took out of Reykjavik from the Hotel Centrum (stop A and I on the map), and instead of taking the main 1 and 36 roads towards Thingvellir, we headed along the minor 435 road to Nesjavallavirkjun.

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Originally posted 2023-12-19 08:15:46.