A geologically young land, Iceland lies on the north edge of the Mid Atlantic Ridge. It is being split by the divergent movements of the North American Plate and the Eurasian Plate. Iceland is one of the most active volcanic regions on Earth. It is estimated that 1/3 of the planet’s lava erupted since 1500 A.D. was produced in Iceland. At the northern end of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, sits the Thingvellir Fissure Zone. It is a tear in the earth where the divergent North American Plate meets the Euro-Asian Plate. The resulting vulcanism is the reason Iceland exists.
Vatnajökull is the largest glacier in Iceland. It is located in the south-east of the island, covering more than 8% of the country. Under the ice cap, as under many of the glaciers of Iceland, there are several volcanoes. The volcanic lakes, Grímsvötn for example, were the sources of a large jökulhlaup (glacial lake outburst flood) in 1996. There was also a considerable but short-time eruption of the volcano under these lakes at the beginning of November 2004. In May 21, 2011 a volcanic eruption started í Grímsvötn in Vatnajökull National Park at around 7 p.m. The plume reached as high as 20 kilometers.
Egilsstaðir is a town in east Iceland on the banks of Lagarfljót river. The town has approximately 2,200 inhabitants. The town is young, even by Icelandic standards where urbanization is a fairly recent trend compared to mainland Europe.
