oil on canvas, 41cm x 61cm, Iain White 2007, £150
The Ljósufjöll volcanic system at the eastern end of the Snaefellsnes Peninsula is a group of basaltic cinder cones and lava flows along short fissures on a roughly 90-km-long WNW-ESE line.
The volcanic field is about 20-km wide at the eastern end and narrows to about 10-km width on the west. Young looking cinder cones and lava flows with morphologically fresh surfaces testify to numerous eruptions during the past 10,000 years. The latest eruption post-dated the settlement of Iceland, and took place about 1000 years ago.
In the foreground are cabins attesting to the recent trend as farming has come under increasing pressure to engage in farm tourism. This may simply be the provision of accommodation, but it often coupled to horse riding and trekking. Although a small part of the horse population in Iceland is kept entirely for meat production. most horse breeders aim for the production of riding horses.
