Thursday, May 9, 2013

Conclusion


The most fantastic aspect of Iceland’s physical geography is it’s range of processes and landforms. We see everything from volcanoes to glaciers in one country. Roughly 11% of Iceland is covered by glaciers, and these glaciers feed the many glacial rivers we find throughout the landscape. There are also rills and gullies (smaller streams) covering the island, often spreading in a dendritic pattern, like that of a leaf. Iceland is full of gravitational water, which is water that follows gravity to the water table, creating waterfalls. The island’s incredible amount of ground water (along with the giant glistening glaciers) makes it a beautiful blue wonderland. In the land of ice however, we also find fire. Iceland is home to 35 volcanoes, some of which are still active today. As a result of the eruptive volcanoes, Iceland is covered in flood basalts. Flood basalts are large stretches of land covered by basalt lava that poured over the landscape after an eruption. Another aspect that is unique to Iceland’s geography is it’s high latitude. The island sits just below the Arctic Circle, making it the perfect environment to see the aurora borealis (a “light show” in the sky due to solar radiation interacting with oxygen and nitrogen in the atmosphere). Iceland is ultimately a beautiful and unique environment.

In 1,000 years Iceland may look different:

Geologically speaking, Iceland is a very young island, at only 20 million years old. In 1,000 years, I do not think that Iceland will change significantly because geological processes take so long to occur. I do believe that because Iceland is a volcanic island, it may grow bigger in the coming years. Iceland is situated on a “hotspot” which is a narrow upwelling of magma from the earth’s core, as the magma rises and cools it creates more land mass. Also, is any of Iceland’s volcanoes were to erupt in the next 1,000 years the lava flows would harden and become new land. Scientist know that one of Iceland’s biggest volcanoes, Hekla, has erupted at least 20 times in the last 1,000,000 years.
 
                      Three dimensional view of the mantle plume under Iceland.
 
 
In 10,000 years:
Iceland is cut almost directly in half by the mid-Atlantic ridge. This ridge is exists because the Eurasian and North American tectonic plates are diverging (pulling away) from one another. As the plates move Iceland moves with them. In 10,000 years, Iceland may very well split do to the ridges diverging. Scientists have already found rifts in Iceland that are occurring along the ridge. The portion of the Earth’s crust located between the two rift zones, called Hreppar in South Iceland, is departing from the North American plate.
 
                                This picture shows the mid Atlantic ridge cutting through Iceland
                                                            along with the location of its hotspot.
 
In 1,000,000 years:
I believe that in 1,000,000 years, Iceland will have split due to the spreading of the plates creating two islands. Though the hotspot that created Iceland may be fixed, the plates are constantly moving. I believe that as the plates move over the hotspot, a string of islands may be created similar to the Hawaiian islands. Though in 1,000,000 years, it may only be the very beginnings of this island chain because 1,000,000 years is still a short period of time in geography.
                           This image depicts the active rift zone that are currently in Iceland.
                     http://academic.emporia.edu/aberjame/student/brown3/iceland.htm
 
In Conclusion: Iceland is changing every day and may be more than one island in the future. I believe it's beauty and unique geography will attract people for many years to come.
 
SOURCES:
http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2011/07/06/iceland-volcano-to-erupt-again-experts-say/
 
 

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