water in Iceland

Getting a postcard - and stamps - from Iceland is always exciting. I'm not sure where this fascination comes since I've always had the impression if it being a lonely country. It has an alien wilderness about it, 

a little like Mars (but with water), which also fascinates me.

This first stamp is of the Hnausapollur (aka Bláhylur) Lake in the Central Highlands. An ancient name - Litlavíti - means small-hell.  It's a 30 hectar lake in a crater, formed in an explosive eruption 1,130 years ago. This 2012 stamp is actually a part of the Iceland tourism series, which may explain the helpful co-ordinates that are included.

Compare to this 1938(?) stamp of the great Geysir in Haukadalur in southwestern Iceland. The photography was by Ólafur Magnússon. For a sparsely inhabited land, there were quite a few onlookers for this eruption.

 The English word geyser (a spouting hot spring) derives from Geysir. The name Geysir itself is derived from the Icelandic verb geysa, "to gush", the verb from Old Norse.

Although it had been active for around 10,000 years, it now erupts infrequently. Though, when it does decide to spew, the boiling water can reach heights of 70 metres. The oldest accounts date back to 1294, making this possibly the first known geysir to modern Europeans. The area was owned by a local farmer until the late 1800s when it was sold to a whisky distiller (and future Prime Minister of Ireland) who fenced it off and charged an entrance fee. Not long afterwards it was sold and eventually donated to the people of Iceland in perpetuity.

Its co-ordinates are 64° 18′ 39.11″ N, 20° 18′ 13.79″ W

See more geology and landscapes on stamps here