page_title: Skaftafell
section_title: Landscape and geology
hierarchical_section_title: Skaftafell / Landscape and geology
caption_attribution_description: English: View from Kristínartindar mountain peaks towards Morsárjökull glacier.
context_page_description: Skaftafell is a preservation area in Öræfi, southeast Iceland. It was once a major farm, later being named a national park. Originally known as Skaftafell National Park, it was subsequently joined together with other nearby regions to form the larger Vatnajökull National Park.
context_section_description: The scenery around Skaftafell is full of stark contrasts. The various glacial tongues are flanked by jagged mountains, with the glacier-topped peak of Hvannadalshnjúkur rising highest. Evidence abounds of the erosive forces exerted by glacial ice and rivers. From the time of the first sagas, this ice has variously advanced or retreated, reaching farthest around 1890, since when it has retreated.
  The rivers running from it have flowed back and forth over the lowlands, depositing the material that forms the wide sands of Skeiðarársandur. Road No. 1 did not become a complete circle around the country until 1974, when the last of the rivers barring transportation, the Skeiðará, was finally bridged. Even so, in 2009 Skeiðará stopped flowing where it had been bridged, running instead westwards directly in front of the glacier to the river Gígjukvísl, so that the river under the long Skeiðará bridge to the east carries very little water compared to before.
  The bedrock geology of Skaftafell has been mapped in detail and a bedrock map of the area was published in 2007. It is available at the Skaftafell national park visitor center as well as in book stores in Reykjavik. A web site on the geology of Skaftafell (skaftafell.org) describes the varied rock types of the area. The oldest rocks in Skaftafell are about 5 million years old. Skaftafell strata display well the frequent shifts between glacial and inter-glacial conditions. Tho oldest tillite in the area is about 4 million years old.
  The Skaftafell vicinity has experienced considerable volcanic activity, with the 1362 Öræfajökull eruption producing the most ash of any Icelandic volcano since the settlement and another, smaller Öræfajökull eruption occurring in 1727. As shown once again in 2011, the subglacial volcano Grímsvötn is the country's most active volcano, and is also famous for the huge jökulhlaups or glacial floods that originate from it.
caption: View from Kristínartindar mountain peaks towards Morsárjökull glacier.
exif: {"Image Make": "Panasonic", "Image Model": "DMC-TZ7", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "72", "Image YResolution": "72", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "GIMP 2.6.11", "Image DateTime": "2011:11:05 10:18:47", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Co-sited", "Image ExifOffset": "420", "Image PrintIM": "[80, 114, 105, 110, 116, 73, 77, 0, 48, 50, 53, 48, 0, 0, 14, 0, 1, 0, 22, 0, ... ]", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "180", "Thumbnail YResolution": "180", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "10274", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "5604", "Thumbnail YCbCrPositioning": "Co-sited", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/500", "EXIF FNumber": "5", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Landscape Mode", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "125", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0221", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2010:06:17 09:06:18", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2010:06:17 09:06:18", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF CompressedBitsPerPixel": "4", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "86/25", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Pattern", "EXIF LightSource": "Unknown", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire, auto mode", "EXIF FocalLength": "41/10", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "1600", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "1068", "Interoperability InteroperabilityIndex": "R98", "Interoperability InteroperabilityVersion": "[48, 49, 48, 48]", "EXIF InteroperabilityOffset": "10126", "EXIF SensingMethod": "One-chip color area", "EXIF FileSource": "Digital Camera", "EXIF SceneType": "Directly Photographed", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Normal", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF DigitalZoomRatio": "0", "EXIF FocalLengthIn35mmFilm": "25", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard", "EXIF GainControl": "Low gain up", "EXIF Contrast": "Normal", "EXIF Saturation": "Normal", "EXIF Sharpness": "Normal"}