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An earthquake fault is responsible for the geothermal heat of Hveragerði. This is how they bake bread in the Geothermal Park:

The same fault is under the Service Center of Hveragerði, where the exhibition of Magic Magma is found:

The most powerful hot spring in the world is found in a peaceful area of Borgarfjörður.

The explanation? Underneath the Reykjanes Ridge foundations are still found!

The Mid-Atlantic Ridge sways rather regularly throughout the N-Atlantic sea bottom. The two large convection rolls which must be found at each side of it, can not make jumps or sway irregularly, becuse it is composed of flowing mantle. It must therefore be shaped according to the Earth’s radius and in coherence with the rotation of the Earth.

The crossing between mantle division line of the large cells and the Mid-Atlantic Ridge is found at 32°N, which is where the mantle rolls division line is exactly oriented NS.

The magma flow therefore tends to find its way west of the central line in southern latitudes, but east of it north of 32°N. Then it follows the middle line closely along the Reykjanes Ridge, following the next upwelling line east of the main line.

Again, at equator, the two lines merge into one.

The map shows it all 🙂 The volcanic sites in Iceland are arranged in a systematic way. First, the Reykjanes Ridge is found along a calculated line extending through the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, with a starting point at equator exactly 30° awy from the coast of S-America on one side and 30° from the coast of Africa on the other side. Then the grid shows how the tectonic plates meet in Iceland. One aspect is the NS-axis from Öræfajökull to Öxarfjörður. Then the Tjörnes Zone in the North shows very clearly the function of the polygon system over Iceland.

It can not be more clearly manifested. Explaining in this way the geology of Iceland makes it easier for comprehend the volcanism, geothermal activity and the geological history of Iceland. With the mechanism in mind, and when everything can be calculated mathematically, it becomes easier to trace changes back in time.

Downwelling means a tendency to converge, and upwelling means divergence. The small scale convection rolls intervene with the main trend following the large convection cells of lower mantle. That main line lies through the middle of the country from SW to NE. The two southern volcanic zones, called WVZ and EVZ, are found within the same settings, namely with upwelling to the west and downwelling at the eastern side. The reason is conflict between the tectonic drift to the NW and the opposite trend resulting from the upwelling and downwelling lines.

The MIVZ in central Iceland actually also has this setup, but to the NE and SW. The shift of tightness of the polygons at 65°N results in almost continuous volcanic areas from Snæfellsjökull to Snæfell. Then there is the NS-axis from Öræfajökull to Axarfjörður, besides the less known NS axis from Eyjafjallajökull through Hekla to Drangey.