Iceland review - 2012, Page 28

26 ICELAND REVIEW
the year 1000 AD, it resulted in lava flows
from the Brennisteinsfjöll (literally meaning
sulfur mountains) volcanic center. One of
these eruptions was the famous Christianity
lava—so called because it began around
the time of the decisive debate over the
adoption of Christianity in the Alþing, or
Icelandic parliament. The Alþing was held
in the lava fields of Þingvellir at that time. A
messenger brought news of the new erup-
tion to the Alþing just after it had been
decided to adopt Christianity in Iceland,
and many saw this eruption as a clear sign
that the old gods had been angered by the
change in religion. It was then that the
wise parliamentarian Snorri Goði posed
the question: “What angered the gods when
the lava flowed that we now stand on?”
Members of the Alþing immediately recog-
nized his pragmatism and clear logic—that
volcanic eruptions are in fact part of a natu-
ral process and not tools of the gods.
The next event in this episode was an
eruption in the Krýsuvík volcanic system in
the year 1151, which produced several lava
flows. One of these is the Kapelluhraun lava
flow, which reached the north coast of the
Reykjanes peninsula. Today a major Alcan
aluminum smelter plant sits on this young
lava flow at the southern edge of the town
The Rauðhólar (red hills) are a cluster
of pseudocraters, only 10 kilometers
(6 miles) from the Reykjavík City Hall.