Plate Tectonics 101: Iceland’s Rift in the Earth

Our Golden Circle Tour on Day 3 in Iceland finished with an amazing visit to Pingvellir or Thingvellir (Thing Fields) National Park in southwestern Iceland, a site filled with beauty, history and science lessons. The National Park was founded in 1930, marking the 1000th anniversary of the Icelandic Parliament. It became a World Heritage Site in 2004.

Beauty, because we overlooked the largest natural freshwater lake in Iceland (Pingvallavatn, filled with Arctic Char and Trout). History, because this was the location for the Icelandic Parliament with was established in 930 and remained there until 1798. Scientific, because Continental Plates drifting apart jump off the page of your science textbook into real life.

Iceland is the meeting point of the North American and Eurasian Continental Plates. The divide between them runs at a diagonal across the entire island. The Continental Plates pulling apart from one another separate an additional 2 centimeters per year, on average.

As you can see in the pictures below, you can literally stand in the “no-man’s” land between the North American and the Eurasian Continental Plates as they form a major crack or fault line that traverses the landscape in a massive canyon. Although this leads to earthquakes in the area, you can see plate tectonics in all their natural beauty.

While we didn’t do this excursion, people scuba dive in the clear fresh water that collects between these separating plates. The water is so clear and fresh you can see for 100 meters.