Iceland

Abstract

Iceland, with an area of 103 000 km², has one of the highest concentrations of interesting and unusual geomorphological features in all Europe, probably also in the whole world. It is a land with high rates of geomorphological activity and dramatic changes within the memory of man. This concerns volcanic activity as well as erosion, including glacial, fluvial, aeolian and marine processes. Quantitative documentation of the changes within the last 1000 years is better than in any other country, because of late colonization by man (after 872). Details of such changes are well known because of excellent historical records and also because of the elegant tephra chronology developed early in Iceland [Thorarinsson (1944)]. In spite of advanced research work of national and international origin, large areas in the unpopulated interior are not known in any detail. This poses a problem for the construction of the International Geomorphological Map of Europe, although one that is somewhat mitigated by the small scale which the Map uses.