The trip from Keflavík (Keflavik) airport to Reykjavík (Reykjavik) takes you along the edge of the North American plate where it meets the Eurasian plate. Some of the most active areas of new crust formation are in the south-western parts of Iceland, accessible to tourists. The hotspot causes eruptions within the southern volcanic zone including volcanic systems such as Mt Hekla, Vestmannaeyjar (the Westman Islands), Katla caldera, Eyjafjallajökull (Eyjafjallajokull), the Laki area and the western subglacial part of the Vatnajökull (Vatnajokull) area where Grímsvötn (Grimsvotn) volcano is the most active. A few long-lived centres, such as the volcano Hekla, erupt more silicic magmas. Eruptions occur about every 5-10 years and primarily consist of basaltic lava and tephra. The volcanism on Iceland is attributed to the combination of Mid-Atlantic Ridge activity and hotspot activity. Iceland is home to more than 100 volcanoes, around 35 of which have erupted in recent history. On top of hotspots there is generally a 20-100% molten layer at the depth of 5-20 km, which supplies sufficient material for eruptions. The plates are moving apart, one to the east, the other to the west, and both the North American and the Eurasian systems are moving to the northwest across the hotspot. Volcanism in Icelandīecause Iceland lies on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, it is being split by the movements of the shifting tectonic plates. Other islands of the Atlantic Ocean created by the volcanism of the Mid Atlantic Ridge are The Azores, Bermuda, Madeira, The Canary Islands, Ascension, St Helena and Tristan da Cunha. Iceland is the largest island on the ridge because of the additional volcanism caused by the hotspot under the country, the Iceland plume, which is moving slowly across towards the northwest. These movements continue today, accompanied by earthquakes, reactivation of old volcanoes, and creation of new ones. The divergence of the ridge started in the north about 150 million years ago and 90 million years ago in the south. Subsequent movement rifted these later lava fields, causing long, linear valleys bounded by parallel faults. As the plates moved apart, excessive eruptions of lava constructed volcanoes and filled rift valleys. Iceland formed by the coincidence of the spreading boundary of the North American and Eurasian plates and a hotspot or mantle plume – an upsurge of abnormally hot rock in the Earth´s mantle.

Molten lava from beneath the Earth´s crust constantly wells up, cools, and is pushed away from the ridge´s flanks, widening the gap between the continents in the process.

A rift valley running along its spine is formed by plate tectonics and it’s the locus of new crust formation. The ridge, an underwater mountain chain, extends about 16,000 km along the north-south axis of the Atlantic Ocean. Iceland sits spanning the Mid-Atlantic Ridge tectonic plate boundary which separates the Eurasian and the North American plates. The Iceland hotspot and mighty geological phenomena

Mid atlantic ridge plate boundary