Icelandic Geography and Nature

Geography and Nature

240 practice questions, each with the answer and an explanation.

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Random questions from this topic, one at a time. You see the answer and the explanation straight after each one.

All 240 questions

  1. What is the highest mountain in Iceland?
  2. Which is the largest ice cap in Iceland?
  3. Which is the longest river in Iceland?
  4. Which lake is the largest natural lake in Iceland?
  5. Which two tectonic plates meet in Iceland?
  6. What is Gullfoss, one of Iceland's best-known sights?
  7. What is the main source of heating for homes in Iceland?
  8. Which animal is the only land mammal native to Iceland?
  9. Which seabird is known as the 'clown of the sea' and nests in large colonies in Iceland?
  10. Which Icelandic island is crossed by the Arctic Circle?
  11. Why is the climate of Iceland milder than its latitude suggests?
  12. What is a geyser, a word that comes from the name of a spring in Iceland?
  13. Which of Iceland's waterfalls is regarded as the most powerful in Europe by water volume?
  14. What is the source of most of Iceland's electricity?
  15. What does the Ring Road, Route 1, do?
  16. Which time zone does Iceland use all year?
  17. Why is it nearly light all night in Reykjavík around the June solstice?
  18. What causes the northern lights seen in Iceland's winter sky?
  19. Why is Surtsey a UNESCO World Heritage site?
  20. Which volcano, medieval Europeans called the 'Gateway to Hell', lies in southern Iceland?
  21. What is Jökulsárlón?
  22. Where does the water of the Blue Lagoon come from?
  23. Which tree forms most of Iceland's remaining natural woodland?
  24. Why can Icelandic horses leaving the country never return?
  25. Which fish has long been Iceland's most important catch?
  26. Which town is called the capital of the north?
  27. Which remote region in the north-west contains the Hornstrandir nature reserve?
  28. What are the Westman Islands (Vestmannaeyjar)?
  29. What does a jökulhlaup (glacial outburst flood) require?
  30. Why does Iceland have both many volcanoes and many glaciers?
  31. Which statement describes the Mid-Atlantic Ridge in Iceland?
  32. Why does Iceland produce so much geothermal energy?
  33. How do lupines affect the Icelandic landscape?
  34. What is the effect of volcanic eruptions beneath ice, as in the Eyjafjallajökull eruption of 2010?
  35. Why are most Icelanders living near the coast, especially in the south-west?
  36. What can be said of Iceland's land area?
  37. Complete the sentence about Reykjavík with the correct year: The Danish Crown abolished monopoly trading in ______ and granted six communities around the country an exclusive trading charter.
  38. Complete the sentence about Akureyri with the correct year: The area where Akureyri is located was settled in the 9th century, but did not receive a municipal charter until ______.
  39. Complete the sentence about Akureyri with the correct year: The first mention of Akureyri is in court records from ______, when a woman was sentenced there for adultery.
  40. Complete the sentence about Garðabær with the correct year: Sjálandsskóli was established in ______, and may be better known internationally for providing space in its building for the International S…
  41. Complete the sentence about Garðabær with the correct year: Guitarist Björn Thoroddsen was named Garðabær Artist of ______.
  42. Complete the sentence about Akranes with the correct year: The area where Akranes is located was settled in the 9th century; however, it did not receive a municipal charter until ______.
  43. Complete the sentence about Sauðárkrókur with the correct year: In ______ Sauðárkrókur became a permitted trading post, and merchants were allowed to trade from their ships.
  44. Complete the sentence about Sauðárkrókur with the correct year: In ______ the first real settlement at Sauðárkrókur took place.
  45. Complete the sentence about Seyðisfjörður with the correct year: The town settlement in the Seyðisfjörður area started in ______.
  46. Complete the sentence about Grindavík with the correct year: In November ______, in the midst of escalating and severe seismic activity, a state of emergency was declared and the town evacuated.
  47. Complete the sentence about Grindavík with the correct year: In June ______, Grindavík was raided by Barbary Pirates in an event known as the Turkish Abductions.
  48. Complete the sentence about Grindavík with the correct year: The origins of the municipality can be traced to Einar Einarsson's decision to move there to build and run a shop in ______.
  49. Complete the sentence about Siglufjörður with the correct year: Siglufjörður is the site of The Herring Era Museum, a maritime museum which opened in ______.
  50. Complete the sentence about Neskaupstaður with the correct year: Until ______, the town was accessible via mountain pass in Oddskarð or a boat.
  51. Complete the sentence about Neskaupstaður with the correct year: On 20 December ______, avalanches came from the entire mountainside above the town, killing 12 people.
  52. Complete the sentence about Vík í Mýrdal with the correct year: In ______, the US journal Islands Magazine counted the beach at Vík as one of the ten most beautiful beaches on Earth.
  53. Complete the sentence about Keflavík with the correct year: In ______, Keflavík merged with nearby Njarðvík and Hafnir to form the municipality of Reykjanesbær.
  54. Complete the sentence about Keflavík with the correct year: The compilation album for local beat band Thor's Hammer is titled From Keflavík, With Love, and was released in ______ on Big Beat Records.
  55. Complete the sentence about Þingvellir National Park with the correct year: Since ______, the parliament has been located within Alþingishúsið in Iceland's capital, Reykjavík.
  56. Complete the sentence about Þingvellir National Park with the correct year: The park was later expanded to protect the diverse and natural phenomena in the surrounding area and was designated as a Wor…
  57. Complete the sentence about Þingvellir National Park with the correct year: Þingvellir became a national park as a result of legislation passed in ______ to protect the remains of the parliament site…
  58. Complete the sentence about Þingvellir National Park with the correct year: The Alþingi was Iceland's legislative and chief judicial authority for the duration of the Commonwealth, until ______.
  59. Complete the sentence about Geysir with the correct year: A geyser at the general site is described in a written source by Saxo Grammaticus, as a mention in Gesta Danorum, his work finished about ____…
  60. Complete the sentence about Geysir with the correct year: In ______ George Mackenzie, a geologist, first proposed that expansion of steam in a subsurface cavity explained Geysir's activity.
  61. Complete the sentence about Seljalandsfoss with the correct year: A scene from the ______ movie The Juniper Tree has Björk's character walk behind the waterfall.
  62. Complete the sentence about Skógafoss with the correct year: The waterfall was a location for the filming of the ______ film releases Thor: The Dark World and The Secret Life of Walter Mitty.
  63. Complete the sentence about Dynjandi with the correct year: Dynjandi and other waterfalls in Dynjandisá and their surroundings were protected as natural monuments in ______.
  64. Complete the sentence about Jökulsárlón with the correct year: In ______, Iceland issued a postage stamp, with a face value of 26 kronur, depicting Jökulsárlón.
  65. Complete the sentence about Jökulsárlón with the correct year: Jökulsárlón Lake, the "glacier lake", was reported to have doubled in size in the 15 years before ______.
  66. Complete the sentence about Vatnajökull with the correct year: On 7 June ______, it became a part of the Vatnajökull National Park.
  67. Complete the sentence about Vatnajökull with the correct year: In September ______, a Douglas DC-4 operated by the private airline Loftleiðir crash-landed on the Vatnajökull glacier.
  68. Complete the sentence about Vatnajökull with the correct year: In ______, Vatnajökull was one of several Icelandic settings visited on the first leg of The Amazing Race 6.
  69. Complete the sentence about Mýrdalsjökull with the correct year: Scientists are actively monitoring the volcano, particularly after the eruption of nearby Eyjafjallajökull began in April ______.
  70. Complete the sentence about Snæfellsjökull with the correct year: Snæfellsjökull was visible from an extreme distance due to an arctic mirage on 17 July ______.
  71. Complete the sentence about Eyjafjallajökull with the correct year: In ______, there was a massive landslide on the Steinsholtsjökull glacial tongue.
  72. Complete the sentence with the correct year: On 16 January ______ at 13:47:55 there was an explosion on the glacier.
  73. Complete the sentence about Eyjafjallajökull with the correct year: The eruptive phase started on 19 and 20 December ______ by a series of explosive eruptions and continued over the next several days.
  74. Complete the sentence about Eyjafjallajökull with the correct year: After that event the sequence of eruptions continued on a more subdued level until June ______.
  75. Complete the sentence about Eyjafjallajökull with the correct year: From the end of June until the beginning of August ______, another sequence of explosive eruptions followed.
  76. Complete the sentence about Katla with the correct year: In its recent history though, Katla has been less active as the last major eruption occurred in ______.
  77. Complete the sentence with the correct year: In comparison, the ______ Eyjafjallajökull eruption had a VEI of 4.
  78. Complete the sentence about Katla with the correct year: Particularly, monitoring has been intensified following the March ______ eruptions of a smaller neighbouring volcano, the Eyjafjallajökull glac…
  79. Complete the sentence about Hekla with the correct year: Hekla is one of Iceland's most active volcanoes; over 20 eruptions have occurred in and around the volcano since the year ______.
  80. Complete the sentence about Hekla with the correct year: After the eruption of ______, stories, probably spread deliberately through Europe by Cistercian monks, told that Hekla was the gateway to Hell…
  81. Complete the sentence about Hekla with the correct year: A poem by the monk Benedeit from c. ______ about the voyages of Saint Brendan mentions Hekla as the prison of Judas.
  82. Complete the sentence about Hekla with the correct year: In the Flatey Book Annal it was recorded that during the ______ eruption, people saw large and small birds flying in the mountain's fire which…
  83. Complete the sentence about Askja with the correct year: The last eruption of Askja was between 26 October and 5 December ______ near the northern rim of the caldera.
  84. Complete the sentence about Askja with the correct year: Askja was virtually unknown until a large 17 hour subplinian eruption which started on March 28, ______.
  85. Complete the sentence about Krafla with the correct year: Since ______ the Krafla area has been the source of the geothermal energy used by a 60 MWe power station.
  86. Complete the sentence about Laki with the correct year: The eruption continued until 7 February ______, but most of the lava was ejected in the first five months.
  87. Complete the sentence about Laki with the correct year: The resulting famine that afflicted Egypt in ______ cost it roughly one-sixth of its population.
  88. Complete the sentence about Eldfell with the correct year: At about 20:00 on 21 January ______, a series of small tremors began to occur around Heimaey.
  89. Complete the sentence about Fagradalsfjall with the correct year: The wider peninsula had been dormant for nearly 800 years, since the end of the Reykjanes Fires in ______.
  90. Complete the sentence about Blue Lagoon with the correct year: Shortly after the opening of the Svartsengi power plant in ______, the runoff water had made pools.
  91. Complete the sentence about Mývatn with the correct year: Bird populations have been monitored annually since ______ by the Mývatn Research Station.
  92. Complete the sentence about Dyrhólaey with the correct year: Access to Dyrhólaey is by a steep switchback road, which was rebuilt and paved in ______.
  93. Complete the sentence about Dyrhólaey with the correct year: In October ______ pilot Arngrímur Jóhannsson and member of parliament Árni Johnsen became the first to fly an airplane through the Dyrhólae…
  94. Complete the sentence about Skaftafell with the correct year: On 7 June ______, it became a part of the larger Vatnajökull National Park.
  95. Complete the sentence about Skaftafell with the correct year: In ______, traditional farming was discontinued at Skaftafell.
  96. Complete the sentence about Hallgrímskirkja with the correct year: State Architect Guðjón Samúelsson's design of the church was commissioned in ______.
  97. Complete the sentence about Hallgrímskirkja with the correct year: Einar Jónsson donated the statue of Jesus to the church in ______, which stands right next to the entrance to the nave.
  98. Complete the sentence about Harpa with the correct year: In the opening concert on 4 May ______, Iceland Symphony Orchestra performed under the baton of Vladimir Ashkenazy with the Icelandic pianist V…
  99. Complete the sentence about Perlan with the correct year: In ______, a single hot water tank was constructed on Öskjuhlíð hill in Reykjavík, where Perlan stands today.
  100. Complete the sentence about Perlan with the correct year: In ______, those six hot water tanks became the base of Perlan, a building open to the public.

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