Dettifoss is a
waterfallA waterfall is a place where flowing water rapidly drops in elevation as it flows over a steep region or a cliff.-Formation :Typically, a river flows over a large step in the rocks that may have been formed by a fault line. As it increases its velocity at the edge of the waterfall, it plucks...
in
Jökulsárgljúfur National ParkJökulsárgljúfur National Park is situated in the north of Iceland around the river Jökulsá á Fjöllum. It lies to the north of the famous Dettifoss waterfall....
of Northeast
IcelandThe Republic of Iceland is a European island country located in the North Atlantic Ocean. It has a population of about 320,000 and a total area of 103,000 km². Its capital and largest city is Reykjavík, whose surrounding area is home to approximately two thirds of the national population...
, not far from
MývatnMývatn is a shallow eutrophic lake situated in an area of active volcanism in the north of Iceland, not far from Krafla volcano. The lake and its surrounding wetlands have an exceptionally rich fauna of waterbirds, especially ducks...
. It is situated on the
Jökulsá á FjöllumJökulsá á Fjöllum is the second longest river of Iceland . Its source is the glacier Vatnajökull.The estuary of the river flows into the Arctic Sea. Jökulsá á Fjöllum streams over the waterfalls Selfoss and Dettifoss and through the canyon at Jökulsárgljúfur National Park, which was formed by the...
river, which flows from the
VatnajökullVatnajökull is the largest glacier in Iceland. It is located in the south-east of the island, covering more than 8% of the country. With a size of 8,100 km², it is the largest glacier in Europe in volume and the second largest in area Vatnajökull is the largest glacier in Iceland. It...
glacierA glacier is a perennial mass of ice which moves over land. A glacier forms in locations where the mass accumulation of snow and ice exceeds ablation over many years...
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
m3The cubic metre is the SI derived unit of volume. It is the volume of a cube with edges one metre in length. An alternative name, which allowed a different usage with metric prefixes, was the stère...
/
sThe second , sometimes abbreviated sec., is the name of a unit of time, and is the International System of Units base unit of time...
.
The waterfall can only be reached by a rough road.
Discussion
Ask a question about 'Dettifoss' Start a new discussion about 'Dettifoss' Answer questions from other users |
Dettifoss is a
waterfallA waterfall is a place where flowing water rapidly drops in elevation as it flows over a steep region or a cliff.-Formation :Typically, a river flows over a large step in the rocks that may have been formed by a fault line. As it increases its velocity at the edge of the waterfall, it plucks...
in
Jökulsárgljúfur National ParkJökulsárgljúfur National Park is situated in the north of Iceland around the river Jökulsá á Fjöllum. It lies to the north of the famous Dettifoss waterfall....
of Northeast
IcelandThe Republic of Iceland is a European island country located in the North Atlantic Ocean. It has a population of about 320,000 and a total area of 103,000 km². Its capital and largest city is Reykjavík, whose surrounding area is home to approximately two thirds of the national population...
, not far from
MývatnMývatn is a shallow eutrophic lake situated in an area of active volcanism in the north of Iceland, not far from Krafla volcano. The lake and its surrounding wetlands have an exceptionally rich fauna of waterbirds, especially ducks...
. It is situated on the
Jökulsá á FjöllumJökulsá á Fjöllum is the second longest river of Iceland . Its source is the glacier Vatnajökull.The estuary of the river flows into the Arctic Sea. Jökulsá á Fjöllum streams over the waterfalls Selfoss and Dettifoss and through the canyon at Jökulsárgljúfur National Park, which was formed by the...
river, which flows from the
VatnajökullVatnajökull is the largest glacier in Iceland. It is located in the south-east of the island, covering more than 8% of the country. With a size of 8,100 km², it is the largest glacier in Europe in volume and the second largest in area Vatnajökull is the largest glacier in Iceland. It...
glacierA glacier is a perennial mass of ice which moves over land. A glacier forms in locations where the mass accumulation of snow and ice exceeds ablation over many years...
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
m3The cubic metre is the SI derived unit of volume. It is the volume of a cube with edges one metre in length. An alternative name, which allowed a different usage with metric prefixes, was the stère...
/
sThe second , sometimes abbreviated sec., is the name of a unit of time, and is the International System of Units base unit of time...
.
The waterfall can only be reached by a rough road. On the west bank there are no facilities and the view on the waterfall is somewhat hindered by the waterfall's spray. On the east bank is a toilet maintained by the staff of
Vatnajökull National ParkVatnajökull National Park in Iceland was founded on June 7, 2008. It is the largest National Park in Europe, covering around 12.000 km² , including all of Vatnajökull glacier, the current Skaftafell National Park, Jokulsargljufur National Park and surrounding area.The construction of four new...
(
Vatnajökulsþjóðgarður), an information panel and a maintained track to the best viewpoints.
Trivia
The musical composition 'Dettifoss' (Op.57) by
Jón LeifsJón Leifs was an Icelandic composer. He left Iceland in 1916 to study in Germany at the Leipzig Conservatory. He graduated in 1921 having studied piano, and then devoted his time to conducting and composing. He became successful as a conductor, and also as a writer.He married Jewish pianist Annie...
is inspired by this waterfall.
External links