The Mid-Atlantic ridge comes ashore on the Reykjanes peninsula. The peninsula, with its diversity of volcanic and geothermal activity, is a Geopark and is the only place in the world where the Mid-Atlantic Ridge is visible above sea level.

The word geo is linked to the goddess Gaia, who was the personification of Earth in ancient Greek mythology. She was one of the primordial deities, the great mother of all, mother earth.

The Park

Reykjanes Geopark lies on major plate boundaries along the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, part of the 65,000km mid-ocean ridge that encircles the earth like a seam of a baseball. Although 90% of this mountain range lies deep below the surface of the ocean, it rises above sea-level right here on the Reykjanes Peninsula, making this one of the only places on earth where it is visible. It is home to many important geological formations, some of which are utterly unique, including numerous types of volcanoes in at least four separate volcanic zones, with hundreds of open fissures and faults.

Read the landscape

The Reykjanes Peninsula is a continuation of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, which rises from the sea at the very tip of the peninsula and diagonally crosses Iceland from the south-west to the north-east. You can read the area’s geological history several hundred thousand years back in time, although most of the strata are less than 100–200 thousand years old. The last series of eruptions on the Reykjanes Peninsula began around AD 1000 and ended 250 years later.

The landscape that makes up the peninsula is characterised by tuff mountains and hyaloclastite ridges that formed in subglacial eruptions, as well as several series of craters and other large shield volcanoes from more recent times. In many places, there are lava stacks that formed in fissure eruptions, when large volumes of lava flowed from craters in the faults. Eruptions in Reykjanes are rarely accompanied by ash except where the volcanic fissures opened underwater or in the sea.

Frequent rumbles of Earth

Earthquakes are frequent due to the spreading of the plates and occur most commonly as earthquake swarms that can last for several years. Although most of these are minor, every so often they can be felt across the entire peninsula.

Reykjanes Unesco Global Geopark is the second geopark in Iceland and the 66th member accepted into the European Geoparks Network in September 2015.

Reykjanes Geopark has listed 55 sites as Geosites. Those sites have a significant role in the Geopark and are connected to the story of the Mid Atlantic ridge and the affects of the tectonic plates.

Surtsey, a volcanic island approximately 32 km from the south coast of Iceland. Surtsey is on the World Heritage list. Surtsey is a new island formed by volcanic eruptions that took place from 1963 to 1967.

It is all the more outstanding for having been protected since its birth, providing the world with a pristine natural laboratory. Free from human interference, Surtsey has been producing unique long-term information on the colonisation process of new land by plant and animal life.

Since they began studying the island in 1964, scientists have observed the arrival of seeds carried by ocean currents, the appearance of moulds, bacteria and fungi, followed in 1965 by the first vascular plant, of which there were 10 species by the end of the first decade. By 2004, they numbered 60 together with 75 bryophytes, 71 lichens and 24 fungi. Eighty-nine species of birds have been recorded on Surtsey, 57 of which breed elsewhere in Iceland. The 141 ha island is also home to 335 species of invertebrates.

The property includes the whole island and an adequate surrounding marine area, and thus all the areas that are essential for the long term conservation of the ecological processes on Surtsey. There is also a relatively small but functional marine buffer zone that is not part of the inscribed property. It is noted that part of the evolution of Surtsey is the process of coastal erosion which has already halved the area of the island and over time is predicted to remove another two thirds leaving only the most resistant core.

Forbidden world

Surtsey is a highly controlled, isolated environment and so threats are very limited. The purpose of strictly prohibiting visits to Surtsey is to ensure that colonisation by plants and animals, biotic succession and the shaping of geological formations will be as natural as possible and that human disruption will be minimised. It is prohibited to go ashore or dive by the island, to disturb the natural features, introduce organisms, minerals and soils or leave waste on the island. Nearby construction is also strictly controlled. The most significant management issue will be to retain the level of control and protection from human influence that has characterised the protective history of Surtsey. It is noted that, as an island ecosystem, there is the potential for human disturbance and pollution from a very wide area. Contingency planning, for example for oil spills, is required for the property and its wider surroundings. Given the lack of access a creative and positive approach to presenting the property will be required to ensure that visitors are able to appreciate, but not disturb, its values.