Öxarfjörður

The Öxarfjörður is more of a broad bay than a fjord and is located in the north of Iceland between the peninsulas Tjörnes in the west and in the east Melrakkaslétta.

It is located in the district Norðurþing, is about 30 km wide and extends from the cliffs of the peninsula Tjörnes on the flat plains of Kelduhverfi to the hills of Melrakkaslétta.

Name and history

The name translates as Axtfjord.

According Landnámabók were the first settlers of the area Vestmaður, his brother Vémundur and Einar Þorgeirsson. After they arrived in Iceland, she sailed to Melrakkaslétta. There, they beat an ax into the mountain Reistargnúpur and gave the nearby fjord the name Öxarfjörður, west of it they put an eagle on a rock and called this Arnarþúfa; Finally, they hired a third location on a cross and named the place Krossás.

The inhabitants of the district discussed, inter alia, whether the fjord not have to be actually called Axarfjörður. Finally, but you decided against it.

Geological classification

The Öxarfjörður is located in a very geologically active area where the northern active volcano and rift zone intersects with a fracture zone and is moved to the west towards Kolbeinseyjarrücken. The fracture zone is called Tjörnes Fracture Zone and is about 70 km wide and 120 km long. In it are five active volcanic systems, including the Askja and Krafla. Plate tectonics can produce earthquakes with intensity 6-7 on the Richter scale during individual periods of disturbance.

At least three active volcano systems project with their northern columns to the fjord: Theistareykir, Krafla and Fremri - Namur

The area's rivers

In the Öxarfjörður besides some smaller rivers empties the current Jökulsá Fjöllum, one of the most water-rich glacial rivers Islands, which comes from the south of Vatnajökull and branched out into several branches before the mouth in Kelduhverfi, represent the most important of Bakkahlaup ( in the west) and brunna in the East.

Colonization

The total area is not densely populated. Thus one finds mainly scattered farms here. The only larger settlement shall be the place Kópasker with 137 inhabitants ( 2009). It is located on the eastern shore of the bay -like Öxarfjörður.