Melrakkaslétta
Kelduhverfi
Öxarfjörður
"Melrakkaslétta, ("Foxes’
plain") is the peninsula between Öxarfjörður and Þistilfjörður
between the spur Snartarstaðanúpur and
the river Ormarsá.
All flat and low except for the mountains Leirhafnarfjöll in the west. The
northern and eastern coast is muchindented with coves, nesses and lagoons.
Dry in the west but marshy in the east, with many lakes and tarns. Farms, many
now abandoned, only along the coast. Much driftwood and troutfishing, many eider
duck and seal colonies. Foxes are widespread, hence the name, and polar bears
occasionally drift ashore on icefloes. Melrakkaslétta boasts a large number of
lakes inlets, where kayaking has become popular in recent years."
"Raufarhöfn is a village on the east of the Melrakkaslétta plain. Population 340. In 1836 Raufarhöfn was officially designed a trading centre, having up to that time been simply a farm, named Reiðarhöfn in the 1703 census.
The rauf, or rift, that gives the village its name is a shallow channel between the Hólmi, which falls steeply to the sea but has a good deal of vegetation towards the top, and the Höfði, south of the so-called Klif. The Höfði, on which there is a lighthouse, has a rich birdlife. It is quite high and an excellent place from which to view the village and its harbour.
The harbour underwent extensive improvements in the beginning of the "herring years" around 1950, and piers were built making it possible to land great amounts of herring. Indeed, Raufarhöfn was for a while one of the main salting and processing centres in Iceland.
Raufarhöfn is the northernmost village in Iceland. Here are the darkest winter nights but also the brightest summer nights and for a while month in the summer the sun doesn't set. There is an airport near the village but no scheduled flights.
The church, designed by Guðjón Samúelsson, was built in 1927 and to a large extent rebuilt in 1979. The pulpit was once in the old church at Ásmundarstaðir, having been given to that church in 1951 by Danish merchants in Raufarhöfn. The altar piece is also from Ásmundarstaðir, painted in 1890 by Sveinungi Sveinungason (1840-1915)."
"Kópasker, (pop. 140) a village, a legalised port since 1879. Pier for oceangoing ships, airstrip. On January 13th 1976 there was a very severe earthquake whose epicentre was out in the fjord, about 12 km northwest of the village. There was a great deal of damage, with severe cracks in many houses so that some could no longer be lived in. The water mains were in pieces and the harbour wall split along a fault, the two sides moving in opposite directions. Bridges in the area of Núpur were destroyed, the lava hills by Presthólar were damaged as if by an explosion and boulders fell from Öxarnúpur spur."
"Öxarnúpur, (146 m) a sheer crag with scree at the foot, the easternmost spur of the mountain Núpar (341 m). On the crag is Grettisbæli ("Grettir’s hideout"), a rocky stronghold roofed by basalt columns, one of the places where Grettir the strong is said to have stayed for a while."
"Öxarfjörður, the area east of the river Jökulsá as far as the Öxarnúpur spur, with the delta Austursandur between the branches of Jökulsá. Gentle slopes with birchtrees merging into dwarfwillows. The river Sandá, a branch of Jökulsá, flows through it and joins Brunná, a mountain stream from the eastern moors. There is a good deal of geothermal energy here."
"Kelduhverfi, the district at the head of Öxarfjörður between the mountains of Tjörnes and the river Jökulsá. Inland there are many fissures and chasms, difficult and dangerous to cross. At about the time of the volcanic activity by Leirhnjúkur in 1975 (see Road 848) there were repeated earthquakes in the Kelduhverfi district, very frequent and some quite severe in early 1976. There was another series of severe earthquakes in early 1978.
The land is thought to be spreading and indeed, many new fissures and cracks have appeared and some older ones have got wider and deeper.
These changes can be seen as far north as the sea. At the same time the land has subsided by at least a meter. The greatest changes are in the area between the farms Lindarbrekka and Hlíðargerði, most obviously by the farms Lyngás, Framnes and Hlíðargerði. Warm water has come up in many of the fissures. Down on the flat land called VesturSandur a new lake has appeared, Skjálftavatn ("Quake Lake"). This has meant that the courses of many rivers have changed radically.
"
Texts from The Visitor's Key to Iceland