Feature

摘要

The 'forgotten fjords' and 'deserted inlets' of NE-lceland, in the region between Borgarfjordur Eystri and Lodmundarfjdrdur, are not only prominent because of their pristine landscape, their alleged elfin settlements, and the puffins that breed in the harbour, but also for their magnificent geology. From a geological point of view, the area may hold Iceland's best kept geological secret. The greater Borgarfjordur Eystri area hosts mountain chains that consist of voluminous and colourful silicic rocks that are concentrated within a surprisingly small area (Fig. 1), and that represent the second-most voluminous occurrence of silicic rocks in the whole of Iceland. In particular, the presence of unusually large volumes of ignimbrite sheets documents extremely violent eruptions during the Neogene, which is atypical for this geotectonic setting. As a group of geoscientists from Uppsala University (Sweden) and the Nordic Volcanological Center (NordVulk, Iceland) we set out to explore this remote place, with the aim of collecting material that may allow us to unravel the petrogenesis of these large volumes of silicic rocks.