View allAll Photos Tagged fissure
Old crumbling wheelbarrow .I photographed this for Macro Monday 'Rust' but decided the orange colouring was more due to the paintwork than actual rust.
Shooting inside the cracks of the lava wall at the molten lava inside. This is why it is foolish to walk on the lava. It's hard to know how thick the crust is and where it could give way ... sort of like walking on ice, but with much dire consequences. Geldingadalir Volcano, Iceland, April 2021
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A fishing stage sits atop fissured rock in this quintissentially "Fogo Island" image. The shot was taken in Joe Batt's Arm on the first day of our stay on the island.
After a great day out in the Lakes I offered to show John Bleakley the fascinating karst landscape of Gait Barrow on the way back home.
It is so different to the Limestone landscape you see generally in Northern England. The limestone here is so impervious, so it features much less erosion and break up. It almost looks like a solid concrete floor, but for the odd fissure. Here is a shot showing a bit of the Barrow and how life still manages to exist on its broad expanse.
The Giant's Causeway is an area of about 40,000 interlocking basalt columns, the result of an ancient volcanic fissure eruption. It is located in County Antrim on the north coast of Northern Ireland, about three miles (4.8 km) northeast of the town of Bushmills.
Around 50 to 60 million years ago, during the Paleocene Epoch, Antrim was subject to intense volcanic activity, when highly fluid molten basalt intruded through chalk beds to form an extensive lava plateau. As the lava cooled, contraction occurred.
Horizontal contraction fractured in a similar way to drying mud, with the cracks propagating down as the mass cooled, leaving pillarlike structures, which are also fractured horizontally into "biscuits". In many cases the horizontal fracture has resulted in a bottom face that is convex while the upper face of the lower segment is concave, producing what are called "ball and socket" joints. The size of the columns is primarily determined by the speed at which lava from a volcanic eruption cools.
The extensive fracture network produced the distinctive columns seen today. The basalts were originally part of a great volcanic plateau called the Thulean Plateau which formed during the Paleocene.
According to legend, the columns are the remains of a causeway built by a giant. The story goes that the Irish giant Fionn mac Cumhaill (Finn MacCool), from the Fenian Cycle of Gaelic mythology, was challenged to a fight by the Scottish giant Benandonner. Fionn accepted the challenge and built the causeway across the North Channel so that the two giants could meet. In one version of the story, Fionn defeats Benandonner. In another, Fionn hides from Benandonner when he realises that his foe is much bigger than he is. Fionn's wife, Oonagh, disguises Fionn as a baby and tucks him in a cradle. When Benandonner sees the size of the 'baby', he reckons that its father, Fionn, must be a giant among giants. He flees back to Scotland in fright, destroying the causeway behind him so that Fionn would be unable to chase him down.
Across the sea, there are identical basalt columns (a part of the same ancient lava flow) at Fingal's Cave on the Scottish isle of Staffa, and it is possible that the story was influenced by this.
In overall Irish mythology, Fionn mac Cumhaill is not a giant but a hero with supernatural abilities, contrary to what this particular legend may suggest. In Fairy and Folk Tales of the Irish Peasantry (1888) it is noted that, over time, "the pagan gods of Ireland [...] grew smaller and smaller in the popular imagination, until they turned into the fairies; the pagan heroes grew bigger and bigger, until they turned into the giants". There are no surviving pre-Christian stories about the Giant's Causeway, but it may have originally been associated with the Fomorians (Fomhóraigh); the Irish name Clochán na bhFomhóraigh or Clochán na bhFomhórach means "stepping stones of the Fomhóraigh". The Fomhóraigh are a race of supernatural beings in Irish mythology who were sometimes described as giants and who may have originally been part of a pre-Christian pantheon
It’s been a while since my last upload, but I’ve been very busy in my job and my girlfriend and I were also busy planning something I’ve dreamed of a long time: a trip to Iceland! After so many years, I finally managed to visit and explore the land of fire and ice and even though we initially thought about spending three weeks there, our two weeks road trip was just epic and so overwhelmingly and otherworldly beautiful that I cannot even describe it.
And on top of all of it: Approximately a week before the start of our trip, the Fagradasfjall volcano on the Reykjanes peninsula became active and started spitting lava. For some reason, I have the feeling that this was no coincidence as this happened exactly at the birthday of my mom who sadly passed away six years ago one day after her birthday and which I know for sure would have loved to see me going there on a road trip adventure taking lots of beautiful images. So if this was really you mum, thank you so much for such a once-in-a-lifetime experience. We were even more lucky as in the first days, lava was only coming out of an elongated fissure which has then transformed into a small photogenic crater as we arrived.
But let’s start from to the beginning: We started our trip and thought that we should hike to the volcano as long as it is active and since it was very close to the airport, we drove there immediately after we picked up our camper van. When we arrived at the parking lot, we saw crowds of people and struggled to find a parking spot at the second parking lot they opened (they even closed the first one), but luckily we did find a spot, took a short break to rest and hiked up there in the afternoon. The first part of the trail was easy to hike although it was the steepest part leading up the hill for around one hour followed by a very, very rocky “path” on top of the mountain ridge which also took us around one hour before the trail goes down to the actual eruption site. All in all, it took us 2.5 to 3 hours to get there and after being stoked about seeing the old lava fields from last year’s eruption the volcano finally revealed itself in front of our eyes. We just stood there in awe, had goosebumps and I think we both didn’t realize what was in front of our eyes. I still don’t fully realize it today and cannot describe it in words, but seeing this and hearing the sounds of the volcano spitting molten rocks high up into the air was just phenomenal.
We then spent some time there and decided to leave as it got dark since we didn’t want to hike the very rocky part of the trail in full darkness (even though we had headlamps with us). Knowing that this will again be a 2+ hours hike also strengthened our decision to leave and on our way I looked back, saw that the smoke from the volcano which was coloured red from the glowing lava and thought that this would have also made for some very nice images. Anyhow, I did take a few images like this one which I really like and got amazingly lucky to be there just in time, especially since the volcano was declared inactive after one and a half weeks later. So I hope you like this attempt of capturing the Fagradasfjall and I hope that you will follow me and my girlfriend (www.flickr.com/photos/193130995@N02) on our road trip through the amazingly beautiful Iceland.
We never did the fissures, but at least we got a nice view of Mono Lake.
August 2017. Shot with a Fujifilm XPro2 and a 18-135mm f3.5-5.6 lens in Acros.
This is the view to the southwest from the overlook at Hakið in Þingvellir National Park in southwest Iceland. Þingvallavatn, the lake in the photo, is the largest natural lake in Iceland. The northern reaches of the lake lie within the National Park. Þingvellir, Iceland’s First National Park, stands out both for its natural beauty and its incredible role in the history of Iceland.
Its history dates from 930 AD when the ancient parliament of the Viking parliament was organized. Þingvellir translated literally means "Assembly Plains”. The Parliament, called The Alþing, met at Þingvellir from 1799 to 1844 even throughout the Icelandic Civil War in the 13th Century. In 1844 the Alþing stopped meeting due to Danish colonialism. The Alþing started meeting again sporadically in 1848 in Reykjavik. It was 1907 before the Alþing started meeting regularly also in Reykjavik. In 1928, just before the 1000 anniversary of the foundation of Alþingi in 1930, the parliament made Þingvellir a National Park. When Iceland declared it independence from Denmark in 1944, the ceremony was held Þingvellir.
While Þingvellir’s cultural and historical heritage draws many visitors, it’s geological history is also fascinating. The park sits on the Mid-Atlantic Rift with its west side on the North American tectonic plate, while east side lies on the Eurasian plate. In Iceland, the rift is above sea-level, and nowhere can you see the edges of both plates as clearly as in Þingvellir. The plates are bounded by a series of cliffs with a rift valley in between. This rift valley forms the main geologic feature in the park.
Þingvallavatn fills the lowest portion of the rift valley and fingers of water from the lake extend up into the faulted fissures on its north side (toward the photographer).The lake covers an area of 84 square kilometers (32 square miles), and reaches a depth of 114 metres (374 feet) at its deepest point. In the photo the Island visible is a cinder cone (volcano) called Sandey that rises above lake level.
One of the fissures can be seen in the foreground on the left side of the photo. These crack form along the bounding faults of the rift valley. About 2000 years ago, basaltic lava erupted from fissures and flowed into the valley. In the center of the photo ropy hardened lava can be seen near the fissure. Geologists call basaltic lava that exhibit a smooth, hummocky, or ropy surface pahoehoe. Volcanoes surround the Þingvellir area and some can be seen on the photo’s distance. The rift has a long eruptive history with the 2000 year old flows being the most recent. However, they may not be the last volcanic flows as the area is still rifting and more volcanic activity is possible. The valley floor is a linear block that has subsided as the valley walls were pulled apart by plate motions. The valley walls are moving apart at a rate of about 7 mm per year. Geologist estimate that during the past 9000 years the valley grew on the order of 70 m. Along with getting deeper, the valley is getting wider. The floor subsides at a rate of about 1 mm per year. Over the last 9,000 years the valley deepen due to subsidence by about 40 m. Rifting within the graben is episodical, with the last major earthquake activity occurring in 1789. During the 1789 earthquakes the graben floor subsided 1-2 m.
References:
icelandroadguide.com/items/hakid/
guidetoiceland.is/connect-with-locals/jorunnsg/ingvellir-...
notendur.hi.is/oi/geology_of_thingvellir.htm
www.thingvellir.is/en/history-nature/history/
icelandmag.is/article/9-essential-things-know-about-thing...
Fourth fissure opens in volcano outburst.
Fissures open one after another on a south west - north east line on the Reykjanes peninsula where movements of the tectonic plates cause the plates to drift apart.
Normally volcanic activities decrease and get gradually weaker after some time, but after more than three weeks of spitting lava, since March 19, the activities in the area get even more intense.
After around 50.000 earthquakes from very small up to 5,6 had been measured since February 24th, a volcanic eruption in the Geldingadal valley started in the late evening of march 19. The lava comes up from an exceptional depth of 15-20 kilometres. Earthquakes still continue but are rather small.
The last time an eruption took place in this area dates from the beginning of the thirteenth century and lasted for 30 years, with intervals, from 1210-1240.
Actually, volcanic activities occurred frequently in this area (Reykjanes peninsula) from appr. 300 years, from 950-1240.
The enormous heat of the lave distorts the outburst of lava somewhat on the shot. The hot lava keeps slowly crawling on....The smell on the spot reminded me of the smell of fireworks on New Year's Eve.
I was actually rather close to the lava tongue, undoubtedly too close because it is always possible that the lava stream can suddenly break out of a narrow position when the pressure gets too much.
Multicolored granite at the Rockport shore, split by innumerable fissures
Intentional failure to see the big picture
At least I think they're koa trees....
I took this photo last June (2018) on the flanks of Mauna Kea, looking toward the Kilauea eruption. Heavy fog and clouds had rolled into the valley below, but from where I was at the skies were almost perfectly clear. The small mound on the right side is the massive Mauna Loa, barely rising above the clouds.
Multiple times during these nights of shooting the glow from the Kilauea eruption I could see the light changing as the 200-foot-tall geyser of lava from Fissure 8 raised and lowered. The light coming off the eruption was really impressive and completely overpowered any light pollution from Hilo.
Just above the eruption's glow you can see the red planet Mars rising. Saturn can be seen closer to the galactic core, just to its left. And finally the bright planet Jupiter can be seen upper right. Aside from that, strong green airglow takes on a more yellow-orange tone as the light from the eruption bleeds into the sky. Wild stuff.
This is a 2-row panorama of 4 photos each, with the upper row being primarily for the sky and the lower row being primarily for the foreground.
Another one of the series took on the Ice Lagoon at Jökulsárlón in Iceland. This was taken at 05.15 in the morning in October 2014 when the Bárðarbunga Volcano erupted at Holuhraun fissure north of the main ice cap of the Vatnajokull, the glow is from 60 Miles away.