Iceland's devastating beauty: An ever-changing landscape

In 100 years Iceland will certainly be a very different landscape, say experts.

The country lies right on the Mid-Atlantic ridge, and, around 56 million years ago, this began to split apart. So the land is quite literally slowly being ripped at the seams.That's why there are volcanoes there.

See also: This video of Iceland will make you want to go there right now

See also: How to drive in Iceland

In fact, the whole of Iceland is made from volcanoes. These lie under glaciers, and when volcanoes erupt under glaciers, they are more explosive.

The largest and most destructive event in the past 1,000 years occurred in 1783, when an eruption produced and ash cloud that blocked the sun, killing at least a quarter of the population of Iceland.

This ash cloud produced the 'year without summer' in Europe.

Climate change has had a very strong impact on Iceland: glaciers are retreating visibly every year. We don't know quite how long there is left but within the next 100 -200 years there will be no glaciers left in Iceland.

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