Iceland is home to many of the most active volcanoes in the world and one of the distinctive features of the country are endless lava fields in different life stages. It is also home to magnificent glaciers that have shaped the landscape, creating the glacier cut fjords all around the coastline. In geological terms Iceland is a relatively young country, the oldest parts of the island are about 16-17 million years old and are found on the most western and eastern parts of the island, in fact this small island in the north Atlantic is still in formation.

Iceland is a geological hotspot and wonder, an island that rises from the Mid-Atlantic ridge which splits the Eurasian and North-American tectonic plates apart, and most likely the only place in the world where you can witness the effects of this interaction above sea level. These effects can be seen with ease at Thingvellir (Þingvellir) national park. Iceland is growing about 2cm (0,79 inches) per year because the two plates are drifting apart. It has its own hotspot or mantle plume that drives the island’s volcanic activity and many of the most active volcanoes on earth can be found in Iceland.

The frequency of earthquakes in Iceland is on average around 500 quakes per week. On this link (http://en.vedur.is/earthquakes-and-volcanism/earthquakes/) you can see a map of locations and magnitude of earthquakes that have hit in the last 78 hours  Iceland’s landscape has been shaped in a very dramatic way by the forces of volcanoes, rivers, glaciers, and the sea. If that’s not a stellar reason to do some travelling in Iceland I don’t know what is!