Lögberg-Heimskringla - 03.10.1963, Blaðsíða 2

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LÖGBERG-HEIMSKRINGLA, FIMMTUDAGINN 3. OKTÓBER 1963
Frá Vancouver, B.C
Framhald frá bls. 1.
mér, („heim“ til Argyle.) Dr.
R. E. og Mrs. Helgason
heiðruðu presthjónin einnig
með heimboði til sín, með
fleira fólki.
Aðrir sem hingað hafa kom-
ið á Höfn, og heilsað upp á
mig, eru sem fylgir: Frú
Ingibjörg Jónsson, ritstjóri
þessa blaðs gjörði sér alveg
auka ferð til mín, og sat hjá
mér eina kvöldstund, mér til
ánægju. Mr. og Mrs. G. F.
Jónasson frá Winnipeg voru
hér á ferð og komu þau hingað
og skoðuðu heimilið, og
spjölluðu við vistmenn. Miss
Jenny Johnson frá Winnipeg
var hér í nokkra daga í heim-
sókn hjá Mrs. S. J. Sigmar.
Hún var á heimleið frá
Seattle, þar sem hún heimsótti
systurbörn sín og fleiri ætt-
ingja og vini. Mrs. Sigmar
bauð nokkrum fyrrverandi
Winnipeg konum heim til sín
í kaffiveizlu með Jenny, og
var þar saman komin góðra
vina fundur. Miss Helga
Goodman og Mrs. Margret
Gillies, báðar frá Winnipeg,
en þar áður frá Argyle, voru
hér í Vancouver að heimsækja
ættingja og gamla vini. Mrs.
B. K. Johnson frá Glenboro
var hjá dóttir sinni í júní.
Mrs. Dóra Dalman frá Winni-
peg er búin að vera á annan
mánuð hjá systir sinni Mrs.
Lil Dalman og frænku .Miss
Anne Anderson. Mrs. Regina
Eirikson frá Minneapolis,
Minn., kom hingað með systir
sinni Mrs. Helgu Johnson
(hún býr í Vancouver). Mrs.
Jennie Bushnell frá Seattle
heimsótti Höfn í fylgd með
Mrs. Thorson og Nan Dall.
Enn engin kom þó eins langt
að, eins og Mrs. Guðrún Lilja
Hearn, sem kom alla leið frá
Afríku. Hún og Mr. Hearn
maður hennar og ungur sonur
þeirra voru nýkomin frá
Afríku þar sem þau dvöldu ár
langt. Á heimleiðinni komu
þau við á Englandi og töfðu
einnig í Alabama, U.S.A. Mrs.
Hearn er dóttir Mr. og Mrs.
Hákon Kristjánson, og dvaldi
hún og fjölskylda hennar hér
hjá þeim um tíma, og héldu
svo áfram til Los Angeles,
Calif., en þar eiga þau heimili.
Mr. Hearn er háskóla kennari
— með post graduate í
„African History.“
Vitanlega hafa margir fleiri
heimsótt „Höfn“, þetta vin-
sæla heimili, og þökkum við
þeim öllum innilega fyrir
komuna.
Hér á heimilinu gengur allt
sinn vana gang. Nú mun bráð-
lega byrjað á að smíða það
sem eftir er við herbergin á
neðri hæðinni, og gefst þar
pláss fyrir 20 manns. Mun
það vel þegið, því altaf er
eftirspurn um herbergi.
Ströndin, deild þjóðræknis-
félags ísl. í Vancouver er nú
tekin til óspiltra málanna.
Hér hlakka íslendingar mikið
til að sjá og heyra Rögnvald
Sigurjónsson, píanista, og hef-
ur forseti Strandar, Snorri
Gunnarson og kona hans unn-
ið af kappi að öllum undir-
búning fyrir samkomuna.
Seinna meir, líklega seint í
október ætlar Ströndin að
halda skemmtisamkomu, og
vonast er til að frú Jakobína
Johnson, okkar kæra og vin-
sæla skáldkona verði þar
heiðurs gestur. Hún á áttræðis
afmæli einmitt um þær mund-
ir. Ráðgjört er að Isl. Karla-
kórinn frá Seattle verði á
þessari samkomu, og syngji.
Mr. Tani Björnson stjórnar
flokknum, og verða þeir dr.
Edward Pálmason og Mr.
Björnson sólóistar. Við hlökk-
um öll mikið til að sjá þessa
Iceland is a volcanic island
in the North-Atlantic located
on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge.
The geology of Iceland differs
radically from that of the
European Continent and also
from that of the closest neigh-
bour, Greenland. The main
geological formation of the
island is a thick pile of bas-
altic lava which has been
gradually built up during the
Tertiary and the Quarterary
periods, that is, during the
past 50 or 60 million years.
There is an abund'ance of ac-
tive volcanbes, both large vol-
canic mountains such as the
famous Hekla and also im-
pressive volcanic fissures. The
30 km long Laki fissure, which
erupted in 1783 and produced
the greatest historic lava flow,
is the best known example of
a volcanic fissure.
Allied to this volcanism is
the widespread thermal ac-
tivity, that is, the very great
number of hot springs. Ice-
land is in this respect a
unique country. Practically
nowhere else is there such an
abundance of thermal areas,
and all types of hot springs
may be found. The white
man saw erupting hot-water
springs for the first time when
Iceland was settled, and the
intemational word for this
type of spring, i.e. the word
geysir, has been adopted from
the Icelandic language.
There are two main types
of thermal areas in Iceland.
Firstly, the areas with mainly
hot-water springs which are
referred to as the low-tem-
perature activity. Secondly,
the very large thermal areas
with natural steam holes and
extensive areas of hot ground.
These areas represent the
high-temperature activity.
vini okkar frá Seattle og
heyra þá.
Hér hefur verið messað í
ísl. kirkjunni alla sunnudaga,
en enginn sunnudagaskóli í 2
mánuði. Enn nú er bæði
sunnudagaskóli, kór og kvenn-
félag tekið til að starfa aftur,
með æfingum og funda haldi,
W.A. hafa „Tea“ á heimili
þeirra Mr. og Mrs. Jón Sigurd-
son (konsul) síðastliðinn
sunnudag eftir nón, sept. 15.
Veður var yndislegt, og fjöldi
fólks saman komin og í næstu
viku október 2. sýnir Mr.
Gunnþór Hinrikson ,slides‘
„litmyndir" sem hann tók á
Islandsferðinni í júní og verð-
ur gaman að fylgjast með
honum og stóra hópnum 1
myndum yfir Grænland og
þvert og endilangt ísland.
Guðlaug Jóhannesson.
Vancouver, B.C.
THE GREAT GEYSIR —
BEST KNOWN
There are about 250 low-
temperature areas with more
than 600 individual hot-water
springs. These areas are lo-
cated mainly on the lowlands
in the western half of the
country. The 1 a r g e s t hot-
water spring is the Deild-
artunguhver in Borgarfjordur
which issues about 4,000 gal-
lons per minute of boiling
water. The total integrated
flow of hot water from the
low - temperature a r e a s i s
around 25,000 gallons per min-
ute and the average tempera-
ture of all springs is about 170
degrees F.
The best known hot-water
spring is the Great Geysir,
which is located about 50
miles northeast of Reykjavik.
This famous spring is con-
nected to a very special struc-
ture. There is a small hill of
silicia sinter with a small
bowl-like basin having a di-
ameter of about 45 feet and
a depth of some 3 feet. A 10
feet wide hole at the bottom
of the basin is the opening
into an 80 feet deep vertibal
funnel. Water with a tempera-
ture of about 255 degrees F.
enters at the bottom of the
funnel and flows up into the
basin and is discharged over
the rim. The temperature of
the water drops during the
ascent. About 60 gallons per
minute flow out of the basin
at a temperature of 170 to 190
degrees F. Occasionally the
vertical column of water in
the funnel becomes unstable
and boiling is initiated some-
where in the column. This
causes an eruption and a vio-
lent flow of water and steam
out of the funnel, which is
gradually emptied. The steam-
water jet may be thrown
about 200 feet into the air and
is a magnificent spectacle. The
whole eruption lasts for 30 to
45 minutes. The Great Geysir
is one of the most powerful
erupting springs in the world.
Its activity is somewhat vari-
able and depends on many
factors such as weather etc.
LIKE 2 MILLION TONS
OF OIL PER YEAR
There are 13 high-tempera-
ture areas in Iceland. These
areas are all found in the
close vicinity of recent vol-
canism and are no doubt
closely connected with the
volcanism. A large and pow-
erful area is the Hengill area
which is located some 25 to
30 miles east of Reykjavik.
About 20 miles south of Reyk-
javik is a smaller high-tem-
perature area, the Krysuvik
area. Both areas can easily be
visited.
The largest high-tempera-
ture area is the Torfajokull
area which is located on the
highlands in the South of Ice-
land. The area is character-
ized by a very great number
of steam-holes and hot.ground.
The activity is spread out over
a total area of 40 square miles.
The elevation is about 3,000
to 4,000 feet. The total amount
of heat escaping each year to
the atmosphere from this area
would be equivalent to the
burning of about 2 million
tons of oil per year.
The vast amount of heat
available in the thermal areas
of Iceland is an important
natural resource. The possi-
bilities for the utilization of
natural heat were already rec-
ognized by the famous writer
Snorri Sturluson, who lived
at Reykholt in Borgarfjordur.
He used the hot water from
a spring at the farm for bath-
ing and washing. But his in-
itiative was not followed by
others and remained until re-
cently the only historic record
of an attempt to exploit hot
springs in Iceland.
A SUCCESSFUL DRILLING
The modern utilization of
natural heat in Iceland was
initiated in the third decade
of this century. Domestic and
green-house heating by natu-
ral hot water was started in
1924 at the farm Reykir in
Mosfellssveit some 10 miles
north-east of Reykjavik. A
s i m i 1 a r development took
place at practically the same
time in the North, near the
town of Akureyri. These in-
itial steps were followed by
an ever-increasing exploita-
tion of the natural heat re-
sources.
Drilling for natural hot wa-
ter was started by the Reyk-
javik Municipal Electricity
Works in 1928. The first wells
were drilled at the Laugar In
Reykjavik, which is a small
spring in the city. This drill-
ing was quite successful and
demonstrated the fact that the
natural flow of springs can be
augmented by the drilling of
wells in their vicinity.
These first wells in the city
of Reykjavik yielded a total
of 250 gallons per minute of
water with a temperature of
around 190 degrees F. This
flow of water was sufficient to
heat a substantial number of
houses. A small district heat-
ing plant was built in 1930
and connected to about 70
houses and one swimming
hall. The plant was very suc-
cessful.
Further drilling was car-
ried out in the period. 1932 to
1954 in the thermal areas at
Sudur-Reykir and Nordur-
Reykir in Mosfellssveit. About
1940 the total flow of the wells
was already approx. 4,000 gal-
lons per minute at a tempera-
ture of 188 degrees F. It was
then decided to pipe this water
over a distance of 10 miles
into the city of Reykjavik and
build a large district heating
system, the Reykjavik Muni-
cipal Hot Water Supply Sys-
tem. This system was put into
operation in 1943 and had then
been connected to about 3,000
houses. The total number of
people served by the system
was then about 35,000.
The Reykjavik Municipal
Hot Water Supply System is
a unique undertaking and has
been a great success. It has
contributed to the comfort of
the inhabitants of Reykjavik
and decreased considerably
air pollution. By using the hot
water the consumers save ap-
proximately 50% in heating
cost.
DOWN TO 7,200 FEET
Drilling for hot water in
the city of Reykjavik was re-
sumed in 1954. Modern oil
Accurafe
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The Hot Springs in lceland
By Dr. Gunnar Böðvarsson, Head of Department on the
State Electriciiy Board