We began Day Five with high hopes for the weather – the skies were clear and there was no fog to be seen. Our plan for the day was to travel from Vagnsstadir to Landeyjahöfn, where we would catch the ferry to Heimaey. We’d already done this drive once before on the way out to the east, but we still discovered new treasures along the way.

The first stop was at Svínafellsjökull, a small glacier off of the much larger Vatnajökull ice sheet. We parked the van (we’re still voting on nicknames) at a hotel near the highway and walked in on a well-groomed path. Our journey was about four kilometres round-trip and took us right to the edge of the glacier.

Extrusive rocks from the Tertiary period (older than 3.3 million years old) made up the mountains on either side of the glacier, which could be found as boulders, cobbles, and pebbles within the moraines.

We continued our journey along the mother of all sandurs, Skeiðarársandur, whose straight roads and endless sand lulled the boys to sleep.

The further west we travelled, the worse the weather got. By the time we arrived at Dyrhólaey the wind was ruthless and the rain was coming down in sheets. However, as all geologists know, rain cannot keep the rocks away – or us away from the rocks! We unloaded and battled the wind to a lookout where we could see the black sand beaches and the sea stacks.

The bedrock of Dyrhólaey was deposited in the last 800,000 years as hyaloclastite and pillows lavas, with intercalated sediments. Holocene sediments create the beach and underly the lagoon nearby.

Due to stormy weather, cold hands, and having a non-4×4 vehicle (honestly, Tim’s driving had nothing to do with it) we could only view the sea arch from afar. We were not disappointed for long, as less than five minutes later we were blessed with a peculiar outcrop.

These ash deposits are very young in age (geologically speaking), known due to the fact that they’re still standing! The tuff shows extensive weathering and erosion by wind and meltwater. Soon enough the wind, rain, and geology students will have eroded the outcrop to sand.

Our last stop before the ferry was Seljalandsfoss, a waterfall just off of Highway 1. This waterfall is one of kind – you can walk behind it and view the falls from all angles! Seljalandsfoss exists on interglacial and supraglacial lavas with intercalated sediments. The sediment layers behind the falls have been eroded away, creating the depression behind the waterfall that allows us to walk around behind. By the end of our visit with Seljalandsfoss we were all soaking wet, from both the rain and the water spray.

A bit tired, very wet, and ready for the next adventure, we boarded the ferry (nope, not BC Ferries) and arrived in the town of Heimaey, ready to rest and recuperate for the adventures of Day Six.

Today’s adventure lead us to areas near Hofn on the southeast side of Iceland. We were hoping to encounter some rocks other than basalt – which makes up over 85% of the island.  We were as usual surprised by what we found.

Our day started with the usual cool, fog and light rain.  On our approach to Stokesnes we decided to examine some of the oldest (Tertiary) rocks on Iceland – thickly layered basalt flows.

We clambered up a gully to the base of a small waterfall and found a series of layered basalt flows, separated by a thin shale bed and a thicker conglomerate bed below.  This confirmed what we saw on the map legend that mentioned inter-bedded sediments, and also the bluffs themselves with the basalt layering highlighted by the more recessive sediments.

It did not take long to arrive at Stokeness – a peninsula surround on both sites by elongate spits and interesting lagoons.  After paying to enter the area (that is part of a private farm) we hiked into an amphitheatre-like setting where high mountains and bluffs with steep scree slopes leading down to a grass and wetland area adjacent to the lagoon.  At the base of the slope we checked out a mock Viking encampment that had been constructed in the 1990’s for a movie set, but never used.  A good discussion of how a Viking must have lived ensued.

From scree slopes and nearby outcrops we encountered a combination of intrusive rocks – diorite, gabbro and a possibly a quartz diorite?  There was some suggestion that these intrusives were emplaced into each other, but their relationship to the surrounding and oldest rocks of Iceland – the Tertiary Basalts was still a but if a mystery.  However, from looking at the bluffs on the access road to Stokeness we did view a conclusive instructive contact between these basalts and the quartz diorite.

Part of our hike took us through group of five of Iceland horses who seemed friendly enough and were willing to be petted – even by Alex.  However, we decided not to share our lunch as the rest of the herd of thirty might have joined us.

Before leaving Stokenss, we examined the shoreline (near an old US Radar station) and encountered some more gabbro outcrops with some amazing coarsely crystalline pegmatite pods.  We also found some black sand dunes, where sand from the beach was swept up to edge of the lagoon.  There was some discussion as to wind direction and the asymmetrical shape of the dunes, which appeared vegetated on the windward site.

To finish the day we decided to head a little further east towards another headland at Helevar, where a second intrusive complex was reported to occur.  This started to appear to be less interesting as sometimes happens in geology.  However, we moved a little further along the road and suddenly encountered a series of spectacular outcrops in the middle on a black sand plain.  On closer inspection we found that we were at the contact between a gabbro and a quartz-diorite intrusives with xenoliths and cross-cutting veins (described by one member of the group as a ‘Dalmatian Explosion’).  Finished for the day we headed back to our hostel for the evening that appeared to full of people from all over the world – China, Israel, Germany and Vancouver Island (UVic students)!

After packing up the van at the Selfoss Hostel we headed due East towards several small icecaps, radiating outlet glaciers, and their extensive sandur deposits. Our first stop was at the Eyjafjallajökull information center on the side of highway 1 which provided us with a timeline of eruptions from the sub-glacial volcanoes of the Eyjafjallajökull, and Mýrdalsjökull ice caps, along with information about the 2010 eruption that caused major airline closures.

From there we went and witnessed the beauty of the close by Skógafoss Waterfall. The waterfall is 15 meters wide and falls off a 62-meter cliff into a massive plunge pool. It’s fed from melt-water making its way down from the Eyjafjallajökull glacier. This extreme topographic drop is formed from marine erosion after the last ice age when sea level was much higher due to the addition of melt-water from the ice, and weight of the ice sheet that had depressed the land. With the loss of ice, iso-static rebound gradually raised the land out of the ocean, exposing the cliffs, and creating the extensive sandurs that we see now. From a distance, we could see successions of pillow basalt, pillow breccia, and hyaloclastites, making up the waterfall cliff.

At our next stop, we finally opened our eyes to one of Iceland’s many beautiful glaciers, the Sólheimajökull glacier, extending for 14km as an outlet from the much larger, Mýrdalsjökull ice cap (600km²). Here we were able to see a number of formations within the glacier, in front of, and along its margins. The most evident were the medial moraines within the glacier, lateral moraines along its edges, and recessional moraines throughout the present out-wash plain. Driving up to the glacier, we could see the full extent of the out-wash plain formed from jökulhlaup’s which have reached up to 1700m³/s (1999).

Next, we made two quick stops on the side of the highway to see a couple voluminous basaltic lava flows which occurred in Iceland’s historic era (870 AD). These covered a large area of the Mýrdalssandur formed from the 1798 Laki fissure eruption, north of the sandur plain. The flows were also covered in extremely comfortable moss, allowing for us to truly enjoy the geology by having a quick lie down.

After realizing the drive to our next hostel was farther than anticipated, we had to make quick of two more stops. The first, was on the side of the highway where there was a bridge wreckage display from a devastating jökulhlaup on September 30^th 1996, lasting until October 13^th. This jökulhlaup was formed from a fissure eruption located within the Vatnajökull ice cap, and was released from underneath the Sioujokull glacier. The bridge was made to withstand flooding waters up to 20 000 m³/s, however the resulting flooding water from the jökulhlaup was 45 000-50 000 m³/s, at its peak flow.

Our final stop was at the Jökulsárlón lagoon radiating from the Breioamerkurjokull glacier, which made for a spectacular end to the day as the sunshine graced us. This lagoon was host to many large icebergs that have been calved from the front of the glacier as it recedes. The tide controls the flow of water from the lagoon, during a falling tide, water will flow from the lagoon into the ocean, and at rising tide, from the ocean into the lagoon. This lagoon is site to some of the most recent and important climate change research; which looks at the effect of global warming on glaciers and their surrounding environment.

On a final note, it was amazing to see large scale basaltic flows, real-time glacial processes, and jökulhlaup outwash plains, to provide context to some of the theoretical geological processes and features that we learn so much about back at VIU.

After rallying the students in Rekyavik, it was time to head south to the fresh volcanic landscape of the Reykjanes. Immediately upon leaving Reykavik, we were surrounded by rugged volcanic features ranging from 0.8 million years old to just 600 years old.

The first scheduled stop was at Lake Kleifarvatn, Iceland’s deepest lake. Although not visible without diving, there are geothermal vents at the bottom of the lake.

While the lake might transfix your average person, we immediately ran off to the west side of the lake to an outcrop of cemented volcanic ash with muddy layers.

Further south, we observed the geothermal area of Krysuvic. This area featured radically altered landscapes due to the interaction of heat and water with the rocks. The heat and water have changed the appearance of the rock from black to a variety of vibrant colours such as yellow, white, red, and orange.

The group then carried on down the southern coast of the Reykjanes peninsula, eventually arriving at another geothermal site, called the Gunnuhver Hot Springs. This site is near a geothermal power plant where the steam is used to produce electricity for Iceland.

Our last stop for the day was the location of the spreading apart of the North American Tectonic Plate and the Eurasian Tectonic Plate. This is one of the few places where this spreading can be observed because the vast majority of the rift is located on the bottom of the ocean.

We then ended our day in the town of Selfoss, where we’ll begin our trip to the Golden Triangle tomorrow!