Esja
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The mountain Esja (914 m) is situated in the south-west of Iceland, about 10 km to the north of Iceland's capital city Reykjavík. Esja is not a single mountain, but a volcanic mountain range, made from basalt and tuff-stone.
[edit] Formation
Esja was built up at the end of the Pleistocene with the beginning of the Ice Age. During the warm periods, lava flowed and in the cold periods tuff-stone ridges were built under the glacier. The western part of the mountain range is the oldest (about 3.2 million years) and the eastern part is the youngest (about 1.8 million years). The movements of the plate boundaries cutting diagonally through Iceland are pushing the stratums to the west and away from the active volcanic zone. Intrusions, i.e. big magma channels coming from the old central volcanoes at Kjalarnes and Stardal, introduced themselves into the stratums. Big lava fields were the result, one above the other, which the Ice Age glacier ground down. It left only the highest summits like the mountain range of Esja or Akrafjall.
[edit] Physical features
The easternmost summits of the mountain range, called Móskarðshnúkar, are of an unusually light colour. An Icelandic writer in the 19th century, so goes the story, hoped to see the sun there after a long period of rain. But when he looked closer, it was only the mountain tops with their colours. In reality, it is the rhyolite stone, often to be found in Icelandic nature near old (and also active) central volcanoes.
[edit] Additional information
Within easy reach of the capital, Mt. Esja is a very popular recreation area for hikers and climbers. The best known hiking paths lead to the summits Þverfellshorn and Kerhólakambur (851 m).
Esja is also used as a first name in Iceland.
