These are three photographs that make up a landscape looking NE to SW on the Reykjanes Peninsula, the series of ridges are all made of pillows, elongated because they were erupted through fissures. The central valley is infilled with part a’a, part pahoehoe post-glacial lava. The green area surrounds a stream coming from close to the lake in the last image, this stream is warm enough to comfortably wash your dishes in: the outflow from an active hydrothermal system. The pale colour of the lava flow in the valley is due to the growth of moss which is usually bright green, this pale colour is only seen after 2 or 3 days without rain. The lake is in a crater probably caused by a hydrothermal blow-out. This range of hills marks the centre of the mid-ocean ridge on the Reykjanes Peninsula. Iceland is the only place on the planet where we can see an active mid-ocean ridge above water. The valley in these photos effectively marks the boundary between the European Plate (across the valley) and the North American Plate (where I’m standing). These two plates are moving apart at just under 2cm a year throughout the mid-ocean ridge system which crosses Iceland from south to north: Iceland is a growing island!

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