Thingvellir – Exposing The World

Iceland: Þingvellir

Standing Between Two Continents

Pronounced “Think-vet-leer”: Iceland is one of the only places where the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, the boundary between the North American tectonic plate and the Eurasian plate (right and left in this view respectively) is exposed above: sea level. Magma from the Earth’s mantle is relentlessly pushing upward between these plates, steadily pushing them apart at the rate of a hand’s width every four years.

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“Fields of the meeting place”

The translated name is a clue to its importance not just in geology, but in Icelandic culture. The Althingi, Iceland’s Parliament, first met here from the year 930. Though Parliament moved to Reykjavik in 1844, it has been meeting continuously for over a thousand years.

**The visitor center is designed to evoke the idea of a rift valley**

**Tortured lava surrounds the huge cracks in the earth that mark this most famous of tectonic boundaries.**

**Looking across Thingvallavatn, a large lake that has formed in the rift. At 84 square km, it’s the ;largest lake in Iceland.**

**The Almannagjá main rift. On the right, the North American plate; on the left, one side of a huge flake that connects to the Eurasian Plate.**

**Parallel to the main rift, flooded subsidiary cracks like Sifra are a popular but hazardous challenge for divers.**

**Though the Parliament has long since moved away, Thinggvellir stilll hosts the national reception center, where important guests stay**

**Marks on the side of this church indicate a distance of 20 ‘ells’, one ell being the length of an outstretched arm. This unit was ideal for measuring fabric.**

**Thinggvellir stilll hosts the national reception center, where important guests stay**

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