Gull atop sea stack
Stack and coastline with the louring grey skies so common in Iceland
Iceland is geologically very young, mostly having emerged from the sea some 17 million years ago. The chief constituent now visible is black volcanic lava that is seen everywhere in the country. This material weathers fast and leads to strange architectural features with the coastline offering many examples of these edifices. The following page shows some of the stacks particularly found along the Snæfellsnes peninsular in the West. These afford perfect nesting places for sea birds who can find firm nooks and supports on which to build. The constant spray in the air renders many images sadly less than sharp.
Like a row of broken teeth the jagged formations are white from gulls
A stack attended by many emerging shoals, warning of more submerged
The soft volcanic lava weathers fast; aided here by the force of the waves
The ragged cliff edge, ideal for gulls
Stacks weather into strange shapes
The sea seethes at the base of the stacks
Low stacks like these...
...are common all along...
...this part of the coastline
A stack with its surface covered by gulls
More angular rocks
An artificial extension to a stack provides shelter for local fishing boats
Humans find homes even in such harsh environments
Mosses are the first colonists in Iceland, laying their soft carpet on the sharp lava
Here the lava can be seen to have cooled into columnar formations
Two black-backed gulls and a young gull surveying their kingdom
Arches such as these provide perfect nest sites
A diver swims into view through another arch
Arches, stacks and low cloud - summer in Iceland
A sea arch in the form of a Hobbit doorway
Trailers...
The next page has
more strange rock formations - the karst landscapes of Cao Bằng in northern Vietnam.
The next page
in the Mosaic Section is entitled:
'The Light Gets In'.
Or go to the contents of the Mosaic Section.
The last page was on the Látrabjarg Cliffs in Iceland 
A page on a rocky place in Southern Scotland
To another volcanic landscape - Mount Teide in Tenerife
