Discovering Small Volcanic Crater - Iceland, Reykjanes
I hadn't really planned to go there and see this dormant volcano crater but I was driving and noticed it. I stopped and it looked like yep, it's walkable enough to get into the crater. Located on the Reykjanes peninsula in southwest Iceland, very close to the ocean. The crater's name is Stampar.
I was the only one there, not surprising. It's not exactly a tourist sight to see or where an average tourist goes or even knows about its existence. I didn't either until I was there. Since I'm extremely interested in geology and volcanoes I sure wanted to climb it.
It wasn't a hard climb by any means. About 30 to 40meters altitude gain and some rocky terrain.
This crater formed between 1210 - 1240 during the event called Reykjanes fires. Not very old, in geological terms. It is not the only crater in the area, there are several more that appeared during that time when the fissure opened. Most craters are low-lying splatter cones like this one.
Here is a photo taken on the crater's rim, you can see the crater itself.
The view from the top. Here you can see my rental car below, next to the road.
There is no trail that leads up to the crater, you kinda make your own way. You are allowed to hike randomly, however you need to preserve the rock formations and plants, look where you step. Iceland really respects its natural formations.
Here you can see another crater right opposite of me. And traces of liquid lava flow in front of me.
Here you can see a rock formation of dripping lava when the eruption ended and the rock solidified. Really cool to see those old events recorded into a rock like that. Colors indicate iron and sulfur deposits.
Yep, this place doesn't have this wow factor or epicness to leave you jaw-dropped but for a guy like me, I find areas like that really interesting to discover.
It looks like this crater in the next few years will be green again. I feel comfortable when I see your shot
Why green haha? Do you mean plants? There won't be any trees and stuff if you mean that. It needs deep soil but there mostly isn't one. Takes a very long time to generate some soil in the areas like this.
There is a wow factor to every pristine nature sceneries. Thinking about all the things that has happened here is interesting.
By wow effect I mean that most people just think of this as an empty rock desert. Thats what my mom said also lol.
I like your way of thinking, you saw the opportunity to explore and you went for it. I also like that you were respectful of nature trying to leave as little footprint as possible.
It's not every day we see this kind of thing, so it's great that you took advantage of it
I always try to explore as much as I can in nature. And yes without leaving a huge footprint.
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