How Iceland Was Formed Essay

Iceland, situated on top of a hotspot experiences severe volcanic activity one of the most well known eruptions was in 2010 when Eyjafjallajokull erupted seriously disrupting European air traffic. Iceland is situated is situated in the mid Atlantic ridge a seam in the Earth’s surface under the North Atlantic Ocean where the Eurasian and North American plates slide apart. This island has more than 200 volcanoes which is thought to be what created this island. This picture shows that Iceland sits on a constructive plate boundary as the newest parts of the island are right in the middle of the island, in fact, the new parts are in such a way that you could probably make out whereabouts the boundary is in relation to island. This theory is also confirmed by the way that the oldest parts of the island are right on the outside of Iceland. This picture shows where island is in relation to the mid Atlantic ridge and as you can see it is almost right in the middle of it. This picture also shows that the plates are moving away from each other, suggesting that the mid ocean ridge is going to get bigger as time goes on. Which means Iceland could expand a bit as well. This picture shows an aerial picture of a fissure zone in Thingvellir, Iceland, that is a land exposure in the mid Atlantic ridge. To the right of the fissure is the North American plate pulling west away from the Eurasian plate which is to the left of the fissure.