Eiríksjökull

Eiríksjökull (center), seen from Hvítársíða, southwest of Húsafell, Hallmundarhraun lava in the foreground, left structure shall

View from Kaldidalur on Hallmundarhraun and Eiríksjökull

The Eiríksjökull is a glacier in Iceland. It extends up to an altitude of 1,672 meters and its area is 22 km ², with a length of about 9-11 km from west to east and about 5-8 km from north to south. It rises in the east about 400-500 m above its surroundings, in the West, however, 600-800 m. Its volume is 40-50 km3.

Location

The Glacial Shield Eiríksjökull is located in the west of Iceland.

At the same time he lies to the west and east of the Langjökull Arnarvatnsheiði and about 30 km north of Húsafell.

The glacier is visible only because of his height and dominated the plateau of Arnarvatnsheiði as well as the lava field Hallmundarhraun, which descends towards the northeastern Langjökull up to Húsafell. In its neighborhood structure shall have a 927 m high Palagonitkegel is.

Folk tale and Name

There is a folk tale that explains its present name. In the northern slope erosion is a rock which is called Eiríksgnípa. One day would have been the refuge in the Arnarvatnsheiði, more precisely in the cave Surtshellir, living lawless Eiríkur on this mountain. The farmers and the pursuing him law enforcement officials were able to catch him on the slopes of the glacier, but he escaped, leaving a foot. In the folk tale, a poem by him has survived, which states: " ... I from haute with one foot, I imitate this, you will be hard. " ("... Með fótinn annan fór ég burt / Fair munu ' eftir leika. " )

Glacier

The glacier shield that covers the entire summit area, ranging at altitudes of 1300 - 1400 m down.

Several glacier tongues extending from the shield towards the valley glacier, carry the most important of the following names: Brækur Þorvaldsjökull and fall off to the northwest, Ögmundarjökull to the northeast. The largest glacier tongue extends down the north and hoisted Klofajökull or Stórijökull.

Volcanism

The panel has volcano under the glacier covers an area of 40 km ² in the upper part, toward against of 77 square kilometers at the base. It originated in one or perhaps several volcanic eruptions under a thick ice-age glaciers. Therefore, the lower strata consist of Palagoniten.

Finally, the magma reached the surface of the glacier had melted away and it so that the top layers of lava exist. A majority of these lavas is still covered by ( neuzeitlichem ) glacial ice. But underneath you recognize Olivinbasaltlagen. Researchers say that a kind of shield volcano had built on the lower layers here.

It is the largest volcano panel ( Tuya ) in Iceland. Recent researches tend to go from a single outbreak in which the volcano was formed. Eiríksjökull thus is the largest probably formed in a single eruption volcanic edifices of the country. It seems ever to have acted for one of the largest known eruptions in Iceland with an output of about 40-50 km ³ of magma. Eiríksjökull arose before the last ice age, as older than 100,000 years.

Climbing on Eiríksjökull

The climb is quite challenging - 1300 m difference in altitude, 10 km from the starting point at the foot of the mountain to the summit - and is usually taken from the west side.