26/08/2008 Iceland: Unflattenable

Today started off relatively clear and bright, but soon deteriorated, so that by the time we were at our first stop, at Miðfell (a hyaloclastite ridge at the edge of Þingvallavatn) it was already raining. At Miðfell, the pillows (with good thick glassy rims) also have crustal nodules of gabbro and troctolite. These nodules have been transported from the mid and lower crust all the way to the surface in their host melts - absolutely amazing. There was no way I was going to escape sampling these!

Returning to the van, we found our third vehicle-related disaster of the trip - we had a flat tyre. And not just a flat tyre... this was a proper flat, complete with rips in the side and a large nail sticking out of the rim. And so we began unpacking the van. Myself and James H made pretty quick work of removing all of our bags to get at the spare tyre, with which Dan then replaced the other tyre.

And so, once again, we had to return to the wonderful world of Selfoss to get another two tyres (to balance the back, as the other rear tyre was very worn).

After our daily excitement, we continued our journey, making our way back to Þingvellir National Park, and Þingvellir, in order to visit the Lögberg, where the Icelandic Parliament was started in 934 AD.

Being right on the active rift, the site (on the North American side) afforded spectacular views across the graben. Since the founding of the parliament, the Law Rock itself is believed to have foundered 4 metres due to the 1000 years of rifting.

Our next stop was the Nesjavellir power plant, which we visited after a brief lunch at a hotel just outside the plant, where a very nice smiling girl offered to make us toasted sandwiches despite the place not being open. The plant itself delivers heat and electricity not only to the local area, but also to large parts of Reykjavík. The turbines were being serviced whilst we were there, giving us an opportunity (on the German tour which we subtlely gatecrashed) to see the inner workings of the beautiful brushed steel cylinders. The tour also gave us an opportunity to see the engineering genius of the Icelandic, who, realising that they were building the place on a system of active faults, allowed the entire building to take up strain by breaking along specially designed joints. These, we are assured, are completely safe, despite looking extremely worrying.

Our last stop of the day was Reykjanes, where the ridge meets the mainland. Past the flat-topped island of Eldey, the ridge disappeared beneath the waves, and yet even here there are signs of the ice which once covered the island, in the pillow lavas constantly pounded by the waves