Esjan

Esja seen in winter, from Reykjavík

The Esja (pronounced "Ä: sya " ) is a mountain range in southwest Iceland, about 10 km north of the capital Reykjavík. There is a broken -coated from a variety of volcanic products and sediments massif, whose highest point reaches a height of 914 m.

Name

The origin of the name is unclear. In the Kjalnesinga Saga Namely, under Irish immigrants a rich widow Esja mentioned but is probably reversed ( aitiologisch ) the person's name may be derived from Orts-/Bergnamen.

Geography

The elongated massif is about 20 km long and extends in a narrow sense of Kollafjörður to Hátindur, actually, but as far as Kjós to the mountain Skálafell, where it touches the areas of three extinct central volcanoes, namely the Stardalsvulkans at Kjós ( with the center about under the present mountain Skálafell ), the Kollafjörðurvulkans and the Hvalfjörðurvulkans.

Some of the peaks and notches characterize the massif. The eastern summit is Hátindur (909 m). Long he was considered for the highest peak, but it turned out that the hill is north of Gunnlaugsskarð even higher, namely 914 m.

Particularly striking is the mountain Kistufell, the most projecting to the south and is approximately at the level of mosfellsbær.

Geology

Esja located in the Western active volcano zone Islands, but is not itself an active volcano more. On the contrary, part of the rock at the base of the oldest rocks in the vicinity of the capital.

The mountain massif Esja formed in the Tertiary. In the warm periods lava flowed out and into the cold times Palagonitrücken emerged from under the glacier.

The oldest signs of volcanic activity are located in the west (about 3.2 million years old) and the youngest in the east of the mountain (about 1.8 million years old).

The oldest layers stem from outbreaks of Hvalfjörðurvulkans, the slightly younger of which the Kollafjörðurvulkans and Stardalsvulkans.

The rock layers of Esja tend slightly overall to the southeast. This can be explained by the fact that there was the Stardalszentralvulkan location, central volcanoes always outweigh the layers around them and bring them thereby to tilt.

Plate tectonics moves the rock layers with time westward from the active volcanic belt away, about an inch per year. Intrusions, ie extensive magma channels, starting from the old central volcanoes in Kjalarnes and Stardal invaded, and later through the existing rock layers. Thickness layers of lava were created and piled on one another. The Ice Age glaciers grind from this stack and then left the highest points of intersection, one of which is a Esja. The mountain massif is to younger up and to the east, which is explained by the shift away from the active volcanic belt.

The massif is crossed by color-intensive intrusions of gabbro, parts of old magma chambers and once- active volcanic vents, which can be particularly well observed in its eroded west side at Kjalarnes.

The uppermost layers of the massif consist of alternating basaltic pyroclastics and Hyaloklastiten and other products of subglacial volcanic eruptions.

Finally, one also finds sediment layers in between.

Moskarðshnúkar and the beauty of the mountain range

The eastern summit of the mountain range, the Moskarðshnúkar, shine unusually bright A Reykjavík writers, we are told, said after a long period of rain, there to see the sun rise. When he looked closer, he discovered that it was only the rock that had such luminosity. In reality, it is rhyolite (also called Liparit ), who always in the center of old (and active ), there is central volcanoes, here in the center of the Stardalsvulkans.

In addition Esja is known for its aesthetic form and the richness of color of the rock. So the writer Þórbergur Þórðarson wrote a famous poem about the mountain.

Hiking on the Esja

Due to its proximity to the capital of the country is Esja a very popular recreational area, hiking and climbing destination dar.

Numerous trails and climbing routes lead to the various peaks. A trail parking lot is located directly on Hringvegur.

The two marked trails lead to the Þverfellshorn and on the Kerhólakambur ( 851 m), also helicopter flights for tourists are offered.