Ann & Katie's Voyages

Along the way to the boiling mud pits ofNamaskaro, we passed one of Iceland's other unique geological features. This is the only place where the European and North American plates rise above the sea floor. The picture above shows the North American plate on the left and the European on the right. Unlike other plate convergences where the plates are pushing against each other, here in Iceland the plates are actually moving apart so the country is growing. Geologists have evidently figured this out by dating rocks. The oldest have been found at the extreme east and west shores of the island. The land around the cleft and near the mudpits is some of the newest to be found.