Eyjafjörður

The Eyjafjörður (also: Eyjarfjörður ) is an approximately 60 km long and up to 24 km wide fjord in northern Iceland in the east of the peninsula Tröllaskagi.

The position and shape

It is bounded on the west by Tröllaskagi and to the east of the mountainous peninsula also Flateyjarskagi. Again, stick to the mountains to over 1000 m, eg Kaldbakur ( 1167 m).

The fjord is quite deep, but there are two shoals, the large ships, about need to avoid the numerous cruise ships: Hörgár and Laufásgrunn before the parsonage museum Laufas.

From the outer fjord towards the west branch off two smaller fjords: Héðinsfjörður and Ólafsfjörður.

At the southern end of the fjord town of Akureyri is located on the western shore the fishing villages and Dalvik Ólafsfjörður, on the east bank, the open-air museum and the place Laufás Grenivík.

Island Hrísey and name of the fjord

In the fjord itself, the island is Hrísey. Most likely this is ( the translation of Eyjafjörður ) was eponymous for the name "Island Fjord".

The white smoke in Eyjafjörður

In 1997 it was discovered about 1800 meters before the pass Vikurskarð in Eyjafjörður hot springs. These three pillars have formed that are up to 45 m high.

The geothermal sources are located in basaltic lavas, which have an age of 6 up to 12 million years ago. They are apparently in connection with one or two fracture zones in the direction NNE and NW, which, however, are not known hot springs.

The smokers were investigated in detail. It turned out that the water that flows out of them 72 ° is hot. The columns consist of smectite, a clay mineral that forms when SiO2 - rich liquid encounters cold magnesium water. We also examined the bacteria to the smokers.

They are under protection since 2001 and have become a popular destination for diving trips.

Apart from this group of smokers, you have now found other groups of smokers in the northern Eyjafjörður, but which were not yet investigated.

The valley Eyjafjörður

As usual in Iceland contributes its related valley same name as the fjord. It extends about 60 km to the south into the country.