The Ölfusá () is a
river
A river is a natural stream of fresh water that flows on land or inside Subterranean river, caves towards another body of water at a lower elevation, such as an ocean, lake, or another river. A river may run dry before reaching the end of ...
in
Iceland
Iceland is a Nordic countries, Nordic island country between the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic and Arctic Oceans, on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge between North America and Europe. It is culturally and politically linked with Europe and is the regi ...
. It begins at the junction between the
Hvítá and
Sog rivers, just north of the town of
Selfoss Selfoss may refer to:
*Selfoss (town), Iceland
*UMF Selfoss, a football club based in Selfoss
**Selfoss men's football
**Selfoss women's football
*Selfoss (waterfall), Iceland
*Selfoss Airport
Selfoss Airport is an airport serving Selfoss, a to ...
, and flows for 25 km into the
Atlantic Ocean
The Atlantic Ocean is the second largest of the world's five borders of the oceans, oceanic divisions, with an area of about . It covers approximately 17% of Earth#Surface, Earth's surface and about 24% of its water surface area. During the ...
. It is Iceland's largest river by volume with an average
discharge of 423 m³/s.
Its
drainage basin
A drainage basin is an area of land in which all flowing surface water converges to a single point, such as a river mouth, or flows into another body of water, such as a lake or ocean. A basin is separated from adjacent basins by a perimeter, ...
is 5760 km
2. The Ölfusá is home to a large
salmon
Salmon (; : salmon) are any of several list of commercially important fish species, commercially important species of euryhaline ray-finned fish from the genera ''Salmo'' and ''Oncorhynchus'' of the family (biology), family Salmonidae, native ...
fishing industry. The
Flói Nature Reserve
The Flói Nature Reserve () is a bird and nature reserve located near Árborg municipality in the Southern Region of Iceland. It includes a stretch of the east shore of the Ölfusá River. The reserve measures roughly wide by long, with an area ...
is located on its eastern shore near its mouth.
See also
*
List of rivers of Iceland
On an island like Iceland, the rivers are short in length. None of the rivers are important as a means of navigation due to the impracticality of settlements in the Highlands of Iceland where they originate.
South
* Hvítá
* Krossá
* Kúðaflj ...
References
External links
Olfusa
Rivers of Iceland
{{Iceland-river-stub