iceland facts and pix!

hello all!

i just got back from a week trip in iceland with my family. we rented an RV camper and travelled from campsite to campsite around the east portion of iceland. we witnessed so many cool feats of nature, and some of the most breathtaking sights i've seen in my life! i'll share some pix below, and some facts about each if you care to read. i took all of these with my beloved 1998 fujifilm finepix.

these are basalt columns! they form when lava cools and then contracts, which creates geometrical, vertical cracks. lava cools from the outside in, and the flow/cooling speed of the lava determines the size of the columns.

the bridge i am standing on in this picture spans two tectonic plates: the north american and eurasian plate! each year, tectonic plates move anywhere from 1 to 2.5 centimeters per year, and these two plates are currently moving apart. 

the north american plate is on the right, and the eurasian plate is on the left!

this is a fumarole! or, a geothermal vent that occurs on the earth's surface! these are formed when magma under the earth's crust heat groundwater, which is turned into steam that rises through cracks in the ground. they get really hot! internal temperatures can reach anywhere from 100 to 1000 degrees C!

this is a puffin!! this guy was floating in a bay with his buddies and diving underneath to try and grab fish. puffins burrow into the sides of mountains because they are not very good flyers. they glide down to the ocean to get food, and bring it back to their nests. puffins also mate for life! during springtime and summer, puffins live at their burrows, mating and nesting. the rest of the year, they go out to sea to hunt. 

not much is known about puffins because of their elusive behavior. scientists don't even know their average lifespan!

also, puffins mate for life and always return to their same partner at springtime.

i think this is enough for one blog, but let me know if you want more! we also explored several glaciers; maybe i could talk about that in another post!

oner ^^