Guest Blogger: Becky Alcorn
Yesterday we spent the day in Undirhlithar mapping the quarry wall that will be the focus of my IS. We climbed the majority of the wall with the exception of a few unstable places and collected a hearty 25 samples (some from places that I’m still not quite sure how we managed to reach). We finished up in Undirhlithar today and traveled farther south to another quarry, Vatnskarth. Here we could see were the lava met the glacial deposit, which was awesome! We collected samples for Meagen and then came back home so I could get to the nitty gritty of labeling my pictures. I spent many hours today sorting through my pictures and labeling where I collected each sample, which is much more tedious and time consuming than it sounds. Tomorrow we’re heading east for two days to camp and see Eyjafjallajokull! We’ll be sure to post when we return, so if you don’t hear from us in a few days we were probably swallowed up by the volcano.
Bustin out the brunton
Collecting a sample from the top of the quarry. I didn't enjoy being up that high but it was worth it.
One of the many pictures I labeled today even though it was beautiful outside.
Jeez, I wish Iceland had been so sunny when I was there in late June! Don’t know if you’re planning to visit Landmannalaugar, but you should. That place could blow a geologist’s mind. There this huge plain up there that is covered by big, beautiful chunks of obsidian. Bowling ball-sized pieces are common – and they stretch for miles!
Just checked out that place mentioned by Wandering Justin: “Landmannalaugar isn’t so much a place. It’s more of a rip in the space-time continuum.” Hope you do get a chance to see such places! Looking forward to reading your thoughts about Eyjafjallajokull!
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