Dettifoss is a waterfall in
Jökulsárgljúfur
National Park of Northeast Iceland,
not far from Mývatn. It
is situated on the Jökulsá
á Fjöllum river, which
flows from the Vatnajökull
glacier and collects water from
a large area in Northeast Iceland.
The falls are 100 m wide and have
a drop of 44 m down to the Jökulsárgljúfur
canyon. It is the largest waterfall
in Europe in terms of volume discharge,
having an average water flow of
200 m3/s.[2]
The Myvatn region in
the northeast of Iceland is volanically
active, its lunar-like landscape dominated
by the Kafla volcano. There are lava
field and hot springs, such as Namaskaro,
an area of spewing geysers and bubbling
mudpools. It is also a land of cascading
waterfalls and deep gorges, the most
spectacular waterfall, Dettifoss,
lying along the Jokulsa a Fjollum,
the island's longest river. The river
is fed by ice melt from the Vatnajokull
and crosses over a high plateau which
is scarred by lava flows, before it
enters the sea at Oxarfjorour. There
is also the impressive Myvatn ("Midge
Lake"), which the area is named
after.
Dettifoss is 144 feet (44 m) high
and 330 feet (100 m) wide. They are
considered to be the most powerful
waterfalls in Europe., with an estimated
110,000 gallons of water passing over
the falls every second. To the south
is Selfoss, another cataract which
is 33 feet high, and the 90 foot high
Hafragilfoss.
Below Dettifoss is a deep canyon,
Jokulsargljufur, which was gouged
out by a series of catastrphic floods,
the last occurrig about 2,500 years
ago. In the 1970's plans to build
a hydroelectric power station were
abandoned and the area is now protected.
[3]
Dettifoss waterfall –
Iceland’s largest falling body
of water
Located in the northeastern
Iceland, Dettifoss Waterfall is
one of the largest waterfalls
of in the country. It is situated
on the Jokulsa-a-Fjollum River,
which flows from the Vatnajokull
Glacier. The Glacier, which itself
is the largest glacier in Iceland
is situated on the southeastern
coast of the country.
Dettifoss is counted
as amongst the powerful waterfalls
among its mainland European counterparts.
It’s flow is estimated,
though, not properly documented,
is somewhere between 200 –
500 cubic meters of water falling
down per second. But then this
all depends on the weather-wise
ice melt.
