Skútustaðahreppur

65.567922 - 17.039795Koordinaten: 65 ° 34 ' N, 17 ° 2' W

The rural community Skútustaðir ( Isl Skútustaðahreppur ) is located in north-eastern Iceland in the region Norðurland eystra.

On 1 January 2009 the municipality had 388 inhabitants, of whom 185 lived in the main village Reykjahlíð in the northeast of Lake Mývatn. The small town Skútustaðir is located on the south shore of the lake, about 14 km southwest of Reykjahlíð.

Geography

Location

Skútustaðir is one of the few municipalities Islands that do not border the sea. Lake Mývatn is with about 37 square kilometers, the largest body of water. Locally Skútustaðir at Mývatn you can find pseudo- craters.

The pseudo crater

The place is known for its pseudo- craters. This originated as a native of the nearby Krafla volcanic system lavas 3,600 and 2,500 years ago flocked about the area and due to the high water content of the marshy soil, phreatic explosions were triggered. The craters have no access to dikes or magma reservoirs within the Earth.

More area

The biggest part of its territory is occupied by a volcanic desert, the lava field Ódáðahraun (Eng. " Missetäterwüste "). This is the largest so far discovered in Iceland lava field with dimensions of at least 4400 km ².

In the south of Dyngjujökull, an edge of Vatnajökull glacier is located. The eastern boundary formed by the River Jökulsá Fjöllum.

Known mountains are the Table Mountain Herðubreið (1682 m), the volcano Askja with the deepest lake in Iceland, Öskjuvatn, and the Central Volcanic Krafla (818 m).

Population Development

As now most areas except the southwest of Iceland around the capital Reykjavík is Skútustaðir of affected population decline (1997 to 2005: -13 %).

* On 1 December each