Videos from Icland Main Attractions

Below short videos from The Blue Lagoon and the Golden Circla Tour with Thingvellir national park,  the geothermally active valley of Haukadalur, which contains the geysers Geysir and Strokkur, and the waterfall Gullfoss. 
A - Blue Lagoon thermal Spa
B - Thingvellier National Park
C- Geysir Hot Springs
D - Gullfoss Water Fall
E - Reykjavik
F- Keflavik Airport

Click on map to enlarge

Blue Lagoon Geothermal Spa

The Blue Lagoon is a geothermal spa, and is the most visited attractions in Iceland.

The spa is located in a lava field in Grindavík on the Reykjanes Peninsula, southwestern Iceland. Bláa lónið is situated approximately
13 km (8 miles) from the Keflavík International Airport and 39 km (24 miles) from the capital city of Reykjavík. That is roughly a 20 minute drive from the airport and a 40 minute drive from Reykjavík.

Golden Circle Tour

The Golden Circle is the most popular tourist route from Reykjavik.

This route is covering about 300 km distance from Reykjavik to central Iceland and back. The three main stops on the route are the national park Thingvellir,
the waterfall Gullfoss (golden falls) and the geothermally active valley of Haukadalur, which contains the geysers Geysir and Strokkur.
Thingvellir is a national park containing both historical and natural beauties. Nowhere else the continental drift is more visible than in Thingvellir.
Gullfoss is a spectacular waterfall that is a must see. The two grand geysers, Strokkur and Geysir, are both interesting to watch.

Though Geysir has been inactive for a long time, Strokkur, on the other hand, continues to erupt at every 5-10 minutes interval.

Geyiser Hot Springs

Geysir is an area with hot springs in southwestern Iceland.
Geysir lies in the Haukadalur valley on the slopes of Laugarfjall hill, which is also the home to Strokkur geyser about 50 metres south.

Eruptions at Geysir can hurl boiling water up to 70 metres in the air. However, eruptions may be infrequent, and have in the past stopped altogether for years at a time.
Strokkur is a fountain geyser in the geothermal area beside the Hvítá River in Iceland in the southwest part of the country, east of Reykjavík.
It is one of Iceland's most famous geysers, erupting about every 4–8 minutes 15 – 20 m high, sometimes up to 40 m high.
Strokkur is part of Haukadalur geothermal area, where are located various other geothermal features: mud pools, fumaroles, algal deposits, and other
geysers beside and around it, such as Geysir. 

Thingvellier national Park

Þingvellir is a place in Bláskógabyggð in southwestern Iceland, near the peninsula of Reykjanes and the Hengill volcanic area. Þingvellir is a site of historical, cultural, and geological importance and is one of the most popular tourist destinations in Iceland. It is the site of a rift valley that marks the crest of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. It is also home to Þingvallavatn, the largest natural lake in Iceland.

Parliament or Alþingi was established at Þingvellir in 930 and remained there until 1798.[2] Þingvellir National Park was founded in 1930 to protect the remains of the parliament
site and was later expanded to protect natural phenomena in the surrounding area. Þingvellir National Park was the first national park in Iceland and was decreed
"a protected national shrine for all Icelanders, the perpetual property of the Icelandic nation under the preservation of parliament, never to be sold or mortgaged

Gullfoss Water Falls

Gullfoss (Golden Falls) is a waterfall located in the canyon of Hvítá river in southwest Iceland.

Gullfoss is one of the most popular tourist attractions in the country. The wide Hvítá rushes southward. About a kilometre above the falls it turns sharply to the right and flows down into a wide curved three-step "staircase" and then abruptly plunges in two stages (11 m and 21 m) into a crevice 32 m (105 ft) deep. The crevice, about 20 m (60 ft) wide,
and 2.5 km in length, extends perpendicular to the flow of the river. The average amount of water running over this waterfall is 140 m³/s
in the summertime and 80 m³/s in the wintertime. The highest flood measured was 2000 m³/s.

Geysers, How do they work

Geysers are hot springs that erupt periodically, ejecting a column of hot water and steams into the air.

1. Crater and plumbing system

2. Creation of Geyser Plumbing System

3. "superheated" water in the ground

4. The Geyser Eruption

5. Geysers at Iceland

1.  Geyser crater and plumbing system

A geyser is like a volcano, having a cone (a small crater), a  plumbing system refilled with water,  and warmed up to 140C (280F) by a magma chamber.

2. Creation of Geyser Plumbing System

Water from rain and snow works its way underground through fractures in the rock.

As the water reaches hot rock it begins to rise back to the surface, passing through rhyolite, which is former volcanic ash or lava rich in silica.

The hot water dissolves the silica and carries it upward to line rock crevices. This forms a constriction that holds in the mounting pressure, creating a geyser's plumbing system. The solid deposits forming the cone is called geyserites.

3 "superheated" water in the ground

Cool ground water near the surface percolates down into the earth.

As it approaches the magma chamber it is heated towards its boiling point.

Normally, water turns into vapors at such temperature, but the high pressure maintains it liquid. This condition is known as "superheated" - the water is hot enough to become steam but it's unable to expand because of the high confining pressure.

4. The Geyser Eruption

At some point the deep water becomes hot enough, or the confining pressure is reduced, and the superheated water explodes into steam in an enormous expansion of volume as a geyser. The waters is running back into the plumbing systems, get heated and a new eruption will occur after 8 to 10 minutes.

5. Geysers at Iceland

Iceland has more than 200 geysers whose waters reach temperatures over 90 C. The name "geyser" comes from the Icelandic region called Geyser and in Old Icelandic language it means "to spring".