Reykjanes () is a small

headland A headland, also known as a head, is a coastal landform, a point of land usually high and often with a sheer drop, that extends into a body of water. It is a type of promontory. A headland of considerable size often is called a cape.Whittow, Jo ...

on the south-western end of the

Reykjanes Peninsula Southern Peninsula (, ) is an administrative unit and part of Reykjanesskagi (pronounced ), or Reykjanes Peninsula, a region in southwest Iceland. It was named after Reykjanes, the southwestern tip of Reykjanesskagi. The region has a populatio ...

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 ...

, giving the main peninsula its name. Volcanic action is responsible for forming the entire peninsula. The nearest town is Keflavik. The name, , translates to "smoking point,” , and . It is named this due to the continuing volcanic activity of the

Reykjanes volcanic belt The Reykjanes Peninsula ( ) in southwest Iceland is the continuation of the mostly submarine Reykjanes Ridge, a part of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, on land and reaching from Esjan, Esja in the north and Hengill in the east to Reykjanestá in the ...

; there are also many other uses of this name in Iceland, e.g. the

or Reykjanes in

Ísafjarðardjúp Ísafjarðardjúp () is a large fjord in the Westfjords region of Iceland. Its name translates to ''Depth of the fjord of sea ice''. Originally named simply Ísafjörður, the semantic run around happened through the -Deep meaning the inner pa ...

Geography

The region is about to the south of Iceland's international airport. It is about and includes the Reykjanes volcanic system that extends in a linear fashion up its centre continuing to the north-east as the hill of Sýrfell at high. Other volcanic systems of the Reykjanes volcanic belt could affect the Reykjanes region and have erupted as recently as April 2025. Other hills associated with the system are Skálafell (Grindavíkurbær) with a height of in the south-west near the sea and Bæjarfell at high to its north. Valahnúkamöl is its south western cliff coast leading to Reykjanestá, the most south-western cape of the area.

Island Eldey

From the cliffs and beach at Reykjanestá, the island of

Eldey Eldey () is a small, uninhabited island about off the coast of the Reykjanes Peninsula in southwest Iceland. Located west-southwest of Reykjavík, the island of Eldey covers an area of about , and rises to a height of . Its sheer cliffs are h ...

can be seen. The distance to Reykjanestá is , the height of the rocky island . It is known to be especially popular with

morus bassanus The northern gannet (''Morus bassanus'') is a seabird, the largest species of the gannet family, Sulidae. It is native to the coasts of the Atlantic Ocean, breeding in Western Europe and Northeastern North America. It is the largest seabird in t ...

as a breeding place in the

North Atlantic The Atlantic Ocean is the second largest of the world's five oceanic divisions, with an area of about . It covers approximately 17% of Earth's surface and about 24% of its water surface area. During the Age of Discovery, it was known for ...

. On the other hand, the Eldey Volcanic System, which is for the most part

submarine A submarine (often shortened to sub) is a watercraft capable of independent operation underwater. (It differs from a submersible, which has more limited underwater capability.) The term "submarine" is also sometimes used historically or infor ...

, is today mostly seen as independent from Reykjanes Volcanic System. It is part of Reykjanes Ridge.

Lighthouse Reykjanesviti

In 1878, the first Icelandic lighthouse was erected near Valahnúkur. It had become necessary as the most used shipping lane next to Iceland passed by this point and the sea can be dangerous here. The broad strait between the peninsula and the island of

is often used by ships and at the same time heavy currents accompany the

tide Tides are the rise and fall of sea levels caused by the combined effects of the gravitational forces exerted by the Moon (and to a much lesser extent, the Sun) and are also caused by the Earth and Moon orbiting one another. Tide tables ...

s in both directions so that the area had a bad reputationBjarnheiður Hallsdóttir, Tómas Guðmundsson: ''Ferðahandbók Fjölskyldunnar''. Reykjavík 2007, p. 128 which many shipwrecks confirm. In 1887, the hill were it stood, was eroded by

earthquake An earthquakealso called a quake, tremor, or tembloris the shaking of the Earth's surface resulting from a sudden release of energy in the lithosphere that creates seismic waves. Earthquakes can range in intensity, from those so weak they ...

action, so that the old lighthouse had to be taken down. The next lighthouse could not be constructed before 1908 and was then built up on the hill of Vatnafell at about from the coast line where it stands till today in msl. The Reykjanesviti lighthouse is on Bæjarfell and is fairly frequently visited by tourists.. The geothermal power station is inland from the lighthouse to its north-east, it was built in 2006 and produces 100 MW.

Motion pictures in a picturesque scenery

Two known films were produced in this landscape: ''Prince of Darkness (Myrkrahöfðinginn)'', a film by the Icelandic director

Hrafn Gunnlaugsson Hrafn Gunnlaugsson (born 17 June 1948) is an Icelandic film director. He is the brother of mathematician Þorvaldur Gunnlaugsson and the lawyer Snædís Gunnlaugsdóttir and the actress Tinna Gunnlaugsdóttir. He is mostly known for his series o ...

, in 2000, near the lighthouse, and '' Flags of Our Fathers'' by

Clint Eastwood Clinton Eastwood Jr. (born May 31, 1930) is an American actor and film director. After achieving success in the Western (genre), Western TV series ''Rawhide (TV series), Rawhide'', Eastwood rose to international fame with his role as the "Ma ...

about away in and around the bays ''Litla-Sandvík'' and ''Stóra-Sandvík'' in 2006.

Geology

The basaltic low relief lava shields of the Reykjanes volcanic system are typically more than 4500 years old, but towards the south there are more recent eruptive fissures, with crater rows, tindars and hyaloclastite hills as well as parts of tuff cones near the south-west shoreline. The offshore volcanoes have produced 15 different

tephra Tephra is fragmental material produced by a Volcano, volcanic eruption regardless of composition, fragment size, or emplacement mechanism. Volcanologists also refer to airborne fragments as pyroclasts. Once clasts have fallen to the ground, ...

layers in the region. The volcano erupted for a 30 odd year period ending in 1240 CE. In 1226 CE an explosive eruption off Reykjanes produced about of tephra with deposits up to away. It also has lava dated to 2150 years ago and 3200 years ago. The Reykjanes volcano has been classified historically with the active as of

2024 The year saw the list of ongoing armed conflicts, continuation of major armed conflicts, including the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Myanmar civil war (2021–present), Myanmar civil war, the Sudanese civil war (2023–present), Sudane ...

Eldvörp–Svartsengi volcano to its south-east as its rift system intersects this to the east in the

and the two volcanic systems are very similar, even though they have separate geothermal systems,and lava composition. Recent studies tend to classify the Reykjanes volcanic system as a separate fissure volcano of the Reykjanes volcano belt. This volcanic system marks the transition from the mainly extensional structure of the underwater Reykjanes Ridge of the Atlantic mid-oceanic ridge to a trans-tensional plate boundary in the Reykjanes Peninsula. The wide Reykjanes volcanic system is in a rift zone, which extends , including at least out to sea towards the Reykjanes Ridge. Volcanic rock production has kept pace with rift extension and subsidence with at least ten eruptions in the 14,500 years since the area became ice free after the end of the last ice age. Within the volcanic system there are active NE–SW dip-slip faults. There are two main fissure swarm zones being in the north (Stampar) and south (Sýrfell). They are separated by about , and their western parts have been active in the last three eruptive periods of the Reykjanes area. The volcanic rocks are

basalt Basalt (; ) is an aphanite, aphanitic (fine-grained) extrusive igneous rock formed from the rapid cooling of low-viscosity lava rich in magnesium and iron (mafic lava) exposed at or very near the planetary surface, surface of a terrestrial ...

s, with

picrite Picrite basalt or picrobasalt is a variety of high-magnesium olivine basalt that is very rich in the mineral olivine. It is dark with yellow-green olivine phenocrysts (20-50%) and black to dark brown pyroxene, mostly augite. The olivine-rich ...

, or

tholeiite The tholeiitic magma series () is one of two main magma series in subalkaline igneous rocks, the other being the Calc-alkaline magma series, calc-alkaline series. A magma series is a chemically distinct range of magma compositions that describes ...

characteristics. While the active volcanism on the peninsula has been a major source for the geothermal activity in the area, there is evidence that the volcanism can fuel geothermal systems up to away, as far as Hvalfjörður. On the Reykjanes Peninsula itself, the system has had its geothermal potential exploited, producing up to 176 MW of power. Sometimes also the Stampar crater rows from eruptions during the 13th century within the Reykjanes Volcanic System are counted in as well as the high temperature area around the mud resp. hot water geysers of Gunnuhver .Vegahandbókin. ''Ferðahandbókin þín. Landmælingar Íslands og Vegahandbókin.'' 2014, p. 226 Most of the Reykjanes area is at risk of disruption from future eruptions and susceptibility maps have been published.

Wildlife

Northern fulmar, European herring gull and Common raven are present along the south, east and part of the north coast of Reykjanes to the town of Vogar. Black-legged kittiwake is mostly bound to cliffs along the coastline of Reykjanestangi.

References

Sources

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External links

Catalogue of Icelandic Volcanoes - Reykjanes
{{Volcanoes of Iceland, state=collapsed Headlands of Iceland Black sand beaches Rift volcanoes Volcanoes of Iceland Volcanic systems of Iceland Reykjanes Volcanic Belt