Skjaldbreiður

Volcano in Iceland

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Skjaldbreiður

Iceland

Selected geological features near the Skjaldbreiður shield volcano.(red outline). Light violet shading shows the current surface area of the Skjaldbreiður lava flows. Shading also shows:    calderas,   central volcanoes and   fissure swarms,   subglacial terrain above 1,100 m (3,600 ft), and   seismically active areas. Clicking on the image enlarges to full window and enables mouse-over with more detail.

Skjaldbreiður (Icelandic pronunciation: [ˈscaltˌpreiːðʏr̥] ^ⓘ, "broad shield") is an Icelandic lava shield formed in one huge and protracted eruption roughly 9,500 years ago.^[1] The extensive lava fields which were produced by this eruption, flowed southwards, and formed the basin of Þingvallavatn, Iceland's largest lake, and Þingvellir, the "Parliament Plains" where the Icelandic national assembly, the Alþing was founded in 930.

The volcano summit is at 1,060 m (3,480 ft), and its crater measures roughly 300 m (980 ft) in diameter.

Straddling the Mid-Atlantic ridge, the lava fields from Skjaldbreiður have been torn and twisted over the millennia, forming a multitude of fissures and rifts inside the Þingvellir National Park, the best known of which are Silfra, Almannagjá [ˈalˌmanːaˌcauː], Hrafnagjá [ˈr̥apnaˌcauː] and Flosagjá [ˈflɔːsaˌcauː].

Gallery

• 
  Skjaldbreiður crater in snow.

References

• Scarth, Alwyn; Tanguy, Jean-Claude (2001). Volcanoes of Europe. Oxford University Press. pp. 243 pp. ISBN 0-19-521754-3.
• Thordarson, Thor; Hoskuldsson, Armann (2002). Iceland (Classic Geology in Europe 3). Terra Publishing. pp. 208 pp. ISBN 1-903544-06-8.