Welcome to Iceland

This small island in the northern Atlantic ocean is not a typical vacation destination.

This island is made of volcanic eruptive rocks, ice and water. In the middle of the Atlantic ocean is a gap, a chasm. The tectonic plates swimming on top of the hot magma inside the earth. And, just like cookies swimming in a bowl of milk, they tend to drift. Why did I tell you this? Well, the chasm is the gap between two tectonic plates. The continental plates of Europe and (north) America are bordering here and drift 2 cm apart per year. Upwelling magma moves both plates apart from each other (On the other side of the north American place you can find a convection ridge, where one plate moves under the bordering one. So, the distance between Europe and America rises, while die distance between America and Asia shrinks). This upwelling magma is the reason, that the island didn’t broke in prices until now.

As I mentioned above, this island is a result of frequent volcanic activities and you can see this in the landscape. It’s strange! But, from a photographers view, extremely interesting. You can also find many different sea birds breeding here. You can also find some interesting plants here.

Once, Iceland was formed by volcanic eruptions and mother nature is still modifying the surface by frequent eruptions of one of the 30 active volcano systems and the water. First we have the ocean, which nibbles on the coastal lines. And we have ice and rain. You know, frozen water needs more room, than fluid water. Thus, when freezing in winter, the water is able to break rocks open. And, you have very much rain on Iceland. Rain water is also able to grind down rocks.

Where does the rain came from? That’s easy: The Gulf stream brings warm water from the Caribbean, that evaporates in the cold, arctic air. Now, when it condensates … gotcha!

In the pas I already published some photos from Iceland. You can find them here:

This slideshow requires JavaScript.