Page 39 - Scientech 2014-15
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INSIDE THE VOLCANO
boundary. At over 6200 miles long the Mid- The volcano’s name, mostly
Atlantic Ridge it is officially the longest mountain unpronounceable for anyone other than
range in the world. The ridge separates the locals, would be directly translated as
Eurasian Plate and North American Plate in ‘Three Peaks Crater’. The name comes
the North Atlantic and the African Plate from from Árni B. Stefánsson, a doctor in
the South American Plate in the South Atlantic. Reykjavik and a lifelong cave enthusiast
Millions of years of eruptions have piled lawa and a veteran cave expeditioner who was
flow upon lawa flow to create an entire country. closely associated with this volcano. He
was the first to explore the vault and has
The island has 30 active volcanic systems, of pleaded the case for making it accessible
which 13 have erupted since the settlement for years. The three craters are prominent
of Iceland in AD 874. Being one of the most landmarks, standing against the sky on
active volcanic regions in the world it has the highland edge (10). Thrihnukagigur
eruptions occurring every 3–4 years on volcano is dormant – it last erupted over
average! 4,000 years ago. There are no indications
of it erupting again in the near future -
THRIHNUKAGIGUR VOLCANO (though some experts say it could come
This is the only place on the planet wherein back again).
humans can descend into a volcano and
enter a magma chamber. Standing against For us going inside was a tour to another world.
the sky on the highland edge, it is located
about 20 km (13 miles) southeast of the
capital area Reykjavik.
www.sifbahrain.com Scientech 2014-15 37
