Grímsnes
Encyclopedia
Grímsnes is a fissure
Fissure vent
A fissure vent, also known as a volcanic fissure or simply fissure, is a linear volcanic vent through which lava erupts, usually without any explosive activity. The vent is usually a few meters wide and may be many kilometers long. Fissure vents can cause large flood basalts and lava channels...

 or crater row volcano
Volcano
2. Bedrock3. Conduit 4. Base5. Sill6. Dike7. Layers of ash emitted by the volcano8. Flank| 9. Layers of lava emitted by the volcano10. Throat11. Parasitic cone12. Lava flow13. Vent14. Crater15...

 located in southwestern Iceland
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...

, a relatively small volcanic system located SE of Thingvallavatn lake east of an en echelon group of volcanic fields extending across the Reykjanes Peninsula. The elevation
Elevation
The elevation of a geographic location is its height above a fixed reference point, most commonly a reference geoid, a mathematical model of the Earth's sea level as an equipotential gravitational surface ....

 at its apex is 214 meters. Tephrochronology
Tephrochronology
250px|thumb|right|Tephra horizons in south-central [[Iceland]]. The thick and light coloured layer at the height of the [[volcanologists]] hands is [[rhyolitic]] [[tephra]] from [[Hekla]]....

 approximates the volcano's last eruption as 3500 BC.

The individual volcanoes in the area include the Kerið volcanic crater
Kerið
Kerið is a volcanic crater lake located in the Grímsnes area in south Iceland, on the popular tourist route known as the Golden Circle...

.

The Grímsneshraun lava-fields
Lava plain
A lava plain, also called a lava field or lava bed, is a large expanse of nearly flat-lying lava flows. Such features are generally composed of highly-fluid basalt lava, and can extend for tens or even hundreds of miles across the underlying terrain...

 in the area cover a total of 54 km² (20.8 sq mi). The largest of these plains is the Seyðishólar-Kerhólahraun field which covers 23.5 km² (9.1 sq mi). Other sizeable plains include the Tjarnarhólahraun field at 11.9 km² (4.6 sq mi), the Kálfshólahraun field at 8 km² (3.1 sq mi) and the Álftarhólshraun 6.2 km² (2.4 sq mi). The total volume of lava produced in the lava flows of Grímsnes has been estimated at 1.2 cubic kilometre (0.287895310325144 cu mi)

See also

  • Geography of Iceland
    Geography of Iceland
    Iceland is a medium-sized island in the North Atlantic ocean. The island is located east of Greenland and immediately south of the Arctic Circle, atop the divergent boundary of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge in the North Atlantic Ocean. It lies about from New York City and from Scotland...

  • Lakes of Iceland
  • List of volcanoes in Iceland
  • Volcanism in Iceland

Sources

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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