|
From Lonely Planet..."The jumbled 'black castles' or Dimmuborgir are good for hours of imagination-invoking exploration. It's believed that the oddly shaped pillars and crags were created 2000 years ago by lava from Prengslaborgir and Lúdentarborgir crater rows (which originally erupted 9000years ago). The lava flowed across older Hverfell lava fields & was dammed into a fiery lake in the Dimmuborgir basion. When the surface of this lake cooled, a domed roof formed over the still-molten material below. It was supported by pillars of older igneous material welded by the heat of the lava lake. When the dam finally broke, the molten lava drained in stages and the odd pillars of Dimmuborgir remained, marked with terraces at various surface levels.
|
Western Europe
view full-size
image -- 2441 x 1654)