Iceland review - 2012, Qupperneq 30

28 ICELAND REVIEW
Hotel Rangá is the only four star luxury resort in
South Iceland and the perfect base to explore the area’s
many attractions and natural wonders all year round
Aurora Adventure Events Gourmet Luxury Romance
Hotel Rangá 851 Hella Tel. +354 487 5700 Fax +354 487 5701 hotelranga@hotelranga.is www.hotelranga.is
Hotel Rangá offers 51 luxurious and cozy rooms, including the seven uniquely designed
and decorated World Pavillion suites. Renowned gourmet restaurant on site.
Only 96km from the Reykjavik capital area.
of Hafnarfjörður, and an entire industrial
zone has been developed here on top of
the lava. You will drive past this aluminum
plant on your way to Reykjavík. One won-
ders about the planning, or perhaps lack
of planning that has resulted in developing
industry and housing so extensively on the
surface of this lava flow, as the probability
of more lava flowing over it in the future is
quite significant. The third event in this vol-
canic episode on the Reykjanes peninsula
occurred in the year 1226, and it produced
lava flows quite close to the Keflavík airport
and near the Blue Lagoon thermal springs,
now a popular tourist site.
Fortunately, the volcanism on the
Reykjanes peninsula in this episode of
the Middle Ages had very little impact on
the Icelanders at the time. The Reykjanes
peninsula was very thinly populated until
the late nineteenth century, because it is a
largely barren lava plain and farming is dif-
ficult here. It was only in the late nineteenth
and early twentieth century that villages
developed there because of aggressive fish-
ing in the excellent fishing grounds nearby.
Now the region of the lava flows is one of
the most developed areas of Iceland, within
a region of considerable volcanic risk.
Some seven hundred years have passed
since the end of the last volcanic episode
in this part of Iceland. It is quite wrong
to assume that this long quiet period is an
indication that activity in the Reykjanes
peninsula has ceased. Quite the contrary.
Because we have passed through such a
long quiet period, we are probably getting
close to the initiation of the next episode.
GEOLOGY
Straumsvík bay.
A big aluminum
smelter stands on
relatively young lava
at the outskirts of
Hafnarfjörður.
This is why there is some concern about
the current unrest of the Krýsuvík volca-
nic center, south of Reykjavík, where the
ground is alternately swelling and subsiding
at an alarming rate. The fissures from this
center pass close to the outer suburbs east of
Reykjavík, and lava flows from this source
could have a huge impact on the greater
Reykjavík region in the future.
By the time you leave Iceland, you will
probably be able to pick out the young lava
flows from the road. They are almost bar-
ren of all vegetation, compared to the old
lava flows, which are now covered by grass
and shrubs. This is just one of the clues you
can use in order to learn how to “read”
the history of the ground you travel over
as you visit Iceland. It is truly a geologist’s
paradise. 