Story
The story of Dettifoss
Can you feel the power in the air? Dettifoss is said to be the second most powerful waterfall in Europe, after the Rhine Falls. That title comes from a simple sum: how much water flows, multiplied by how far it falls.
Here the river Jökulsá á Fjöllum, fed by the Vatnajökull glacier, pours over an edge 100 metres wide and drops 44 metres into the canyon of Jökulsárgljúfur, with an average flow of 193 cubic metres per second. In all of Iceland, only Urriðafoss carries more water. The river collects water from a large area of the northeast, and its sediment-rich runoff turns it greyish white.
The name is plain Icelandic: detta means 'to fall', and foss means 'waterfall'. Such force has inspired artists. The composer Jón Leifs wrote a piece called 'Dettifoss', and the waterfall appears in the opening scene of the 2012 science-fiction film Prometheus, standing in for a primordial Earth.
This story is compiled from Wikipedia and other open sources; dates and numbers are checked against the source. The text is shared under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence. Source ↗
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More highlights in Akureyri & Mývatn
- HverfjallHverfjall is a tephra cone or tuff ring volcano in northern Iceland, to the east of Mývatn. It erupted in 2500 BP in the southern part of the Krafla fissure swarm. The crater is approximately 1 km in diameter.
- ÁsbyrgiÁsbyrgi is a glacial canyon and forest in the north of Iceland, located approximately 38 kilometres (24 mi) east of Húsavík on the Diamond Circle road.
- Akureyri Botanical GardenThe Akureyri Botanical Garden is a unique and significant botanical garden located in the southern part of Akureyri, a city in Northern Iceland.
- NámafjallA 482-metre ridge in the Mývatn area; an active volcano belonging to the Krafla system, surrounded by a high-temperature geothermal field.
- GrjótagjáGrjótagjá is a small lava cave near lake Mývatn in Iceland. It has a thermal spring inside. In early 18th century the outlaw Jón Markússon lived there and used the cave for bathing.
- GoðafossGoðafoss is a waterfall in northern Iceland. It is located along the country's main ring road at the junction with the Sprengisandur highland road, about 45 minutes from Akureyri.