Year 9 Geography Trip to Iceland
Robert May’s students go to Iceland!
Between Wednesday 28 May – Saturday 31 May, 40 Year 9 students, accompanied by Dr Hartley, Ms Garneau, Miss Bennett and Mr Eason went to Iceland. It was an action packed few days!
Having arrived in at Keflavik International Airport, we drove to the Bridge Between the Continents, where we saw the Eurasian and North American plates and walked between them. This is part of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. We continued to the Gunnuhver Hot Springs which is a highly active geothermal area on the southwest part of the Reykjanes Peninsula. It includes Iceland’s largest mud pool at 20 metres across. It has boiling surface water and was degassing. After that, we went to Hotel Cabin in Reykjavik.
On Thursday 29 May, we drove through Selfoss (where Bobby Fischer is buried), to Skógafoss Waterfall. This was created by isostatic rebound (the land rising up after the melting of the ice from the last ice age). It is 62 metres high and 15 metres wide. We continued to just west of Vik – the southerly most settlement in Iceland – to Reynisfjara Beach - the black sand beach - made up of basalt. It was strange to see a beach with cold, black sand… a little different to the beaches of the Mediterranean!
After this, we went to the Sólheimajökull Glacier for a glacier walk. For safety reasons we had crampons. The glacier has noticeably shrunk from last year as a result of global warming.
Friday 30 May saw us go to the Secret Lagoon. This is a lagoon heated naturally by heat from the earth. It was a warm dip! We saw Gullfoss Waterfall which was huge. It reminded me of Niagara Falls. It drops 32 metres, into a narrow canyon which is 70 metres deep and 2.5 km long. Very impressive. We also saw the Strokkur Geysir which erupted every 6-8 minutes. We drove to Thingvellir National Park, where we saw the rift between the Eurasian and North American plates and also the site of the open air assembly (in 930) which was the world’s first democratic parliament.
On our last day we went into central Reykjavik. It only has a population of about 139,000 (for comparison purposes, Basingstoke has 107,000). It is a pleasant place, with some quirky, independent shops. For example, there are no McDonald’s or Starbucks in the whole country.
A good time was had by all - even if it was sleep deprived! I am sure, I am speaking for all the teachers, it was a great experience and will give us additional material when teaching about earthquakes and volcanoes!
Mr Eason
