Pillows, Trolls, and Dried Fish

Hafnafjörður, Iceland – Cara Lembo (Amherst), official Keck Iceland 2016 Guest Blogger.

Greetings from rainy Iceland! After spending 4 full days in the field we are spending a rainy day inside discussing projects and compiling our data.

Inside the Lava Hostel on a rainy Sunday morning.

We spent our first day and a half in Iceland inside the Undirhlíðar quarry – an ideal place to observe cross sections of pillow lavas and other volcanic deposits.

Michelle Orden (Dickinson) and Anna Thompson (Carleton) with a shelved lava tube in the Undirhlíðar quarry. The tube was likely refilled with the darker lava.

A pillow in the Undirhlíðar quarry.

After getting a feel for many different types volcanic deposits in the quarry, we headed out to survey the ridge South of the quarry and observe these deposits “in the wild.”

Keck students hiking across the ridge.

We surveyed the ridge for the next day and a half. Highlights include discovering an unexpected tephra cone and learning how to tell the difference between goats and sheep. According to Ben you say, “Goaty, Goaty raise your tail!”

Students and Ben observing a diamict deposit on the ridge.

Once we surveyed the whole ridge, we started our mapping project with a gully on the southwest side of the ridge.

The gully we mapped. We discovered lots of fractured pillow lavas and dikes.

Michelle looking for trolls in the lava field below the gully (the trolls we are looking for).

We’ve also sampled some local Icelandic cuisine such as Skyr, chocolate covered licorice and, to Dr. Pollock’s dismay, Harðfiskur (dried fish).

Ben with Harðfiskur. The dried fish has an incredibly potent smell that we cannot get out of the van.

Overall it has been an exciting first week in the field. More to come as we continue working in the field and trying to adjust to the never-ending daylight.