Iceland 2020, Day 1: Reykjanes Plans

Tuesday, 26 July 2022

While I had intended to report on the trip in this blog, it turned out, since I was writing on my phone, to be easier to do a series of daily posts to Facebook. So this is the last bit on Iceland here, at least for the moment. I plan to edit and expand the FB posts, and will eventually post them here, or in a another of my blogs.

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Geology of the Peninsula*

*Much of this is adapted from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geology_of_Reykjanes_Peninsula

The Reykjanes Peninsula is the continuation of the submarine Reykjanes Ridge, a segement of the Mid-Atlantic ridge. It reaches from the Esja volcano in the north to hengill in the east and Reykhanesta in the west. It originated 6-7 Ma in a rift-jump, after the Snæfellsnes-Skagi rift had drifted to the west out of range of the presumed location of the mantle plume.

Iceland 2022, Day 0: Recovery Day in Reykjavik

Monday, 25 July 2022

A good night’s sleep

https://norse-mythology.org/symbols/svefnthorn/Norse Sleep Rune

As I’ve aged I find that I fare less well on less sleep; or perhaps, I never fared well on less sleep, but when young was too inexperienced to notice my own deficits. Regardless, I scheduled my trip to have a ‘recovery day,’ so that I wouldn’t be dragging on the first day of the tour. Additional benefits are decreased stress — I was unconcerned the cascading delays of the day before would cause any disruption in my schedule – and a chance to wander about Reykjavik.

Iceland 2022, Travel Day: The Yellow Duffle

Saturday-Sunday, 23-24 July 2022

I have been looking forward to the Iceland trip for quite a long time. It had initially been scheduled for the Summer of 2021, but Covid concerns derailed that. The trip is under the auspices of ILSG –The Institute of Lake Superior Geology – which is a regional association of geologists, both professional and academic. I became acquainted with the group via the Geological Society of Minnesota, and went on an ILSG field trip to the big island of Hawai’i in the winter of 2020, just prior to the advent of Covid. It was a great trip, 11 days with about a dozen folks, and toured the five extant volcanoes of the island, including a helicopter trip to the suburb once known as”Royal Gardens,” now better known as a lava field of black basalt. It was a great trip, and although I am introverted, I very much enjoyed the trip and the people. That the people who led the Hawaii trip were also leading the longer and rougher Iceland trip, was a significant inducement.