Revisiting Iceland: A Kentucky-Sized Place Where Geology is in Your Face at Every Turn

         A friend's trip to Iceland the past two weeks has reinspired a look at this Kentucky-sized land. My friend's description of her trip included words about geology staring one in the face at every turn. Young, changing, extraordinary geology is located next to the much older geology of Greenland.

     "Iceland is a manifestation of plate tectonic activity along a 10,000-mile underwater mountain range called the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. The island, which is about the size of the state of Kentucky, is only 15-20 million years old, making it one of the youngest landmasses of its size in the world, according to Ari Trausti Guðmundsson, a geophysicist, poet, and former Iceland presidential candidate."

     “If you hop over to Greenland, the bedrock is over 3,000 million years old,” says Guðmundsson, who guided Pitcairn during his expedition to Bárðarbunga and wrote the text, including 120 poems, in his book. “In comparison, Iceland is an infant.”

     "The Mid-Atlantic Ridge gives rise to Iceland’s volcanoes, one of its signature geological features. The country boasts 30 volcanic systems, which contain hundreds of active volcanoes. The natural upwelling of magma from beneath the ridge, as well as a mantle plume located almost right under the middle of the country, send billions of tons of lava surging through the bedrock annually, causing the country to expand about one inch per year, on average, according to Guðmundsson.

       Additional information about this geologist's dream country is located at this link. Hoping to get to Iceland before too many of the glaciers have melted.

        I am also fascinated by the unusual diacritical marks in the place and author names. It's also fun to see a geologist poet who ran for the presidency of Iceland! With a small population, I guess residents wear many hats. . .

        How about you; what about Iceland fascinates you?

Steph

Calving: Ice or Cow. . .And Is There A Connection?

          For this week's PEOTS, how about choosing between ice calving

      or cow (or moose or seal or whale) calving?

      Hmmmm. Let's go with ice calving. Check out this largest filmed ice calving event at the Ilulissat Glacier in Greenland. 

      Ice calving, also known as glacier calving or iceberg calving, is the breaking off of chunks of ice at the edge of a glacier, iceberg, ice shelf, or crevasse. The ice that breaks away is classified as an iceberg, but may also be called a growler or bergy bit.

     Growlers are smaller pieces of ice, generally rising less than a meter above water level, that make a growling animal sound as they move in the ocean. Bergy bits are mini icebergs that rise up to 4-5 meters above the water level. 

        

         Ice calving has gotten lots of attention lately as a result of global warming (See the 2014 documentary Ice Chasing).

        And perhaps watch it with this kind of beer growler:

       Do you suppose there's any connection between the sound of cows birthing and the sound of ice calving (the latter term first originated in Denmark in 1837), growlers and all?

Enjoy that ice calving blue; looking forward to your insights,

Steph