Breiðafjörður
Encyclopedia
Iceland
Iceland , described as the Republic of Iceland, is a Nordic and European island country in the North Atlantic Ocean, on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. Iceland also refers to the main island of the country, which contains almost all the population and almost all the land area. The country has a population...
. It separates the region of the Westfjords
Westfjords
The Westfjords or West Fjords is the name for the large peninsula in northwestern Iceland. It is connected to the rest of Iceland by a 7 km wide isthmus between Gilsfjörður and Bitrufjörður. The Westfjords are very mountainous; the coastline is heavily indented by dozens of fjords surrounded by...
(Vestfirðir) from the rest of the country. Breiðafjörður is encircled by mountains, including glacier Snæfellsjökull
Snæfellsjökull
Snæfellsjökull is a 700,000 year old stratovolcano with a glacier covering its summit in western Iceland. The name of the mountain is actually Snæfell, but it is normally called "Snæfellsjökull" to distinguish it from two other mountains with this name...
the Snæfellsnes
Snæfellsnes
The Snæfellsnes is a peninsula situated to the west of Borgarfjörður, in western of Iceland.It has been named Iceland in Miniature, as many national sights can be found in the area, including the Snæfellsjökull volcano, regarded as one of the symbols of Iceland. With its height of 1446 m, it...
peninsula on the south side and the West Fjord peninsula to the north. Another interesting feature of the bay is that the northern tip was formed about 15 million years ago, whereas the southern end at Snæfellsnes was formed less than half that time ago.
Nature
Bedrock
In stratigraphy, bedrock is the native consolidated rock underlying the surface of a terrestrial planet, usually the Earth. Above the bedrock is usually an area of broken and weathered unconsolidated rock in the basal subsoil...
was formed during rift
Rift
In geology, a rift or chasm is a place where the Earth's crust and lithosphere are being pulled apart and is an example of extensional tectonics....
volcanism in the late Tertiary
Tertiary
The Tertiary is a deprecated term for a geologic period 65 million to 2.6 million years ago. The Tertiary covered the time span between the superseded Secondary period and the Quaternary...
. The area consists mainly of pile of basaltic lava
Lava
Lava refers both to molten rock expelled by a volcano during an eruption and the resulting rock after solidification and cooling. This molten rock is formed in the interior of some planets, including Earth, and some of their satellites. When first erupted from a volcanic vent, lava is a liquid at...
that was deeply eroded by glaciers during the quaternary age thus creating diverse landscape with several geothermal sites, some visible only at low tide.
Plants and Animals
The big intertidal zone is high in biodiversityBiodiversity
Biodiversity is the degree of variation of life forms within a given ecosystem, biome, or an entire planet. Biodiversity is a measure of the health of ecosystems. Biodiversity is in part a function of climate. In terrestrial habitats, tropical regions are typically rich whereas polar regions...
and productivity and has extensive algal forests and other important habitat
Habitat (ecology)
A habitat is an ecological or environmental area that is inhabited by a particular species of animal, plant or other type of organism...
s for fish
Fish
Fish are a paraphyletic group of organisms that consist of all gill-bearing aquatic vertebrate animals that lack limbs with digits. Included in this definition are the living hagfish, lampreys, and cartilaginous and bony fish, as well as various extinct related groups...
and invertebrates.
The area supports 230 species of vascular plants and around 50 breeding bird species including Common Shag
Common Shag
The European Shag or Common Shag is a species of cormorant. It breeds around the rocky coasts of western and southern...
, Glaucous Gull
Glaucous Gull
The Glaucous Gull is a large gull which breeds in the Arctic regions of the northern hemisphere and the Atlantic coasts of Europe. It is migratory, wintering from in the North Atlantic and North Pacific oceans as far south as the British Isles and northernmost states of the USA, also on the Great...
, White-tailed Eagle
White-tailed Eagle
The White-tailed Eagle , also known as the Sea Eagle, Erne , or White-tailed Sea-eagle, is a large bird of prey in the family Accipitridae which includes other raptors such as hawks, kites, and harriers...
, Common Eider
Common Eider
The Common Eider, Somateria mollissima, is a large sea-duck that is distributed over the northern coasts of Europe, North America and eastern Siberia. It breeds in Arctic and some northern temperate regions, but winters somewhat farther south in temperate zones, when it can form large flocks on...
, Black Guillemot
Black Guillemot
The Black Guillemot or Tystie is a medium-sized alcid.Adult birds have black bodies with a white wing patch, a thin dark bill, and red legs and feet. They show white wing linings in flight. In winter, the upperparts are pale grey and the underparts are white. The wings remain black with the large...
and Grey Phalarope. The area is important staging area
Staging area
A staging area is a location where organisms, people, vehicles, equipment or material are assembled before use.- In construction :...
for brent goose
Brent Goose
The Brant or Brent Goose, Branta bernicla, is a species of goose of the genus Branta. The Black Brant is an American subspecies. The specific descriptor bernicla is from the same source as "barnacle" in Barnacle Goose, which looks similar but is not a close relation.-Appearance:The Brant Goose is...
and Red Knot
Red Knot
The Red Knot, Calidris canutus , is a medium sized shorebird which breeds in tundra and the Arctic Cordillera in the far north of Canada, Europe, and Russia. It is a large member of the Calidris sandpipers, second only to the Great Knot...
. The Common Seal and the Grey Seal have their main haul-out
Hauling-out
Hauling-out is the behaviour associated with pinnipeds , of temporarily leaving the water between periods of foraging activity for sites on land or ice...
on the islands and skerries.
Several species of Cetaceans are commonly found including Common Porpoise, White-beaked Dolphin
White-beaked Dolphin
The White-beaked dolphin is a marine mammal belonging to the family Delphinidae in the suborder Odontoceti .-Taxonomy:...
, Killer Whale and Minke Whale
Minke Whale
Minke whale , or lesser rorqual, is a name given to two species of marine mammal belonging to a clade within the suborder of baleen whales. The minke whale was given its official designation by Lacepède in 1804, who described a dwarf form of Balænoptera acuto-rostrata...
.
Islands
Eiderdown
Eiderdown can refer to:* The down feathers of the eider duck* A kind of comforter or quilt...
harvesting is the main source of income for many farmers. Some of the islands are:
- FlateyFlatey in BreiðafjörðurFlatey is the largest island of the western islands, a cluster of about forty large and small islands and islets located in Breiðafjörður on the northwestern part of Iceland. Flatey and its surrounding islands are, as a creation, believed to have forged from under the weight of a great glacier...
- BrokeyBrokeyBrokey is the largest island of Breiðafjörður, Iceland. Brokey has an area 3.7 km ² with its highest point 34 m above sea level. Brokey is about 1 km wide and 3.5 to 4.0 km in length.Brokey contains the remains of a corn mill, built by farmer Vigfus Hjaltalin....
- Skáleyjar
- Hvallátur
- Svefneyjar
- Sviðnur
- Hergilsey
Economy and Ecology
FisheriesFishery
Generally, a fishery is an entity engaged in raising or harvesting fish which is determined by some authority to be a fishery. According to the FAO, a fishery is typically defined in terms of the "people involved, species or type of fish, area of water or seabed, method of fishing, class of boats,...
, tourism
Tourism
Tourism is travel for recreational, leisure or business purposes. The World Tourism Organization defines tourists as people "traveling to and staying in places outside their usual environment for not more than one consecutive year for leisure, business and other purposes".Tourism has become a...
and algal harvesting are other major uses of the area.
Breiðafjörður is the spawning ground for some of Iceland's most important economic fish species.
Transport
Snæfellsnes
The Snæfellsnes is a peninsula situated to the west of Borgarfjörður, in western of Iceland.It has been named Iceland in Miniature, as many national sights can be found in the area, including the Snæfellsjökull volcano, regarded as one of the symbols of Iceland. With its height of 1446 m, it...
peninsula, but in reality they lie at a distance of up to 40 km. From the little port of Stykkishólmur
Stykkishólmur
Stykkishólmur is a town and municipality situated in the western part of Iceland, to the north of the Snæfellsnes peninsula.With its 1,100 inhabitants, it is a center of services and commerce for the area. Most of the people make their living from fishing and tourism. A ferry called Baldur goes...
, there is a ferry to the West Fjords. But people can also travel overland by car, taking the road from the east of Snæfellsnes along the Hvammsfjörður, the narrowest part of the Breiðafjörður.
Culture and history
Flatey in Breiðafjörður
Flatey is the largest island of the western islands, a cluster of about forty large and small islands and islets located in Breiðafjörður on the northwestern part of Iceland. Flatey and its surrounding islands are, as a creation, believed to have forged from under the weight of a great glacier...
. In the summertime, it can be reached by ferry. During the Middle Ages
Middle Ages
The Middle Ages is a periodization of European history from the 5th century to the 15th century. The Middle Ages follows the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 and precedes the Early Modern Era. It is the middle period of a three-period division of Western history: Classic, Medieval and Modern...
, especially in the 12th century, there was a monastery
Monastery
Monastery denotes the building, or complex of buildings, that houses a room reserved for prayer as well as the domestic quarters and workplace of monastics, whether monks or nuns, and whether living in community or alone .Monasteries may vary greatly in size – a small dwelling accommodating only...
of Augustine
Augustinians
The term Augustinians, named after Saint Augustine of Hippo , applies to two separate and unrelated types of Catholic religious orders:...
monk
Monk
A monk is a person who practices religious asceticism, living either alone or with any number of monks, while always maintaining some degree of physical separation from those not sharing the same purpose...
s which represented a centre of Icelandic culture. The most extensive medieval manuscript, the Flateyjarbók was written there. Afterwards, the island was an important trading post.
See also: Fjords of Iceland
Fjords of Iceland
The most important fjords of Iceland:* Faxaflói* Hvalfjörður* Borgarfjörður* Breiðafjörður* Hvammsfjörður* Ísafjarðardjúp* Húnaflói* Skagafjörður* Eyjafjörður* Skjálfandi * Öxarfjörður* Vopnafjörður* Héraðsflói* Seyðisfjörður...