Hverfjall Crater

Hverfjall is yet another Natural Wonder of the earth situated in Iceland towards the northern end of the Island’s fourth largest lake called the Myvatn. This lake is a real oasis in this lava desert. Hverfjall is a roundish crater of about 1,300 m diameter and 140 m deep. It is considered as one of the biggest craters of the world and the height of cinder cone being 200 meters.

Hverfjall Crater was formed from a very short yet powerful eruption about 2,800 years ago. The area was in the south of an eruptive fissure. When the molten magma came out from these fissures, they melted the lake which resulted in phreatomagnetic explosion. The consequent blast formed a wide crater consisting of ash with pumice. Today, the Hverfjall’s cinder cone of 200 m show substantiation of the mayhem blistering underneath the plane the eruptions that occurred during 1970 and those of historic past that littered the landscape with bubbling mud pools as well as fumaroles.

The tephra cone of the Hverfjall Crater is tuff ring volcano, south of the Krafla fissure swarm in northern Iceland. You will even find this tephra near the Lake Myvatn area has that were carried from Hverfjall. The round shape of this volcanic mountain is probably caused by the landslide that took place in the southern side of the crater when eruption occurred.

If you want to rich to the rim of the crater, you can go via two paths, one from the northwestern side while the other is from the southern end. Visitors are strictly prohibited to use any other routes for trekking through these hills.