Detection of the
Askja AD 1875 cryptotephra in Latvia, Eastern Europe.
The former Skaftafell National Park of southern Iceland, the most visited of Iceland's national parks, is now encompassed within the much larger Vatnajokuls jdgardur (Vatnajokull National Park), which was created to include most of the Vatnajokull ice sheet, in addition to other geological features requiring preservation, such as the Laki Craters and the
Askja Caldera.
(3) Indeed, according to one anonymous account, Winnipeggers did not initially recognize the group of Icelanders who arrived in 1875, expecting them to look "short, about four feet, rather stout and thick set, with long black hair and much like the Eskimos." (4) The March 1875 eruption of Mount
Askja had forced a large migration of about two thousand Icelanders to Canada, where they moved west and, claiming blocks of land reserved by the federal government for minority communities, established the fishing settlement of Gimli on the shores of Lake Winnipeg.
Starting from Lake Myvatn in the north of Iceland, the
Askja Lunar Tour journeys through the surreal lunar landscapes and areas of unique geological formations, which now form part of Vatnaj'kull National Park, Europe's largest protected wilderness.
The philosopher Pall Skulason in describing the experience of being in
Askja, which lies at the remote centre of the country, has stated "...
FIGURE 2 The upper three layers of gray, dark, and bright material are air-fall pyroclastic deposits from the 1875 Plinian eruption of
Askja volcano in Iceland.