Flatadyngja

eldgos, winter, iceland, island, trekking, flatadyngja, shield, volcano, tuya, herdubreid, herdubreidartögl
Flatadyngja crater seen from the southslope of Kollóttdayngja. The Flatadyngja lava flowed through the gap between Herðubreið (left) and Herðubreiðartögl (right) towards the Jökulsá á Fjöllum.

 

"Flatadyngja is a very low shield volcano at the SE foot of Kollóttadyngja and 8 km west of the summit of Herðubreið, which forms only a slight bulge in the contour lines of the 1 : 100.000 map, with a maximum altitude of 750 m. It was for the first time recognized as a small shield volcano by Spethmann (1914, p. 372). The lavas of this depressed lava cone flowed northeast and eastward around Herðubreið. The eastern flows passed through the gateway between Herðubreið and Herðubreiðartögl, and then spread fan-like to the Jökulsá á Fjöllum and Eyvindarkofi, forming a rough apalhraun with patches of windblown sands in the depressions.

[...]

The crater on top has a N-S diameter of 625 m and shows nested sinks, partly with inward tilted lava blocks and wide fissures and craterpits along the margins. In the centre of the sink are some smaller craterpits and a miniature cone of ejectamenta.

[...]

This shield volcano is definitely younger than Kollóttadyngja, but older than the outflows from the fissure of Dyngjufjölltindar*."

- R.W. van Bemmelen and M.G. Rutten: Tablemountains of Northern Iceland, Utrecht 1955 -

 

*) Dyngjufjölltindar = Dyngjufjallaháls

 

eldgos, winter, iceland, island, trekking, flatadyngja, shield, volcano, tuya, herdubreid, herdubreidartögl
Flatadyngja crater during winter. Herðubreið and the Herðubreiðartögl in the background.

Picture of the Month

Heilagsdalur, Herdubreid
Herðubreið from a beautiful flower meadow in Heilagsdalur