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| Gullfoss |
| Skulagata 21 |
| County Iceland, Reykjavik |
| 101, Iceland |
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Gullfoss (The Golden waterfall) is Iceland's most famous waterfall, and one of the natural
wonders of the world.Gullfoss is also by far Europe’s most powerful waterfall.
On a sunlit day, the mist clouds surrounding the hammering falls are filled with dozens of
rainbows, providing an unparalleled spectacle of color and motion.
It is in the mighty glacial river Hvita (White river), just a few kilometres from another natural wonder, the world-famous Geysir. The enormous white glacial cascade drops 32 metres into a narrow canyon which is 70 metres deep and 2.5 kilometres long. In winter it has an unusual appearance when it is garbed in ice and snow.
The river system of Hvítá, Sogiđ and Ölfusá extends from the mountains to the beaches
and from the glaciers to the sea, connecting Kerlingarfjöll, Gullfoss, Geysir, Skálholt,
Ármannsfell, Thingvellir and Eyrarbakki. For thousands of years the rivers have followed
their courses, delighting Sigríđur of Brattholt with their beauty and power, while posing
a threat to travellers, rich and poor alike.
Many people received a soaking, others were even drowned, and there were people who
claimed that mysterious monsters dwelt in these streams. Today the waters still flow from the mountains to the sea, a continuing source of wonder and mystery.
The watershed of the Ölfusá river region covers some 6100 square kilometres, or about one seventeenth of the entire area of Iceland. With each passing second they empty some 440 cubic metres of fresh water into the ocean, amounting to a total daily flow of 38 million tons.
The canyon below Gullfoss extends for some 2.5 kilometres and reaches a depth of 70 metres.Geologists have
suggested that it may have been formed in torrential floods
caused by so-called jökulhlaup (glacial outbursts),
occurring near the end of the last ice age.
Gullfoss is an example of a waterfall forming where
the water has followed a fissure in thelava and carved
a passageway through it.
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