As different parts of Iceland resemble each others, and there is a reason to trace similar origin of them, could we then compare the parts geologically?
The Icelandic geological triplets of West Fjords Peninsula, North Coast and East Fjords
This can easily be done, even trying to find new things in one area by referring to what has been found in the other two areas.
Caution: Seeing this, people tend to overreact, trying to point something out which is not relevant. But this is science, with preconditions, calculations and results – and simplifications as well.
Down below, The NW Peninsula of Iceland (Vestfjarðakjálkinn) has been superimposed on a map of the Eastern Fjords. The coastlines are almost identical and also the inland features. Can this be explained? If originally built up in a parallel way, the shape can become more and less identical. The two coastlines are surprisingly similar. Similarities can be examined in a scientific way, calculating the probability that they will occur.
The strandir region overlapping the Eastern Fjords area of Iceland
To realize better what has happened, let us look at the two areas separately:
East Fjords areaThe West Fjords rotated 48°
The overlapping is as perfect as possible, compared to having been subject to different circumstances for millions of years. No one would think of comparing these coastlines, unless first tracing the lines of tectonic drift. We can simply ‘play back’ the whole process according to GPS measurements of tectonic drift by tracing the vectors:
The East Fjords rotate, due to different velocity vectors for northern and southern parts. The Strandir region and East Fjords region are originated under similar conditions.
In addition, the Eyjafjörður and Tröllaskagi area can be compared with the West Fjord Peninsula, as by rotating Ísafjörður 24°.
The consistency is not only found to be intriguing becuse it ‘fits’ well, but because the rotation is half of that between the Strandir region and the East Fjord area. It is interesting to see how the Hornstrandir version of the peninsula east of Eyjafjörður has been removed by the Húsavík Fault System. It can also be seen that Arnarfjörður is narrower than Skagafjörður. It can be explained by the fact that for about a million years Skagafjörður was a volcanic zone taking part in the tectonic drift. Arnarfjörður is 6 km wide, compared with 16 km of Skagafjörður, which means that the widening of Skagafjörður during that period of time was close to 1 cm each year.
Comparison between these areas with basic explanations:
Adding the West Fjord Peninsula almost disappears into the North of Iceland, and the Tröllaskagi Peninsula has a very similar system of valleys as the Peninsula. Every detail and every piece of geological knowledge does add to the understanding of these geologically related areas.
The three West Fjord Peninsulas
This seems amazing, but how is all this duplicated? As usually it has to be traced with a lot of work. Look for instance at Lagarfljót, and how it resembles Ísafjörður and Eyjafjörður! Crazy!
Looking at the foundations of Iceland at 64°N shows how the geology along the latitude is divided into distinct ‘chapters’.
Iceland with tectonic plate down to 120 km, then layers of convection rolls as they are organized along 64°N. The thickness within the intersection zone of individual layers is also shown.
The convection roll shown farthest to the left is at the main division line over the large convection cells of lower mantle. It is marked with bold black line over the country from SW to NE. With 3D models like this one it becomes possible to understand the pattern of convection rolls under the tectonic plates all over the world.
Of course, this can still not be understood by looking at this model. The picture is published here just to show that the model has been derived, and everyone interested in the subject can learn about it. This has hitherto been a huge gap in the knowledge spectrum of geoscience.
Under the Atlantic, a pair of convection currents has moved the continents to the East and West. The details of that pair of currents have been analyzed here, but for public introduction, first a simplified section along equator is presented:
The mantle convection currents under the Atlantic Ocean (not to scale)
The seafloor has some 3D effect, just to remind us that when we draw sections of geological features, it is to help us understanding the whole picture.
As pointed out on the drawing, upwelling takes place in the middle. Also, the distance between the continents at equator is exactly 60°, and a convection cell section spans exactly 30° from east to west.
Around the 64.75°N parallel the polygons are suspiciously marked by volcanic zones. It becomes quite appearent when colouring them red.
The central division line (wide black line) of lower mantle large convection rolls thereby has three polygons at each side most affected by the flow of magma to the east and west from that line at the depth of 410 km and thereunder.