“It’s when rock breaks its silence that it crumbles to dust.” 
― Anthony T. Hincks

Today’s image is a closer look at the massive, dark cliff visible in yesterday’s post. This cliff, Lómagnúpsnef (nef is Icelandic for nose), dominated the horizon for a long time, ever brightening with more details emerging from the shadows as we got closer to it. There are many more details that I’m aware of, now that I’m not behind the wheel or standing along the road with my camera.

This large outcropping, which also acts as an unmovable boundary to the Skeiðarárjokull glacier, which is hidden behind the cliff’s talus slope in this image, reveals its wonderful colours and textures. The colour comes from the varied layers of basalt, which is the dark volcanic rock, and rhyolite, a pink-orange coloured volcanic rock. The difference in colour being the result of different mineral chemistry. Each layer would have been formed at a different period in time, deep underground.

The colour does not stop at the cliff itself; it continues down the slopes in tones or pink, orange and faint streaks of green.

The varied colours of this land really surprised me, since it is technically classified as tundra. I was not expecting all these bright colours, especially in the subdued late October sun, often blocked by layers of cloud.

Nikon D800
Tamron SP 70-200mm f/2.8 Di VC USD @ 130mm
1/250 sec, f/8.0, ISO 200

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